Sixteen state governments have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Union ministry of textiles to take Samarth – Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS) forward. The programme covers the entire value chain of the textiles sector except spinning and weaving, and aims at skill development of 10 lakh youth by 2020. Besides the 16 states that have signed the MoU, two other states/UTs—Odisha and Jammu & Kashmir—have also agreed to partner with the ministry under SCBTS.
The training programme involves advanced technology-oriented features like Aadhaar Based Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS), CCTV recording, dedicated call centre, mobile app based Management Information System and on-line monitoring. Speaking on the occasion, Union minister of textiles and women and child development Smriti Irani said that the signing of MoUs with state governments shows the commitment of the ministry to extend its support to the state agencies and make them equal partners for building the spirit of national development to boost the textiles sector. She said that the targets set out by some of the states like Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand are much below the requirement of skilled workers in textiles industry in those states and urged them to relook at the targets. She further added that North Eastern states must focus on silk and jute sector and review the targets of skilling under Samarth scheme.
Stating that 75 per cent of the workers engaged in the textiles sector and 70 per cent of the beneficiaries of the Mudra loan are women, Irani said that the ministry will try to ensure that those who are not employed by the industry may get additional benefits provided by financial services under Mudra scheme.
Secretary textiles Ravi Capoor said there is huge potential of employment generation in the textiles sector. He informed that there is a gap of 16 lakh trained skilled workers in textiles industry. He further added that high standards have been set out in the Samarth scheme for the skilling of the workers so that they are readily employable by the industry. He said that the level of training has to be very good so that the objective of providing meaningful employment to the skilled workers is fulfilled. SCBTS is for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20 with a projected outlay of Rs. 1,300 crore. It is a placement oriented programme for meeting the skill requirements of textiles industry.
