JSW Foundation Chairperson Sangita Jindal Calls For Bridging Gender Gap Through Skills

Bhubaneswar: Chairperson of JSW Foundation Sangita Jindal on Friday stressed on bridging the gender gap in all activities through skills.

In her special address on second day of the Odisha Skill Conclave in Bhubaneswar, she informed that 30,000 young women and girls are benefiting from India’s largest and first of its kind Skill Impact Bond that JSW runs in collaboration with national and international partner organisations.

“More than 4,000 women from the rural areas are gaining economic independence and contributing to nation building by being a part of JSW Shakti BPO – a sustainable social enterprise initiative in Karnataka. JSW is firm on building a workforce of women to enter traditionally male dominated areas such as hard-core mining, port handling and construction roles,” she said.

The session on the theme “Narrowing the Gender Gap- Empowering through skills” was moderated by Sujata Karthikeyan, secretary, Mission Shakti.

Jindal appreciated the women HEMM operators for excelling and breaking gender stereotypes. She felicitated 11 women dumper operators for their skill in operating Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM). Some of these operators are trained from Government ITI at Barbil.

She congratulated Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for this initiative to transform Odisha into a skill hub. JSW especially is taking strong initiatives to recruit women in different operations. It is the first company in the state to provide platform for the women to operate dumpers in its captive mines.

Intensive training is provided to hone their skills as HEMM operators. On completion of their training, women are deployed as operations assistant to operate HEMM at Quarry SE, which includes dumper, dozer, shovel, and drill, etc.

Earlier, Jindal also met the chief minister to discuss skill development potential in Odisha. She also discussed with Subroto Bagchi, Chairperson Odisha Skill Development Authority, on the possibilities of future collaboration.

It may be noted that on the inaugural day of Odisha Skill Conclave, Naveen interacted with the women heavy earth moving machinery operators from JSW mines in the Joda-Koira sector.