GUWAHATI, Jan 8 - The Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD) and the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) have jointly taken up an initiative to conduct entrepreneurship training programmes for youths of the NE region and assist them in establishing self-employment units.
Under the programme, the RGNIYD and the NIRDPR aim to train 600 unemployed youths in �rural technologies�.
Sources said that the first batch, consisting of 30 youths from Imphal West, Thoubal and Kakching districts in Manipur, received training in making leaf plates and cups last month at the NIRDPR campus in Hyderabad.
Sources said that the thrust is on ensuring development of young entrepreneurs of the North East. They will be trained on skills like mushroom cultivation and mushroom products; honey processing and packaging; construction of compressed earth blocks; home-based products, including phenyl, dishwash powder, detergent powder; assembling, installation and maintenance of solar lights; making leaf plates and cups; herbal beauty care products; neem products; vermi-compost and vermi-wash liquid; handmade paper products like bags; and food processing through solar dehydration.
The trainees will also be given hands-on training on machinery manufactured by the partner institution of the Rural Technology Park of the NIRDPR.
The NIRDPR is an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Rural Development. RGNIYD is an Institution of National Importance under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.