Telangana Govt focussed on skill development of youth to make them globally competitive, says CM   

Telangana Chief Minister focuses on skill development to address unemployment, State Government invests in Advanced Technology Centres for youth training.

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has asserted that his Government has focussed on skill development of youth to make them globally competitive and thereby address unemployment which is a major problem afflicting them.

Unemployment has played a key role in the movement for separate Statehood, but the issue was not addressed adequately in the past decade since the formation of Telangana. “Youth made rounds of various recruitment boards set up for jobs in police, health and other departments. A decade has been wasted prompting them to take to extreme steps,” he said.

The Chief Minister spoke on Tuesday after laying foundation stone for setting up four Advanced Technology Centres (ATC), the new form of the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI), conceived to enhance skill sets of youth for making them industry ready. The project, aimed at converting 65 ITIs into ATCs has been taken up with an estimated ₹2,324.21 crore in association with Tata Technologies Limited (TTL). Of the total investment, the State Government would contribute ₹307.96 crore while the TTL’s share would be ₹2,016.25 crore.

The ATCs would not only offer training in various modern technologies like robotics and electric vehicle manufacturing but also act as skill development centres. These centres would be equipped with virtual reality labs as part of the skill development programmes. Asserting that the Government had plan of action to make these ATCs as skill centres and was committed to provide all facilities in them, the Chief Minister said he would personally monitor the functioning and progress of the ATCs and would hold review meetings once every month.

Mr. Revanth Reddy lamented that the ITIs had been rendered ‘out of focus’ as they continued to offer courses in trades that were four decades old and did not match the emerging technologies. This prompted the Government to convert them to ATCs offering courses in state of the art technology and enhancing their employability not only within the country but globally. The Government had accordingly roped in TTL, reputed for technology training, to train aspiring youth so that they were made industry ready.

“Possession of mere certificates is not sufficient. Youth should have the required skills to make them globally competitive,” he said recalling his own experience of how civil engineers accepted to work for construction of his house at small wages while contractors trained in the area demanded huge amounts.

He recalled how the youth performed exceedingly well in the IT and pharma sector competing globally and the same spirit was not seen in the mid segment. “Our focus is on the mid segment. We will impart the required skill sets and training to the youth in these segments and make them globally competitive,” he averred.