HYDERABAD: Even as the Opposition parties are accusing the ruling TDP of displacing thousands of farm labourers in the capital region, by taking over the fertile agricultural lands for the construction of the new capital city of Amaravati, the Andhra Pradesh government has begun the exercise of providing training in skill development to these workers to help them get jobs in industries and also prepare them for availing self-employment schemes.
The AP State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) has identified 20,000 farm labourers from 29 villages of the capital region to train them in skill development, so as to help them land jobs in private industries. These farm labourers would be trained in 14 sectors.
“We have already started providing skill development training for the first batch of people from the capital region. In the first batch, as many as 250 farm labourers are undergoing training in construction sector and self-employment schemes,” said municipal administration minister P Narayana.
Besides this, the state government is planning to set up Capital Region Social Security Fund for 12,000 families of agriculture labourers and tenant farmers. Each family would be paid Rs 2,500 per month for 10 years. The government has plans to provide employment for the farm labourers 365 days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It is also planning to arrange interest-free loans up to Rs 25 lakh each for youth to take up self-employment in the new capital region.
Meanwhile, the APSSDC would partner with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IKEA, global retail chain, to train 5,000 women in 10 clusters on handicrafts.
The government also decided to set up a Sector Skill Council in the state on the lines of the National Sector Skill Council. In fact, the APSSDC is already working with Siemens and has established 36 centres of excellence in six clusters in the hub-and-spoke model apart from the existing skill development centres.
The Corporation has app developers and experts from software giants like Microsoft and other companies, who are training students in mobile app development in the skill development centres. The APSSDC has studied UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat and New Zealand models of skill development for implementing the same in the state.
According to the APSSDC officials, 15,000 students would be trained in 14 courses under Electronic System Design & Manufacturing. The APSSDC is planning to start this project with 1,000 students. Tata Strive, Maruti, McKinsey Social Initiative, are the other partners who showed interest in skill development in the state.