'Employment exchanges to be HRD centres soon'

Speaking to presspersons before attending the two-day job fair at Ammanni Ramanna Shetty Hall, organised by the Skill Commission,  Department of Employment and Training, and the Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Corporation here on Saturday, he said employment exchanges have failed to meet the requirements of the unemployed youth. Hence, it wil be replaced with HRD Centres.

The initiative on HRD Centre has already been taken at Mangalore. By March 2011, HRD Centres will start functioning in eight districts. The setting up HRD Centres in other districts will be taken up in the third phase.

A total of 2,20,299 candidates have appeared for job fair so far. Candidates who have passed SSLC to Post Graduation have taken part in the fair. Of which, 1,42,325 have been absorbed by various firms including in automobile, hospitality and manufacturing sectors.

The department is organising job fair every month at various parts of the state in association with Skill Commission, Department of Employment and Training, and the Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Corporation, he added.

He said “we have plans to hold next job fair in Bangalore. When compared to other districts, only 2,207 candidates have registered for job fair. Of which, 540 have been absorbed by various sectors. About 534 candidates have been selected for the training. Normally, in other districts, about 15,000 to 20,000 unemployed youth register at job fair. Every year 1.40 lakh students pass out from 1,250 ITIs in the state.

To meet the requirement of skilled man power, the government has decided to start additional one thousand ITIs in the state,” he added. 

Construction workers

The Minister said that there are 1.25 lakh registered building construction workers in the state. Of which, 8,180 are from Mangalore and 4,095 are from Udupi. A sum of Rs 1 crore worth claims have been settled to the various beneficiaries including medical, scholarship, accident benefits.

He said Rashtriya Swasthya Bheema Yojana for BPL families have been introduced in five districts in the state including Dakshina Kannada. It will be extended to all the districts in the coming days. This will benefit 20 lakh BPL families in the state. Under the scheme, five members of a family will be entitled to get maximum medical benefit of 30,000 as in patients.

Higher Education Minister Dr V S Acharya urged the Labour Minister to strengthen  ESI Hospital in Udupi. MLA Raghupathy Bhat presided.

Candidates who were PUC pass or fail or who had done any of SSLC, ITI, diploma, BE, and had attended the assessment process conducted by the Department of Employment and Training in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikmagalur districts on November 9 and 10, could participate in the Fair.

Assistant Employment Officer R M Nayak said companies from information technology, business process outsourcing, manufacturing, retail, hospitality and health care sectors had participated in the fair, he said.

Deputy Commissioner P Hemalatha inaugurated the fair on Friday.