HYDERABAD: Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday stressed that the government was focusing on boosting skill development opportunities for women, pointing out that the ministry is in the process of setting up six Regional Vocational Training Institutes (RVTI) in various states. After attending the foundation stone laying ceremony of Hyderabad’s RTVI along with vice- president M Venkaiah Naidu, Pradhan said, “To ensure this (women training and empowerment), we have a target of setting up one RVTI in each state.
MSDE is presently running 17 such institutes. Apart from Hyderabad, six new RVTIs will be set up in Tripura, Patna, Punjab, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.” According to the government, skill training meant exclusively for women is being provided through a network of 11 central government institutions, 1,408 state women ITIs and women wings in general ITIs. Besides these, 30 per cent of the seats in general ITIs in most states are also reserved for women.
Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu, who laid the foundation stone also stressed on the benefits of skill development, pointing out that this also contributes to economies across the world due to the huge demand for skilled workforce world over. It is right to reap our demographic dividend and bridge this demand supply gap, Naidu said. “Through skill development, we will not only empower our own country and its industries but also contribute to economies across the world. There is a huge demand for skilled workforce world over and it is the right that we reap our demographic dividend and bridge this demand supply gap.”