Centre Nod For 6 ITIs & 10 SDCS In Odisha’s Maoist-Hit Districts

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to dissuade the youths from joining the Left wing extremism (LWE) and promote their employment skills, the Central government has given its approval to set up six industrial training institutes (ITIs) and 10 skill development centres (SDCs) in LWE affected districts of Odisha.

This was revealed by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. As many as 5,36,427 students have been trained under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana in the state till date, the TOI quoted him as saying.

With the new ITIs and SDCs coming up, more students will be able to earn livelihood through vocational education, the minister said.

He further said the Aspirational Districts Programme aims at promoting the schemes having own funding arrangements. In order to encourage competitive spirit and address critical gaps, additional allocation has been made for the districts securing good ranks.

The first and second rank holders in overall performance are awarded Rs 10 crore and Rs 5 crore respectively, he said adding that the first ranker of the five sectors is awarded Rs 3 crore each.

The aspirational districts of Gajapati, Nuapada, Balangir, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Dhenkanal, Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Koraput have been sanctioned around Rs 43.3 crore for different projects including health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, the minister said.