Skill Development Centres to Come Up Across Northeast: Rudy

Guwahati, Feb 3 (IANS) The central government will set up skill development centres in all blocks of Assam and the other northeastern states to increase employability of the younger generations, union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said here on Wednesday.

"I want to assure that a net of skilled development centres would be set up across the blocks in Assam and other northeastern states," the minister for skill development and entrepreneurship told reporters at the BJP's state headquarters in Guwahati.

"We are also working to arrange for passports for the skilled youths in the northeastern region and to send them for suitable employment overseas in consultation with the external affairs ministry," he said.

Rudy slammed the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre for its "wrong policies".

"Today, the 23 lakh unemployed youth is the biggest challenge faced by Assam," he said.

"In Assam and the other northeastern states, there are thousands of blocks where there is no skill development centre or Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to give skill training to the youth."

Rudy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi created the skill development ministry considering the need for skill training of people in the country, particularly the youth, to increase their employability.

Citing international data, Rudy said 96 percent people in South Korea were skilled and employable, followed by Japan with 80 percent, and the US with 55 percent.

"However, according to the National Sample Survey, only 4.5 percent of the workforce in India are skilled," he said, adding this was why Modi started the Skill India mission last year.

He said that while there were 17.5 lakh engineering institute seats in India, 8.5 lakh seats were vacant.

Fifteen percent of engineering graduates and 17 percent of management graduates in India were unemployed, he said.