PANAJI
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai on Thursday sought to highlight the lacunae in the departments of craftsmen training as well as handicrafts, textiles and linked the failure of the government in boosting these sectors with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Skill India Mission.
The Skill India Mission was launched with the intention of pushing the youth to take up skill and vocational training, thereby improving their employability. The Mission aims to equip 40.2 crore workers with various skills by 2022.
Raising the issue with Minister of Craftsmen Training, Pandurang ‘Deepak’ Dhavalikar, during question hour, Sardesai pointed out that a huge number of craftsmen training centres in the State had been shut down over the last couple of years.
“There were 300 such centres earlier, and now there are only 30 centres that remain. This means that the government has killed almost 90 per cent of the centres,” Sardesai said.
He further linked the closing of the centres with the failure of the State government in doing its bit to implement the Skill India Mission.
“Skill India Mission is the PM’s dream, and by ignoring the three aspects of centres, instructors and training under the Craftsmen Training Department, the government has put the Skill India Mission to sleep,” Sardesai stated.
He further informed the House that the carpentry department under the portfolio has also been shut down and that the machines used by the artists have been dumped in Kundaim. It was also pointed out that delivery of furniture by the craftsmen training institute to the education department is long overdue.
Interestingly, Craftsman Training Minister, Deepak Dhavalikar, responded by stating that the answers sought by Sardesai were not within the purview of his department and that only the details pertaining to ITIs were available.
Sardesai also raised questions over the bifurcation of the department into ITI and Department of Handicrafts, Textiles and Coir, and held that the same was done in an illegal manner without considering the assessment reference date, concurrence of finance department and in the absence of a cabinet decision to that effect.
It was in 2013 that the State government had de-linked the training-cum-production centres from the Directorate of Craftsmen Training, thereby creating a new Department of Handicrafts, Textiles and Coir.
