Centre to set up 500 ITIs in next five years: Fernandes

Jamshedpur, May 13 (UNI) Union Labour and Employment minister Oscar Fernandes today said the Government will set up about 500 Indian Technological Institutions (ITIs) across the country by next five years.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, Mr Farnandes said the government had already set up 200 ITIs and targeted to set up another 300 well equipped such institutions by 2010.

He said the government has earmarked Rs 2.5 crore for the project and asked the respective states to provide land for the purpose. He said more than 5000 technical institutions in the country would be upgraded.

The minister, however, said the participation of the private organisations was necessary as the government's effort would not be enough to achieve the target. ''We need private-public partnership for imparting the technical know-how to the youth, who could carry forward the country towards the path of development and progress'', Mr Fernandes said.

Eariler, delivering the ''Twentieth Michael John Memorial Lecture'', organised by Tata Wokerers' Union (TWU) here, Mr Fernandes called upon the youth to shoulder responsibility to make the country posperous.

''We need the empowerment of youth,'' he asserted.

Expressing concern over the presence of huge unorganised sector in the country, Mr Fernandes said ''Only seven per cent come under organised sector while more than ninety per cent are unorganised skills and a huge task is laid before the govenment to train them properly.'' He said the government had introduced several schemes including ''Sarvashiksha Abhiyan'' to provide education to all as a huge number of population were deprived of education while National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme was being implemented to create job opportunity in the rural areas.

Tata Steel managing director B Muthuraman also echoed Mr Fernandes's view of the need of upgradation of technological skill and offered the Jharkhand government that the company would run all the technical institutions in the state, if given the opportunity.

''Social responsibility is the fundamental part of Tata Steel and we are ready to provide all sorts of support to the Centre and the state government for the upliftment of the weaker section of the society ,'' Mr Muthuraman said.

He regretted that it was a paradox that despite the presence of one of the best steel companies in the world and a huge mineral resources the state was lagging behind.

Mr Muthuraman also streesed the need on the rapid industrialisation for an all round developemt.

UNI