State govt, TATA Motors joint venture launched at ITI Kohima

Our Correspondent KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 10 In an effort to provide top-notch training in automotive engineering and mechanical trade to better equip aspirant youths of Nagaland, the state government and TATA Motors Private Limited have started a PPP mode project by upgrading Diesel Mechanic Trade, the automotive section of the Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Kohima. The joint venture was formally inaugurated on Wednesday by the Chief Minister TR Zeliang in the presence of the Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) & National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) S Ramadorai, Chairman of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FICCI) NE advisory council Ranjit Barthakur, Consultant TATA Motors SP Joshi and a host of state officials. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister stressed on the importance of skill development and vocational education in equipping the youth to be gainfully employed. “Government jobs alone cannot meet the growing demand for employment and it is high time our people ventured outside this sector,” he said. He acknowledged that Nagaland has limitations for creation of employment avenues outside the government sector due to factors like lack of industrialization, limited economic activities and remoteness of location etc. Zeliang said partnership with the industry is needed in order to successfully implement the Prime Minister’s Skill India Mission in the state. Towards this, he also pointed out the importance of placement of a student as much as imparting skills to them, as he observes that skilling alone cannot solve employment problem. “This is where the industry and skilling have to move together,” he stated. Also sharing the state’s needs and concerns, the Chief Minister remarked that with new technology fast replacing old and primitive ones, there is urgent need of upgrading the infrastructure of the ITIs in Nagaland as most of them are still functioning with what they had since their inception, and also for constant review and restructuring of the syllabi to make them relevant to the latest needs of the industry. Stating this would help the trainees be equipped with required skills for employment in modern establishments or even to take up self-employment as entrepreneurs, Zeliang underscored the need to ensure a steady flow of skilled workers and improve the quality of industrial production. He expressed hope that the Central government will take up these needs and consider to come up with a program for Nagaland and the NE states similar to the NSDC program ‘UDAAN’ which was specially tailored for Jammu & Kashmir state. Further, the Chief Minister lauded the state department of Labour & Employment, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and TATA Motors for taking up the joint venture, making it a first partnership with corporate India in the area of skill development. He also expressed appreciation that other big private players like Castrol, Bosch, Fleetguard and ZF are participating in the project along with TATA Motors and hoped that this will be the beginning of bigger partnerships between the state and corporate houses in the near future. NSDC & NSDA Chairman, Ramadorai in his address said this unique PPP initiative is likely to redefine the way skills training is delivered in Nagaland and the centre should buzz with learning activity all year round, making a difference to the community. He said there are 15,000 it is across India wherein about 10,000 are in the private sector and 5000 are government undertaking, and the Central government has recently announced the setting up of 7000 more. “While it is a great thing to look at the 7000 ITIs, it is important to make utilization of these ITIs,” he said. An unemployed youth who is unskilled is better than an unemployed youth who is skilled, he stated and underscored for the need to ensure that every youth is skilled and employed. The NSDC chairman is enthusiastic that the new state-of-the-art workshop with modern instruments will provide the students a deep understanding of the modern day vehicles and the upgraded ICT lab will sharpen their information technology skills. Most importantly, he said, the intake capacity of ITI Kohima for the auto-centric trades is projected to grow from 336 to 950, which means almost thrice the number of students would benefit from the institute annually. Ramadorai also informed that along with ITI Kohima, seven ITIs are already upgraded in the northeast and three more are in the process, and he expressed optimism that the youth of Nagaland will have better career opportunities with the upgraded facility at the ITI Kohima and will open a plethora of employment avenues within and outside the state. With the majority of the Naga youth speaking English, he feels that Nagaland has a huge potential to contribute towards the growing services sector in India. He expressed hope that the state will help replicate this unique symbiotic PPP model for institute development across various sectors in Nagaland, asserting that creation of a favourable environment for new private companies to invest and promoting growth of local industry are the key towards economic progress of a state. He urged upon all the students of the ITI to work hard and take full advantage of the world class facilities provided to them, learn and progress in their skills as it is them who will benefit from the training. Meanwhile, delivering a brief description of the joint initiative, Consultant TATA Motors, SP Joshi said the company is proud to partner in the venture. He mentioned the fast pace that technology is moving and the need to match the present trend and future technology requirements while imparting knowledge to students. He highlighted that educational institutes must build a scope for the advancement of the skill as well as for the multi-skilling of the students as all over the world, people have started looking for skilled manpower as well as the manpower with multi-skills. TATA Motors being the largest automobile company in India and the third largest automobile company for manufacturing in the world, he said, aspires to share their experience with the younger generation and decided to work in the northeast by partnering in educational programs. He emphasized that students/trainees must have hands-on experience and towards this, he said one of TATA Motors dealers in Dimapur has set up a small service centre in the premises of ITI Kohima so that the students would get hand-on experience during their course. When the students come out of the institute, they will not only be certificate holders but will have additional skills and will have the privilege of being the first selects at job fairs. He also announced that a driving training simulator has been set up and for the students to get road driving experience, the company has sanctioned a brand new 407 TATA vehicle for the ITI. The key of the vehicle was handed over to the director Employment & Craftsmen Training, Muthingnyuba Sangtam during the programme. Earlier, Parliamentary Secretary for Labour & Employment, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Mmhonlumo Kikon who delivered the welcome address, also submitted a representation to the NSDC & NSDA Chairman on behalf of the department. FICCI Northeast Advisory Council chairman, Ranjit Barthakur, who was mentioned as a driving force in making the joint venture possible, also gave a brief speech on the occasion. During the inauguration programme of the Upgradation of Diesel Mechanic Trade at ITI Kohima, the chairman of NSDC & NSDA, S Ramadorai who is also the chairman of Air Asia India, has assured today that he will take up the matter of a possible flight service from Dimapur to Delhi via Guwahati to the Aviation Board and Air Asia authorities as to see what could be done. The matter was said to have been raised by the Chief Minister TR Zeliang during an informal discussion on Tuesday.