India to Facilitate Marine Skill Developement in Coastal Areas
For skills development of youth in coastal areas, India's Ministry of Shipping signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with theMinistry of Rural Development in New Delhi.
The MoU is for convergence of the Ministry’ prestigious project Sagaramala and Ministry of Rural Development’s flagship programme Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU GKY).
The Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari and the Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar were present on the occasion.
DDU-GKY is expected to bring in its skilling expertise to provide skilling for the coastal communities, thereby preparing them to take advantage of the job opportunities that are expected to come up in the maritime sector follwing port led development under Sagarmala.
Speaking on this occasion, Nitin Gadkari said that this MoU will meet the exact skill needs of industries in the port and maritime sector and provide the coastal communities right skills for better opportunities emanating from the large scale impact of Sagarmala projects.
He said that with skill development there will be close involvement of the coastal communities in Sagarmala and will make them contributors in the economic development and will ensure inclusive growth of the coastal districts of the country.
He said that the centre is planning to facilitate fisherman with mechanized trawlers that will allow them to fish till 30-40 Nautical Miles in international ocean. This will generate employment opportunities for youth in coastal areas, as fishing is a big industry, which involves processing, packaging and export of fish and other sea produce.
He said that there is a need to develop tourism around lighthouses in coastal areas, as this will provide employment to rural youth in these areas.
On this occasion, the Minister for Rural Development, Narendra Singh Tomar said that DDUGKU is the flagship programme of the ministry and after this MoU agreement, rural youth and women of coastal areas will be able to develop skills for Maritime, Shipping and Port Management.
He said that under skill development pilot project, around 7,000 persons have been already been trained and out of this 600 people have been already got employment.
The Coastal Communities are key stakeholders in the Sagarmala Programme and their skill development and livelihood is an important objective of the program.
