State to convert local employment exchanges to career centres

"All the district level employment exchanges will be converted as the offices of the employment mission and will operate as career guidance centres for unemployed youths," said Chief Secretary B K Patnaik after attending a conference on Skill Odisha Summit.

On the basis of screening and assessments done at these centers, eligible youths would be given skill training in different sectors, the chief secretary said adding that the state government targets at least one million persons to be given skill training as against the union government`s target of 2.78 million.

The potential sectors on which the state government has identified for imparting training are construction, apparel, driving, manufacturing, hospitality and the service industry.

According to the strategy paper `Market Linked Skilled Development Training Programme for Unemployed Youth` released on Friday the state government has set tentative targets to train ten lakh youths in different sectors.

While construction and textile sectors target to train 2 lakh each youths, 1.5 lakh of unemployed persons would be trained in driving and manufacturing sectors. Similarly, the projected figure for manufacturing, health, security guards, hospitality, IT/ITes (Information technology/IT enabled services) and retail is fifty thousand each.

For telecom, banking and other miscellaneous sectors about 50,000 youths would be trained in the 12th five-year plan, the paper said. Dillip Chenoy of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) said over the next 15 years, the total work force demand for skilled jobs in Odisha was expected to grow from 76 lakhs in 2011 to135 lakhs in 2026.