Corporate houses pledge to train 17,000 Jammu & Kashmir youth

[SpArK]

Corporate houses pledge to train 17,000 Jammu & Kashmir youth​

NEW DELHI: Corporate houses have ambitiously committed to train around 17,000 educated youth from Jammu & Kashmir over the next five years under "Udaan", a government-industry skill development initiative.

Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday announced that the Udaan project appraisal committee had, at its last meeting on March 15, approved the proposals of IYogi for training 5,742 graduates, Accenture (3,300), 24x7 Inc (6,000) and Ligare Voyages Limited to train 2,000 youth over a period of five years. "Eleven corporate houses are visiting J&K for selection of candidates from April 19 to May 4," said Shinde, while identifying these companies as IYogi, Rooman Technologies, Religare, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), 24X7 Inc, Accenture, Infosys, Bajaj Alliance, Learning Links, Canara Bank and ONGC.

Corporate houses, who had shown interest and offered to train J&K youth under Udaan — a scheme piloted by the home ministry as part of the Centre's skill development initiative for the militancy-hit state — have been slow in delivering on the committed volumes. They have blamed the procedural impediments in the scheme and the ongoing recession for their lukewarm response.

Of the 600 corporate houses that the National Skill Development Council (NSDC) had reached out to, only 3.5% showed interest and committed to train and place around 24,000 students against the target of 40,000 in five years.


Incidentally, the new training commitments from the corporate houses come amidst efforts by the Centre to redraw the policy to suit the industry better. The altered terms propose to cut down the period of training at facilities of the corporate partners from the existing nine months to a year to a "more realistic" six months, besides making the expenditure heads under the overall Rs 1,000 crore budget for the scheme, flexible.

So, a trainee, who being extended a fixed Rs 4,000 as travel expenses to his place of training, may now get a reimbursement of upto Rs 10,000. Similarly, the Rs 300 daily reimbursement for boarding and lodging of the trainee is proposed to be raised to Rs 500 per day. A separate coordinating agency will be engaged to help the private sector scout for and shortlist qualified youth that suit the job profile sought by the corporate.

The corporate houses may also to be advised to help the J&K youth they wish to hire at facilities across the country with problems like finding suitable accommodation.

Corporate houses pledge to train 17,000 Jammu & Kashmir youth - The Times of India