From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Jul 15: Karnataka observed the ‘World Youth Skills Day' for the first time and the State Government signed 8 MoUs with leading companies with a view to up-skill the youth workforce in Bengaluru on Thursday.

The MoUs were signed and exchanged between the Karnataka Government and Companies in presence of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayana who is also the minister for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, at a function held at the Banquet Hall in Vidhana Soudha.

The MoUs include starting courses related to the automotive sector in selected ITIs in the districts of Bengaluru, Ramanagara and Tumakuru in collaboration with Toyota Motors.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who inaugurated World Youth Skill Day organised by Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Department, said by developing the skills of the youth, the Government planned to build `Koushalya Karnataka.’

India being the second highest populated country after China, has the human resource of youth belonging to 18-35 age group. The contribution of youth plays an important role in the development of any country and State Government aims at improving the economic and social development of the state by skilling the youth to the global standards.

Karnataka has signed an agreement with Tata technologies to upgrade 150 Government ITIs at a cost of Rs.4636.50 crore and upgradation work of these ITIs is expected to be completed by September.

The Government of Karnataka has developed kaushalkar.com web portal for the benefit of migratory workers and has been organising virtual Job Melas through Skill Connect web portal to facilitate placements in industries by matching the
skills in youth and industrial requirements.

International Migration Centre has been established to help youth find jobs in foreign countries based on the demand for human resources, Yediyurappa said.

Four new Government Tool Room and Training centres will be established in the current year in order to provide skilled human resources to small and medium industries. The government will provide Rs 400 crore to 193,000 self-help groups as Community Investment Fund under the National Rural Livelihood Campaign.

So far, Rs 149.03 crore has been released to 17121 self-help groups, he said.

Last year, under the Prime Minister Swanidhi scheme, 1.10 lakh street vendors received Rs 10,000 as Investment Fund. This year, it is intended to provide Rs 20,000 additional investment fund.

Karnataka Skill and Livelihood Taskforce has been formed to create 10 million job opportunities in the next 5 years. The task force is expected to submit its report shortly, he mentioned.

Skill India Mission and Aathma nirbhar Bharat schemes have made significant contribution in developing the skills amongst the youth.

ITIs to become Technology Hubs

Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Skill development, said 150 ITIs will be converted into Technology Hubs, modern labs related to Industrial Automation, Robotics, Internet of Things, Additive Manufacturing will be set up and added this will benefit nearby diploma and engineering students through short term training in addition to the ITI students.

The government has planned to achieve 40 such MoUs with various companies and out of this 8 have been signed at present. The remaining also will be done shortly, Dr Narayan said.

As part of the celebration, an Approval letter from AICTE was received with regard to starting Diploma courses in newly Set up GTTCs (Government Tool Room & Training Centers) in Chitradurga, Challakere, Koppala, and Yadagiri from the current academic year 2021-22.

Other companies with which MoUs were entered include Wipro, GE, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Technologies, ELCIA, ESDM, Cluster, Aditya Birla Group, and Home Lane. A MoU with Auto Desk Company to provide training in Master CAM Design Software at Karnataka-Germany Technology Training Institute (KGTTI) is also a part of this.

The organizations and trainers were felicitated for their contribution to the successful implementation of short-term programs under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameena Koushalya Yojana (DDUGKY).

Successful entrepreneurs who received Entrepreneurial Development Program from CEDOK were also felicitated.

Manjushri, Director of Livelihood Mission, Dr Harish Kumar, Commissioner, Department of Industrial Training and Employment, H Raghavendra, Managing Director, GTTC, Ashwin D Gowda, Managing Director, Karnataka Skill Development Corporation (KSDC), Dr Veeranna S, Director, CEDOK, and others were present.