State govt to frame new skill development policy to provide jobs

The Karnataka government will soon come out with a Skill Development Policy to ensure employment for all youth, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Monday.

Speaking after launching the government’s ambitious ‘Kaushalya Karnataka’ project, he said the policy will strive to put in the mechanism necessary to promote employment among youth and bring them into the labour force.

“At present, of all the students who get into mainstream education in Karnataka, only 29% of them complete their graduation. Our target is to raise this to 70% which is on par with that in developed countries, by 2030,” the chief minister said. He said the Kaushalya Karnataka project will go a long way in ensuring sustainable livelihood to youth either through wage employment or self employment option and also improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education.

Cine actor Puneeth Rajkumar, who has been appointed brand ambassador for the project, was present at the launch. The project aims to train five lakh youth in various skills and provide employment to at least one lakh in 2017-18. Similar targets have been set for the next two years and the government will take steps to provide jobs to an additional 2.5 lakh youth, Siddaramaiah said.

While the chief minister set off the state-wide launch of the project at the Banquet Hall in Vidhana Soudha, district in-charge ministers have been directed to initiate the scheme in their respective jurisdictions.

A web portal Kaush-alkar.com, where those interested in receiving skill training, was also launched on Monday. Kaushalkar app can also be downloaded on Android smartphones.  

Siddaramaiah said those who register will be provided three to six months of training by qualified personnel free of cost in keeping with the specification of the National Skill Qualification Framework. The training programmes will be moulded to meet the requirements of the industry, he added.