BHUBANESWAR:The State Government has won the Prime Minister’s Award for best State in the country in skill development of rural youth for second year in a row.The award will be presented at a function in Ranchi on May 5, official sources said.
“We are proud that Odisha has successfully trained and ensured employment for a record 96,000 rural youth under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY). Our Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS), with its out-of-the-box initiatives for ‘Quality with Quantity’, accounts for one-fifth of national target,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a Facebook post.The State Government has also created sustainable income source for 70,000 youths.
The Chief Minister further said many renowned national and multinational companies are preferring skilled youths from Odisha. “More heartening is the fact that other states are studying the Odisha model to replicate it for skilling their youth,” he added.Congratulating the Panchayati Raj Department and ORMAS for the achievement, Patnaik said, “Let us continue to march ahead with collective efforts to give shape to our vision of making “Skilled In Odisha”, the best in the world.”
Naveen said the State Government has set a target of skilling 1 lakh youths in next two years. The State has adopted some key innovations and strategies which are one of its own kind, unique and exemplary for all other State, said ORMAS Executive Director BN Das. He said ORMAS, the State implementing agency, has developed a robust mechanism for mobilisation of rural unemployed youths through community involvement. Rating of skill development centres and grading of project implementing agencies (PIAs) are done to ensure quality in skill training.
The PIAs are treated as development partners and selective parterres are provided government infrastructure for skill development, Das said.The State has opened migration support centers at Bengaluru and Gurugram for supporting the candidates who migrate to metro cities in search of jobs.
“Association of skill partners which is unique in the country is not only implementing skill development programme but also extending support to the State Government in policy formulation,” he added.
The State had received the award for 2016-17.