600 Youths Trained under Skill Development Scheme given Material from BTGT & SUPA

NewZNew (Chandigarh) : The Punjab and Haryana Governor cum UT Administrator, Prof. Kaptan Singh Solanki, today said Skill development is an important component in improving the employability and for reducing poverty and exclusion and enhancing competencies and employability.

He was addressing the audience at the kit distribution function organised by Bridging the Gap Together (BTGT) in collaboration with State Urban Poverty Alleviation (SUPA) Cell, Municipal Corporation Chandigarh and the Department of Life Long learning and Extension, Panjab University, Chandigarh at Panjab University (PU) auditorium here today. The scheme is being implemented under NULM (National Urban Livelihood Mission).

Material worth Rs 2000 per candidate was given to about 600 youths from EWS families, around 388 of which are girls and rest are boys. The welcome address was given by Vivek Raheja, Director, BTGT. The scheme aims to reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.

The Governor said, “We have the youth power and the future of our country depends on youth, hence it is important to remember five ‘S’, which are skills, sincerity, seriousness, social and spiritual, which will go a long way in making you self-dependent and to be respected in the society”, adding he was delighted with the outcomes of the scheme, where beneficiaries reached up to 20k salaries per month.

Prof. Arun Kumar Grover, Panjab University Vice Chancellor, while speaking on the occasion appreciated the training and described it as very important national agenda. He said that we are globalised world now and we need to compete globally.

Bhavana Garg, Commissioner, MC, Chandigarh, said, soon a feedback system is being developed in which beneficiaries will be able to send their feedback through email. Also alumni will be soon formed so that those who have undergone training can remain in touch with each other. Vivek Trivedi SDO, SUPA Cell, MC, Chandigarh said, “Out of the 400 hours training, 60 hours have been dedicated to personality development and 30 hours for character development and their stipend has also been increased from Rs 1000 to 2000.”

Vivek Raheja, Founder Director, BTGT, while speaking on the occasion said, “BTGT poverty action research lab, after interacting with 1000 EWS/BPL youth and continuous action research of 5 years developed a holistic competency based growth framework where in the students can grow from a few thousand to 50 thousand a month.”

While speaking on the occasion, Prof. Renu Gandhi, Chairperson, Department of Life Long learning and Extension, Panjab University, said, “I am really touched by the ground level work doing by BTGT under livelihood skill training program in retail, sales and marketing. The department of lifelong learning is always at the forefront to provide extended education through vocational courses and we have associated for assessment also with them.  BTGT is giving training to more than 400 candidates at the venue and Aligning with the national mission of skill development through NULM.”

What the Material Kit Includes: The material included three workbooks (English, IT and Retail), English Grammar book, Some motivational books like Ignited Minds (Tejasvi maan) by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Who will cry when you will die by Robin Sharma, Autobiography of Steve Jobs, teachings of Swami Vivekananda, Pen Drive, Calculator, writing material and a bag distributed to the beneficiaries as an integral part of the program, who are taking training from BTGT under NULM scheme.

About SUPA & BTGT

State Urban Poverty Alleviation (SUPA), Cell, Municipal Corporation Chandigarh is the local government body responsible for to monitoring, mentoring and guiding the STPs (Service training providers) for the best implementation of the NULM (National Urban Livelihood Mission) policy. Bridging the Gap Together (BTGT), is a Chandigarh based social enterprise, as one of the STP, which is implementing the scheme for Retail /sales training with missionary spirit.