Govt signs 17 MoUs on skill development

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 8

The state today signed 17 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on skill development with industrial organisations. The MoUs were signed between the Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam and 17 industrial organisations, including the National Skill Development Corporation, in the presence of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

The Chief Minister also launched the Himachal Pradesh Skill Development Initiative aimed at increasing employment opportunities, said an official statement.

Virbhadra said the signing of MoUs would give an edge to the state on skilling, assessment and placement issues. He said setting up of the Kaushal Vikas Nigam was a major initiative of the state which would go a long way in improving coordination and reducing duplication in the skill development programmes being run by various departments.

Virbhadra said the government was mulling over opening a skill development university. The Sector Skill Councils will train thousands of people from the state ensuring placements. “The Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam will improve coordination between departments organising skill development programmes,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the skill development allowance scheme would benefit the educated unemployed youth.

The government will hone skills of workers by allocating 20 per cent of cess for skilling initiatives.

The Chief Minister said the state would notify its own skill development policy and ITIs would be opened for imparting training in inter-related trades.

He said training in automobiles, retail, security, health care, tourism and agriculture, would be imparted in government schools from classes IX to XII. Virbhadra said 200 vocational labs and workshops had been set up while work on 600 more was under way. NSDC CEO Jayant Krishna said the Centre has set a target of skilling 50 crore people in India. He lauded the state for introducing various vocational trades in the government schools.

Senior director, FICCI, Dr Shobha Misra Ghosh said besides providing training, it was important that the trained people got equal job opportunities.

CII chairman of Himachal Rajiv Aggarwal said: “Bridging the skill gap, building the vocational and technical training framework and innovative thinking are needed. The CII has also signed an MoU with the Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam. Dr Shrikant Baldi, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, said the MoUs would provide a new direction to the initiative of the state government aimed at creating employable work force in the state.

Technical Education Minister GS Bali, Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anil Sharma were also present.