OIA ministry to launch pre-departure training for emigrant workers

New Delhi, Sep 18 (UNI) The Overseas Indian Affairs (OIA) MInistry is launching a "National Programme of Pre-Departure Orientation Training and a Skill Upgradation Programme" for potential emigrant workers, in collaboration with major manpower sourcing states.

An announcement to this effect was made by OIA Minister Vayalar Ravi during a national-level consultation with the state governments attended by the States sourcing emigrant workers such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Harayana.

The training programme is expected to be launched in October this year and each of the eight participating States is expected to train between 5,000-10,000 workers in the current year.

Mr Ravi said the key objectives of this national initiative would be to help overseas Indian workers benefit from the emerging employment opportunities across the world and enable them to move up the wage chain.

"India must be perceived as a supplier of highly skilled and trained manpower to the world," he said.

The Minister explained that the national initiative would be undertaken by the State Governments with the support of the OIA Ministry in partnership with apex industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The objective will be to support the eight major sourcing States to train at least 50,000 workers annually for overseas employment in diverse sectors.

He also announced that the funding for this National Programme will be on a 75:25 basis with the OIA Ministry providing 75 per cent of the funding and the State Governments meeting 25 per cent of the cost.

The States have been given the flexibility to utilise the existing training infrastructure including the extensive network of Industrial Training Institutes, Vocational Training Institutes and the Small Industry Service Institute on the one hand as well as Credible Technical Training Institutions run by the private sector.

The duration of the training will range between 1-2 weeks depending on the need at a training cost of about Rs. 20,000 per batch of 15 trainees.

Mr Ravi said in the first phase, eight major States, which currently send a large number of workers overseas, have been identified as largest States for this National Programme.

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