Moving up two places since last year, Gujarat has emerged as the third highest beneficiary under the Textile Workers Rehabilitation Fund Scheme (TWRFS) of the central government. As against 2011-12 when the state received Rs 5.32 lakhs under the scheme, this year Gujarat received Rs 20.87 lakhs, after Andhra Pradesh (Rs 165.59 lakhs) and Punjab (Rs 23.40 lakhs).
According to Anand Sharma, union minister of textiles, the government is implementing Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) for upgradation of skills of textile workers in the country since July, 2010.
"Under the said scheme, Ministry of Textiles has approved training programmes for textile workers to be conducted at 14 Powerloom Service Centres (PSCs) of the Office of the Textile Commissioner," he said. Gujarat also continued to top the list of states that saw Centre's expenditure under Group Workshed Scheme since last three years.
While it received Rs 90.80 lakhs in 2010-11 and Rs 91.54 lakhs in 2011-12 under the scheme - the highest among all states, Gujarat received close to Rs 170 lakhs till November for the period 2012-13. Meanwhile, with regards to state-wise number of workers enrolled under the Group Insurance Scheme at a premium of Rs 150 per worker, Gujarat saw around 1.3 million enrollments, the fourth highest after Tamil Nadu (2.98 million), Karnataka (2.90) and Maharashtra (1.67 million).