FICCI constitutes committee on affirmative action

New Delhi, July 11 (UNI) Taking cue from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the CII National Conference in May 2007, industry chamber FICCI today constituted a three member standing committees for the implementation of the affirmative action strategy.

Apollo Tyres Ltd Chairman Onkar S Kanwar, heads the FICCI Standing Committee on affirmative action for the development of public private partnership (PPP) and greenfield for Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). The Standing Committee will focus on filling the reserved seats for SC/ST students which remain unfilled to the tune of 81 per cent today.

Modi Enterprises Chairman K K Modi is the Chairman of the FICCI Standing Committee on affirmative action for the development of entrepreneurship among SC/ST population. FICCI estimates that out of the 30.35 million total enterprises in the country, SC/ST will cover over three million enterprises.

FICCI, has signed an MoU with IL&FS to develop and implement PPP approaches towards enhancing professional and vocational education and training in India. With this partnership, the standing committee will focus on empowering SC/STs through the establishment of training and learning centers, FICCI said in a statement.

Poddar Heritage Investments Ltd Chairman Saroj K Poddar leads the standing committee on affirmative action for facilitating investments in districts with high concentration of SC/ST population.

FICCI has identified 27 districts with over 40 per cent of SC/ST population and has identified local resource-based industry that offer good potential for development in such districts, said the statement.

It states that the three standing committees will oversee the implementation of the affirmative action strategy at the ground level and come up with innovative and low-cost solutions to the problems faced by SC/ST population.

The committees have been charged with the responsibility of empowering SCs/STs in order to widen the benefits of the economic growth process. The focus is on raising the quality of training and skill development of SCs/STs in a bid to make them employable in tune with the requirements of industry and services sectors.

The FICCI standing committee on affirmative action for the development of entrepreneurship amongst the SC/ST population focuses on small, tiny and the informal sector.

The chamber states that employment generation through entrepreneurship development would far exceed the number of beneficiaries under a reservation regime as the private organised sector accounts for just about 2.2 per cent (nine million) of the total workforce.

According to FICCI estimates, with an enterprise to employment ratio of 1:3, creation of five million new enterprises would result in generating 15 million additional jobs for individuals belonging to the socially backward groups.

UNI