NEW DELHI: The Railways will make available space and manpower for carrying out skill development activities across the country as part of Skill India campaign. The Railways has identified 450 institutions and training centres which will be used for honing the skills of the youth in rural and tribal areas of the country.
An MoU was signed between the Railway Ministry and the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry whereby the public transporter will provide unutilised and less-utilised spaces at stations, workshops, railway schools and training institutes for the skill development programmes in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally launch the National Skill Development Mission by unveiling the new National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and rolling out on an all-India basis the ministry’s flagship scheme, ‘Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikash Yojana’ on Wednesday. The principal focus of the National Skill Development Mission is to train 500 million people by 2022 to make them “employable”. “Skill development is very important and now we will be working for that purpose. Our railway employees will also impart training as part of their social responsibility,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
Prabhu said the Railway Ministry was happy to contribute to the national endeavour of skill development and it would be done through skill training centres at sparable Railway infrastructure like way side stations, railway training centres, railway schools and institutes spread across the country.
There are about 7,000 stations on the Railways’ network along with a good number of workshops and training institutes some of which are not fully utilised.
With the signing of this MoU, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and National Skill Development Corporation will be able to provide the right platform to a large number of unemployed youth and provide them an opportunity to to learn skills that will help them become economically self reliant and productive members of the society.