CII plans development scheme for south

The Confederation of Indian Industry - Southern Region (CII-SR) will launch a development scheme for southern states called 'Building People, Building India - The Southern Leap Forward'.

According to Pradip K Mohapatra, chairman, CII-SR, the action plan would focus on skills development and employability, affirmative action, promotion of sustainable cities and corporate social responsibility initiative across the region, in tandem with the state governments.

As part of the initiative, CII- SR has chalked out a programme to improve 13 ITIs in Kerala including revamping of curriculum of the institutions.

Addressing the media, he said the programme was part of the proposal of revamping 300 ITIs of the country with an allocation of Rs 750 crore, in the Budget.

The main focus will be to re-build the institutions based on the change in the requirement of various industries and to make them centres of excellence.

CII will also train SCT youth in vocational skills in 2007-08. Umang Patodia, chairman, Kerala State Council, said the tourism sector in Kerala would be given more thrust particularly in the areas of health and medical tourism.

The state council has engaged an expert team to study on the tourism sector of Kerala and the report is expected by next September.

Mohapatra said in Tamil Nadu, the major thrust would be on the development of tier II and tier III cities and in Andhra Pradesh, the focus would be on agriculture and agro-based industries.

It is also planning to develop a City Connect Project in Karnataka along with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and commission a study on the city infrastructure of Hyderabad.

Patodia added that CII would be setting up an Urban Kerala Mission for city development and is keen to work for industrialisation of north Kerala which is lagging behind in industrialisation.

The major events it has lined up in the current year include Connect 2007 (September 14-16, Chennai), Logistics 2007 (September 20-22, Chennai), Brand Summit (October 12-13, Hyderabad), and Excon 2007 (November 14-18, Bangalore).