Centre to sanction 100 new ITIs to State

As the Karnataka government is hoping to create more job opportunities following the promise of huge investment by several big industrial houses, Karnataka Labour Minister B N Bachche Gowda has requested the Union Minister for Labour Mallikarjuna Kharge to sanction more ITIs to cater to the needs of the industries.

“The Union minister has agreed to sanction at least 100 ITIs to the state in the coming fiscal and also promised to fully fund 50 institutions” Bachche Gowda told Deccan Herald here.
Gowda, who was here to attend the State Labour Ministers’ annual meeting convened by the Union Ministry of Labour, said that of the 100 newly proposed ITIs, 50 will be opened in backward areas of the State. In Karnataka, at present,  1200 industrial training institutions are functioning and a total of 1.3 lakh students pass out from these institutions every year. However, there was a demand to open more institutions from different parts of the State due to the rapid growth of industrial sector, he said.

In the meeting, Karnataka also agreed to extend centrally sponsored Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), health insurance scheme for below poverty line (BPL) families, to the entire State from coming financial year. At present, the scheme is being implemented on a pilot basis in Bangalore Urban, Mysore, Dakshina Kannada, Belguam and Shimoga districts and 3.19 lakh beneficiaries are being covered.

Once it is implemented in the entire state, it will cover 20 lakh BPL families in the State, said the minister. The RSBY envisages cash-less health insurance cover up to Rs 30,000 a year on hospitalisation to a BPL family comprising five people in the unorganised sector.