No specific qualification necessary for enrolment of surrendered Maoists in skill development courses

Bhubaneswar: With an aim to help surrendered Maoists return to mainstream society and ensure their livelihood, a new initiative has been taken under which they can now be enrolled in skill development training courses even if they lack the required qualification. And this has been possible due to the praiseworthy efforts of two sisters.

They may be young and have less experience in life, however, the sister duo, Kruti Jethuwa and Nithi Jethuwa’s attempts have forced the governments to change policies to bring the surrendered Naxalites back to the mainstream and help them pursue training at the Skill Development Centres (SDCs) and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) even if they do not have the requisite qualifications.

As the minimum qualification for enrolment into ITIs was Class 8, the Maoists who had earlier surrendered, were not able to take up the vocational courses. However, it was the initiative of Kruthi that the Central government relaxed the norms for the left wing extremists.

Now, surrendered Naxalites will just have to undergo a one-year foundation ITI course, following which they will be eligible for admission into any ITI of their choice.

They will also get a stipend of Rs 6,000 during their course in the vocational training institutes.

On the other hand, Nithi, who is an of alumni of DPS School at Damanjodi in Koraput district and now studying at Mother International School in New Delhi, has come with a new concept- adoption of surrendered Maoists and their acceptance by the society.

“We took up the matter with the Odisha and the Central governments. We also approached the Ministry of Skill Development and informed about our research following which the concerned authorities, at the end of March, relaxed the educational qualifications for perusing ITI degree for the surrendered Maoists,” informed Nithi.

The sister duo has been working in this field in some remote areas of Koraput district in Odisha and in the state of Chhattisgarh.
Meanwhile, Korpaut SP Kanwar Vishal Singh has assured all support to the sisters in their initiative.

“The policy for the surrendered-Maoists will be very beneficial for the extremists. We will study the changes they brought in the policies that will help them pursue ITI courses and try to implement the same in the field with proper guidance of the appropriate authorities,” Singh said after a meeting with Nithi.