Aiming to empower and uplift the rural youth and development, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship partnered today with the Ministry of Power to ensure access to electricity for every household in the country through an ambitious scheme, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna (SAUBHAGYA). The scheme aims to achieve universal household electrification in all parts of the country at a cost of Rs 16,320 crore, including Gross Budgetary Support of Rs 12,320 crore from the government.
In order to successfully deliver a project of this magnitude, huge volume of skilled workforce would be required across different job roles to enable completion of various components of the work. To support the successful execution of the scheme, the vocational training program has been launched in Six States today namely Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. A total estimated number of participants to be trained between the two job roles of Lineman Distribution (Multiskilled) and Techical Helper is 47000 in these six focus states and more than 55000 across the country.
The launch was done through a video conferencing with States where eminent dignitaries including State Ministers like Neera Yadav, Minister for Labour and Skill Development, Uttar Pradesh and Deepak Joshi, Minister of Skills, Madhya Pradesh, were present. The Ministers engaged to discuss local challenges and targets to support the project have the best output.
As the scheme is to be implemented across the country with 200 districts as major focus area, the skilling initiatives are proposed to be delivered in a decentralized mode at district level. The training infrastructures available with ITI’s at district level as well as the infrastructures available with the State Power Distribution Utilities will be utilized for skill training of the candidates ensuring successful implementation of the scheme.
Highlighting the role of electricity in boosting socio-economic development of a nation and congratulating all partners contributing to the success of the projects, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan said, “Today’s announcement is a new chapter in the development of our nation. Is it in line with the structured approach of our Hon’ble Prime Minister and his vision of One Team India. With our Skill India program supporting Ministry of Power and the contribution being made from REC, NSDC and the respective State Governments, this is yet another milestone reflecting how a joint organized mechanism is institutionalized to ensure efficient delivery of projects and schemes.”
“Saubhagya is a scheme with estimated expenditure of 16000 crore our of which 25% is estimated cost against wages and margin for human resource being deployed for the project. This is a big employment opportunity for skilled workforce and we will work jointly with Ministry of Power across the nation to ensure that we avail this opportunity for our youth and help them better their livelihood,” he further added.
Commenting on the partnership Raj Kumar Singh, Minister of State (I/C) for Ministry of Power (MoP) said, “Under the able leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister, all our efforts are underway in ensuring electricity connections reach all homes and that even people living in remote villages have access to it. Our Government’s aggressive village electrification programme like Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, launched in July 2015 and Saubhagya are assisting in electrification. In delivering our varied projects, our biggest challenge has been skilled manpower. This initiative will help us in meeting our daily targets for electrification. We are certain that with this partnership we will get huge support in meeting this mammoth task of rural electrification that we have ahead.”
The measure of success is to map the accomplishments that we achieve on ground. We need more than 5000 lakh man hours today to ensure successful completion of our projects and around 35000 trained manpower for Saubhagya alone. Our targets for skilling workforce will be set in accordance with our local requirements”.
The scheme is undertaken as a special project under the government’s Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). Around 47,000 Distribution Lineman-Multi Skills and 8,500 Technical Helper will be skill trained to meet the requirement. The workforce already engaged by contractors implementing this project will be considered first for the skill development programmes. Incase if any shortfalls arise, these will be met by ITI Electrician trade pass-outs from the local ITIs. Total 48 hours of training (12 hours Orientation + 36 hours Bridge course) will be provided to the existing workforce of the contractors and 120 hours of training will be provided to the fresh and ITI (Electrician Trade) pass-outs.
Saubhagya is more than a mission to provide electricity to the entire nation and ensure energy security. Since Saubhagya offers many collateral benefits, which includes creating employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for the rural youth, it will end up in bringing new hope and happiness into their lives.
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