Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Governor Lt Gen (retd) Nirbhay Sharma on Friday called upon Vocational Training Providers (VTPs) to mould the skills of the youths and train them to meet the job market demands.
“Their (VTPs) encouragement and sustained effort will go a long way in setting a trend. It is not a onetime exercise and we are looking at your long term relationship with us. I am certain that you will meet the aspirations of the youth and the state in full,” Sharma said while inaugurating a three-day job mela cum skill development interview rally went here participated by 13,838 unemployed youths from all districts across the state.
“If implemented successfully, we are looking at the possibility of an ambitious, but attainable target of providing employment to one lakh youth in the next five years, both within and outside the state,” he said and exhorted the youths to look beyond government jobs, hone their skills and realize their talent to take the employment in non-government sectors besides seeking self-employment.
“Apart from the fact that the Sun rises here an hour ahead of rest of the country, giving us a daily lead, our employability dividend, that is the population in the age group 15 to 59 years bracket is 55 per cent of our population. We as a state are peaking in terms of our employability dividend way ahead of rest of the country.
Next 15 to 20 years will therefore be decisive for the state, because we will gradually start tapering down thereafter and rest of the country will then be on an upward curve,” the Governor pointed out.
Conceptualized by the state’s Industry department, the mela is being organized to sensitize youths about the job opportunities, put them across reputed vocational training providers (VTPs) who would impart them relevant skills and help them in placement in different organisations.
Arunachal Pradesh government had resolved to create employment for over five-lakh unemployed youths of the state and accordingly constituted Skill Development Council and Employment Development Council to hone the skills of the youths for gainful employment in various private sectors besides creating self-employment.
The state government, National Skill Development Agency and other organizers also have big role to play, the governor said.
“I expect them to not only facilitate the creation of this platform but monitor the progress of the project and apply corrections if required. The success rate must be reviewed periodically and the feedback taken from all stake holders including the youth, the society and officials down to the district level. Only then, we will be able to maintain the momentum of march towards our goal,” he added.
Chief Minister Nabam Tuki informed that the state government would bear the cost of training, assessment and certification.
“In case the trainees are required to be taken outside the state, the government will also bear all the cost,” he disclosed and called the youths to take full advantage of the mela to get employment.
Tuki informed that the state government in the past year recruited 4000 police personnel including 1500 personnel for troubled districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding.
“We are planning to generate one lakh employment in the 12th five year plan period and according my government could generate employment for 17000 youths in various private sectors including self employment in the last year,” the chief minister added.
Forty VTPs including various government departments and central PSUs like NHPC and NEEPCO besides private power developers Jindal and Reliance groups are participating in the mela. (PTI)