'PM Mulling Roping in Defence Officials for Skill Training'

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 12 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considering roping in retiring defence officials to provide skill training, Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said here Monday.

He said the government feels a good number of individuals, who complete 20 years of defence service in various posts, retire annually. They can be taught how to provide training to those seeking to learn skills.

"The prime minister is one person who is known to think out of the box and he is already aware of the huge potential that retiring defence officials can offer.

"We have suggested that in the last year of their service before retiring, they can be equipped in such a manner that once they retire they can either engage in productive work or use their services and expertise to act as trainers to those seeking skills," said Rudy.

The minister was in the state capital to witness the signing of a MoU between the Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) for engaging in partnerships across a range of skill development activities.

NSDC is the nodal agency of the union government tasked with bridging the skill gap in the country and with this new MoU, it would support and provide resources for facilitating the skill development initiatives and capacity building programmes of KASE.

Kerala Minister for Labour and Skill Development Shibhu Baby John pointed out to Rudy that one area where skill training is required is in the automobile sector as it has become a challenge to get trainers.

Rudy replied that this would be taken up first."We will ensure that this is done and your request has been approved."

The union minister also agreed to John's request to ensure that the large number of Middle-East returnees in the state, familiar with the needs of the labour market in the Middle-East countries, should also be drawn into providing skills to the younger generation seeking skilled jobs.

"While in Korea 96 percent of the workforce is skilled, in India it's a mere two percent. One way of wealth creation in our country is to ensure that our manufacturing sector grows from 10 percent to 25 percent.

"We have lost five decades because we concentrated only on education and not on skill development. Both of this should have happened and now we are aiming for that by equipping our workforce with the latest skills," Rudy said.