Karnataka govt launches programme to provide 5 lakh jobs to women

Minister of Higher Education, Electronics, IT-BT, S & T and Skill Development Dr C N Aswath Narayan on Tuesday launched Women@Work (W@W) programme with an aim to provide five lakh jobs within 2026 to women with necessary employable skills.

Participating in an event organised by Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) in association with KTECH and Karnataka Skill Development Corporation to mark the Women's Day celebrations, the minister launched the new initiative that was also held as part of the Karnataka digital economy mission programme.

Ashwin D Gowda, MD, Karnataka State Skills Development Corporation, KDEM Chairman B V Naidu, CEO Sanjeev Gupta, and Ramkumar Narayanan of VMware among others were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Aswath Narayan said women who will be imparted training in specialized skills will become employable in the next five years which will go a long way in contributing to the country's GDP growth.

Dr Narayan said as part of the Women@Work programme, free certificate courses will be run for women to get them technically trained in various disciplines. He said at present women constituted 35 per cent of the workforce and the programme aims to raise their workforce strength to 50 per cent.

The minister also said all efforts are being made to provide 5,000 jobs for women as part of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission and added that the government is keen to actualise this mission in the coming days.