Row over skill development award to Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Controversy surfaced over Odisha government's announcement that it has won the Prime Minister’s award for being the best State in skill development of rural youths under the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY).

While the Odisha unit of BJP slammed the State government saying that it is using the Prime Minister’s name as CM Naveen is facing an image crisis, the ruling party in its defence said the saffron party is levelling false charges out of desperation.

As per BJP, the State government has received the award under DDU-GKY and the ruling-BJD is using Prime Minister's name to publicise the same; while under the actual Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Yojana, the State government has failed to achieve the targets.

In a presser, BJP spokesperson, Golak Mohapatra stated the Odisha government should clarify how many youths in the State have got jobs. “They are just doing false publicity,” he stated.

The State has failed to achieve the target to provide training to 37,000 unemployed youths under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Yojana as only 59 have been trained so far, Mohapatra elaborated.

Refuting the charges, Odisha Panchayati Raj Minister, Pradeep Maharathy said, unlike last year when the award was christened as Deen Dayal Award, the Prime Minister’s Office this year had announced that it would be the termed as PM’s award.

“They (BJP) are making such allegations out of desperation only,” Maharathy added.