Government trains first batch of village engineers ; model to be replicated to other districts 

The Road to Atmanirbhar Bharat travels through Atmanirbhar Villages – Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Sankalp starts with the empowerment of rural youth. The road to Atmanirbhar Bharat travels through Atmanirbhar Villages. Creating new opportunities for employment/self-employment and entrepreneurship locally is an article of faith for the Narendra Modi Govt, said Minister of State, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Electronics and IT, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar at a ceremony for distribution of certificates to the first batch of trainees under Pilot Project for Skilling Tribal Youth – Rural Tribal Technical Training or Grameen Udyami at Raj Bhawan, Bhopal.

Around 140 Tribal youth turned village engineers have conferred Skill Certificates today at a ceremony that was presided over by the Governor of Madhya Pradesh Shri Mangubhai Patel. Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar joined virtually and congratulated the trainees on successfully completing the skill training and for attaining skills that he termed a “Passport to Prosperity”.

Expressing his satisfaction with the pilot project, the Minister affirmed that the pilot programme offers us a launch pad for replicating its success in other districts across the Nation. It shall empower the tribal youth by making opportunities available – locally thereby reducing the pull and push for migration. It shall trigger economic activities at the local level in the Districts which is consistent with the new economic outlook of the Government which lays emphasis on Self Reliance or AtmaNirbharta, he added.

The training was provided to the beneficiaries in 5 disciplines- electrical and solar energy, agricultural mechanization, e-governance, plumbing and masonry, and two-wheeler repair and maintenance. This training will also enable the youth to start their own business, thus generating more employment opportunities for other youth as well. The concept of Multi Skilling and turning unemployed youth into village engineers is the first of its kind and shall be replicated in other districts.

Skills are Passport to Prosperity -Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The Minister highlighted the importance of skilling in post covid times. He said that the Covid pandemic has led to disruptions in traditional supply chains offering huge opportunities to India & Indians. The world is now looking for a trusted partner. As the world now looks toward India, we need to skill our youth to emerge as Global Skills Hub.  Prime Minister Shri  Narendra Modi has directed us to work out a New approach towards Skilling to build on the gains of Skill India 1.0 & to capitalise on the new economic opportunities offered to India in the emerging New World Order post-Covid.

The pilot project, under the Sansadiya Sankul Pariyojana, was launched on 13th May 2022 for training about 250 beneficiaries of 17 clusters of 17 districts selected from 6 states of India – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Odisha. It was launched in the presence of CM Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Shri BL Santosh amongst other Dignitaries.

The government is giving priority to skilling as an important aspect to provide more opportunities to rural youth and strengthen local village economies. A part of this push is creating district skilling plans for each of the 700 districts. The Central Government has appointed a Mahatma Gandhi National Fellow for each district, who will work with the local district collector as the district’s public representative in shaping skills according to local requirements. This will be divided into farm economy and non-farm economy. what type of skills are required there, what type of opportunities exist there, and for skills outside the local community in the state and within the country.

Disclaimer : This is an official press release by PIB.