Govt to train youngsters for armed forces recruitment

The state government has decided to scale-up a project in which it trains youngsters to become eligible for recruitment in the Indian Army after it managed to get 23 persons recruited last year as part of a pilot.

Two departments - Backward Classes Welfare and Minority Welfare - have rolled out the armed forces training programme that was announced in the 2017-18 budget, hailed as one-of-its-kind in the country.

This year, the Backward Classes Welfare department has trained 500 graduates and the Minority Welfare department has trained
100.

“Next year, we plan to scale it up to train 3,000 candidates,” said Backward Classes Welfare secretary Mohammad Mohsin, who was also the minority welfare secretary till recently.

“This is a rigorous two-month physical fitness training programme that is conducted as per requirements of the Indian Army.”

The yardstick for candidates to be selected is same as the criteria followed by the Indian Army, Mohsin said.

“We have hired two agencies - Indian Eye Security Limited and University Coaching Centre - and training is conducted in Bengaluru and Belagavi. The candidates’ accommodation, food and other expenses are taken care of by the government,” he said. The per-person training cost is Rs 40,000.

The armed forces recruitment training is part of the state government’s ongoing thrust on skill development. Even the Social Welfare department is going big on skill training, an area it was not known to have explored in the past.

The armed forces recruitment training, however, does not come with a job guarantee.

“Candidates who undergo the training are certified by the government. If they don’t get into the armed forces, the certificate will help open up the jobs market for them. They can apply to become home guards or other jobs for which the certificate makes them eligible,” Mohsin asserted.