Jalandhar gets 'sporting' chance

Skill development programme initiated to revive city's languishing sports goods industry

To revive Jalandhar's sports goods manufacturing industry, the BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) has initiated a skill-development programme. It aims to train the workers in the manufacture of moulded polymer products.

The programme, sanctioned by the department of science and technology, aims to enable the sports industry of Jalandhar manufacture world-class goods from natural and synthetic polymers. These are fast replacing traditional sports goods like stitched balls in the global market due to their uniform quality and low prices.

Countries like China,which export polymer products are fast replacing the hand stitched products of clusters like Jalandhar. Due to bulk supplies of more durables items at cheaper rates from China, the local industry, had been finding it hard to compete in the international market.

Conscious of this, the NIT faculty has initiated a programme under which entrepreneurs and supervisors from the sports good industry along with students interested in the trade are being imparted training in polymer-moulding technology

The programme also aims at fulfilling the demand of several sports goods manufactures who want to hire youth skilled in the art as trainers for the employed with them.

D Moinuddin, the NIT director and PK Chatley, NIT dean, research and industrial liaison, said the project had got a good response from the industry.

They added that the institute had been interacting with Sports Goods Manufactures and Exporters Association and Sports-Forum, Jalandhar in connection with the project proposal on "Technology Gap Study and Possible Remedial Measures for Select Sports Goods"

NIT had submitted the proposal to the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) of the ministry of science and technology.The proposal had earlier been presented before a TIFAC-constituted group for small and medium entrepreneurs at New Delhi. The TIFAC group has already recommended in principle commissioning of study,with the NIT.

The study would be conducted in collaboration with United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO),Chatley added.

He said earlier the institute had conducted a "Technology- industry Meet" for rubber industrialists in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indian Rubber Institute.