BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has taken strong exception to the Centre’s unilateral selection of agencies for conducting placement-linked training programme under special swarnajayanti gram swarozgar yojana (SGSY). The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has selected 23 outside agencies and sanctioned funds for undertaking skill upgradation and capacity building programmes for rural unemployed youths without consulting the State Government. The Ministry has sanctioned ` 250 crore for the skill development projects with a target to enhance the capacity of 65,000 rural youths and provide them regular employment. What is more galling is that some Central agencies like National Institute Rural Development (NIRD), Nabard Consultancy Service (NABCON), Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) havebeen engaged to assess the performance of the project implementing agencies (PIAs). In the absence of infrastructure facility to extend training, the PIAs have outsourced the skill development programme to technical training institutes, professional educational institutions and other private entities about which the State Government has less credible information. Panchayati Raj Secretary PK Jena has reportedly taken exception to the unilateral decision of the MoRD in selection of PIAs for the skill upgradation programme without involving the State Government. He has written a letter to the MoRD expressing displeasure of the State Government in the matter. Interestingly, the PIAs took the assistance of the State Government in the selection of the candidates for the skill upgradation training programme. Counselling programmes for selection of candidates were conducted at district and State level under Project Dakshyata and the selected candidates are imparted training in select institutes both inside the State and outside. Jena on Monday reviewed the performance of the PIAs at a meeting here. The meeting revealed that 25,000 youths were provided training in different trades and 21,000 of them have been given employment inside the State and outside.Meanwhile, the State Government has decided to conduct a tracer study to assess the skill levels of trained beneficiaries under various skill development training programmes and their post-training status.‘’The objective of the study is to evaluate the success of the capacity building programmes funded by the Government,’’ said State Employment Mission Director Arabinda Padhi. The other objectives are to study the certification process, quantify the number of jobs (both salaried and self-employment) generated, to analyse whethercurrent support system actually helps in enhancing the skill level and employability of the trained persons and find out the trainees’ perception on the training programmes, he said. The tracer study will provide an opportunity to find out how the funds provided by the Government for skill development are utilised by the user agencies, the training facilities available and the quality of the trainers.
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