The government today threw open the first of the Apparel Training and Design Centres (ATDC), through which it hopes to impart skills to 2,56,000 workers in the next couple of years.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi inaugurated the ATDC SMART (Skills for Manufacturing Apparels through Research and Training) centre.
The country's textile sector provides direct employment to 35 million people and is the second largest provider of employment after agriculture, according to think-tank IBEF.
The ATDC SMART is an ATDC project under the Rs 2,300 crore Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) of the Union Textile Ministry.
The ISDS was launched in New Delhi on August 5 by Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran.
Karunanidhi said 12 more ATDC SMART centres would be opened in Tamil Nadu. "From these centres about 25,000 would be trained," he said.
He said the centres would impart skills to the new entrants and up skilling the existing skill sets of present workforce to generate more income for all who were part of the textile and apparel sectors.
The central government would sponsor 75 per cent of the training cost while private parties would bear the remaining 25 per cent.
Karunanidhi also announced that the state government would provide an incentive Rs 2,000 for each ATDC trainee.
He said Maran, after taking over as Union Textile Minister, had allocated Rs 415 crore for 16 various projects.
"From this, not only about 50,000 weavers would be benefited but also thousands of employment opportunities would be generated," he said.
Maran said that the ISDS was meant for capacity building of institutions providing skill development and training in various sectors of textile industry.
"The sectors include textiles and apparel, handicrafts, handlooms among others," he said adding the current ISDS, as approved, envisages an investment of Rs 272 crore during the balance two years of eleventh five year Plan -- 2010-2011 and 2011-12.
