Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Programmes for 2200 North Eastern Region Youths

INVC,,

Delhi,,

The Capacity Building and Technical Assistance programmes administered by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) primarily aims to provide skills and competencies for self employment and employability and also assist in providing any other specialized inputs required for Human Resource Development in various sectors. It follows from this that the responsibility of the Ministry is holistically directed towards imparting training for better governance and skill development of educated youth of the region.

The beneficiaries of these programmes are students and officials from the North Eastern Region. All institutes are administered by the Government of India unless the concerned State decided otherwise. Out of 17 institutes whose services were utilized for this purpose during the year 2009-10, except a New Delhi- based Foundation for Public Economics & Policy Research, all 16 were under different Ministries of Government of India. This Foundation for Public Economics & Policy Research has however been selected by the State of Arunachal Pradesh for training their tax officials on VAT policy and the amount released to the State Government by the Ministry of DoNER.

In the financial year 2009-10, a total of Rs.13.20 Crores was spent on the various training programmes for over 2200 youth and employees of NE Region. Priority was given to the institutes located in the Region if such centers under the Government are available for the identified skill training. Accordingly, out of Rs.13.20 crore, five institutes (a) Regional Vocational Training Institute, Tura (b) DOEACC Society, Kohima, Guwahati, Imphal (c) CIPET, Guwahati (d) CIPET, Imphal and (e) Cane & Bamboo Technology Centre, Guwahati have received Rs.6.23 Crores for training 610 candidates from the region. The funds disbursed were used for only training purposes of students and officers from the North Eastern Region.

The principle in the selection of these institutions incorporates the ability to impart quality training, high professional standards, placement avenues and also the intake capacity. All the trainings were conducted in reputed Institutions affiliated to the Government of India.

The existing infrastructure in the Region may not be adequate to complete the training for all selected persons. In such cases, similar Government institutes in the country are used for this purpose to meet the balance demand. For instance, the Plastics Engineering Technology course was given to more than 600 students from the region. Out of these, 530 students were trained in the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering Technology (CIPET) campuses in Imphal and Guwahati at a cost of Rs.3.18 Crores. The rest of the students were trained in the CIPET campus in Chennai at a cost of Rs.68.64 lacs.

For Computer and IT Skills, the DOEACC Society Centers in Kohima, Imphal and Guwahati were given Rs.93.48 lacs for training students from the North East in different modules. However, some students were sent to DOAECC Centre, Kolkata in addition to those trained within the Region because the Bio Informatics Course was not available in any of the centers of the Region with the nearest center being Kolkata only. Over 80 Women were given vocational training in the Regional Vocational Training Institute, Tura at a cost of Rs.11.76 lacs.

The National Institute of Fashion Technology, Kolkata affiliated to the Ministry of Textiles is the only fashion design Institute within the affinity of the region to impart training in fashion designing courses. A total of 120 students were trained in this Institute. Similarly, due to the absence of any center in the region where the facilities for training including practical and industrial training are not adequate, 1213 students were trained in Tool Making, Designing and Machine Operations courses in the Indo German Tool Rooms of the Government of India in places like Aurangabad, Ahmedabad, Jamshedpur, Indore and Bhubaneswar.

Due to an impeccable record in placements, ITDC Institutes under Ministry of Tourism were selected for Hospitality & Tourism Management Training in New Delhi and Bangalore. It is heartening to know that, 117 students were trained in these Institutes at a cost of mere Rs.9.37 lakhs and 93 students were immediately placed and 12 opted to stay out of the Institutional placement and were absorbed elsewhere.

For some of the courses, funds were directly disbursed to the State Governments for training Officers in different Managerial programmes. The Government of Arunachal Pradesh was given Rs.6 lacs for training officers in VAT Policy. Similarly, Government of Tripura was given Rs. 2 Crores for rehabilitation programmes for Surrendered Militants. In these types of cases, the State Government reserves the discretion of selection of Institutes.

The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and the North Eastern Council is also trying to create Institutes in the North Eastern Region for harnessing the human resource of the constituent states. The North Eastern Council has since its inception played a pivotal role in developing many Institutions in the region which include Dr.B.Barooah Cancer Institute, North East Regional Institute of Mental Health, North East Police Academy, Cane & Bamboo Technology Centre, to name a few. Now also, there are serious efforts on to build up more such Institutes in the future.