GUWAHATI, May 5 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi launched the �Multi Disciplinary Skill Development Programme� at a function organized by the State Industries & Commerce Department at the NEDFi House here on Friday.
The programme is one of the major initiatives of the State government to create the requisite pool of skilled manpower to bridge the yawning gap between supply and demand.
Four multi-disciplinary skill development training centres would be set up at Badarpur (Karimganj), Bilasipara (Dhubri), Bajiagaon (Nagaon) and Margherita (Tinsukia) along with upgrade of the existing facilities at the Cottage Industries Training Institute at Kalapahar in Guwahati.
In his address, the Chief Minister said development of skill has to be taken up in a big way to give employment opportunities to the youths of the State. �Both high and semi-skilled workforce is in great demand and the State must be able to produce a pool of skilled manpower to cater to the needs of various sectors,� he said.
�Looking into the great demand for skilled manpower, this government has given added thrust to vocational training by taking initiatives to set up a skill development centre in each development block. Efforts are on to hone and upgrade the skills through proper training so that the unemployed youths are gainfully employed,� he added.
�To ease the unemployment problem, the State Government is planning to train up at least one lakh unemployed youths in vocational training both within and outside the State every year,� he said, adding, that the oil industry, the corporate houses and tea industry would also be asked to sponsor such training.
Minister for Industries and Commerce Pradyut Bordoloi said the new flagship programme aims to effectively address the issues of skill development, enhance employability of the rural youths as well as to reap advantage of the growing demand for skilled manpower in the country.
Bordoloi further disclosed that 23 multidisciplinary skill development training centres are coming up during the current financial year. �As the training centres would take some time to come up, we will provide training on both soft and hard skills to the selected youths at some recognised national institutes of repute like National Academy of Construction, Hyderabad, CIPET, Guwahati, National Centre for Design and Product Development, Delhi. Our target is to train up 1600 youths 2012-13 and 2 lakh by 2017,� he added.
Bordoloi said the department has been carrying out a �resource mapping� at the 219 development blocks for identifying various employable trades based on local potential.
