Govt launches programme for rural youth from BPL families

The project was recently launched by the Rural Development Ministry under its ongoing Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana on the recommendation of an Inter-Ministerial Group constituted to address the issue of capacity building and training. "The project is designed to equip unemployed rural youths of BPL households with marketable skills, which would enable them to either secure placement in the industry or pursue sustainable self-employment opportunities through micro enterprise," a senior official of the Ministry told reporters.

Priority will be given to those youths who have completed 100 days of employment under the NREGA, he said. The project seeks to ensure that 75 per cent of youth, who undergo training under the programme, get suitable placements in the field of their expertise, he said. 'Special Projects for Skill Development of Rural Youth' is a demand-driven programme and one of the main pre-requisites of the project is that implementing agencies should have a commitment to provide employment to the trained persons, the official said.

Mumbai-based Pipal Tree Ventures Private Limited, Delhi- based NIIT and Tally Solutions Private Limited were entrusted with the implementation of the scheme. These agencies will have to ensure that out of the total beneficiaries covered, 50 per cent belong to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, 40 per cent women and 15 per cent minority, the official said.

Earlier, the Ministry launched the programme on pilot basis under special project component of SGSY on a Public- Private-Partnership basis. "In view of success of the pilot projects, efforts were made to upscale the programme as it was felt that regular wage employment to at least one member of a rural BPL family will enable it to come out of poverty," the official said.

The objective of each of the special projects of skill development is to ensure a time-bound training and capacity building programme for bringing a specific number of BPL families above the poverty line through job placement ensuring regular wage employment, he said. The programme aims to impart skills which help the trainees get a regular employment and ensure that their initial wages are not less than the prescribed minimum wages, he said.