Terming inclusive growth as the biggest challenge of industrialization, the chief minister Naveen Patnaik today called upon the industries to promote employment among the local people in the state.
The state government has set clear cut guidelines regarding local employment at various skill levels and the companies need to come forward to adhere to these guidelines, Patnaik said.
Addressing the participants of the Enterprise Orissa 2009, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Orissa government at the IDCO Exhibition ground, he said, local employment can be promoted directly or through development of ancillary and downstream industries. Skill development is a major focus area for the state and the government has set up an employment mission to improve the skill levels of the young people seeking employment or self-employment opportunities, he said.
Stating that a number of steps have been taken by the government to improve the technical education, the chief minister said, the number of students passing out from ITIs, polytechnics and degree engineering colleges in the state have increased from 15,000 per annum to about 1 lakh every year at present.
Greater thrust is being given to improve the infrastructure and development of curriculum in the field of technical education. Patnaik said, an aluminium park is being set up at Angul in joint venture (JV) and a stainless steel park is proposed to be set at Kalinganagar. Similarly, a steel downstream park is proposed to come up at Rourkela and a plastic park at Balasore.
On this occasion, the chief minister released a ‘Skill Set Gap Report’ prepared jointly by CII and PriceWaterHouseCoopers.
Speaking on the occasion, Mukul Somany, chairman, CII (eastern region) said, though Orissa has become the destination for investment in the mineral and metal sectors, there is ample scope for growth of the sectors like tourism, ancillary and downstream industries. To promote the tourism potential of the eastern states like Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal ,CII will organise ‘Destination East’ in January next year at Kolkata.
Industry secretary, Saurabh Garg said, the Enterprise Orissa provides a platform for better interaction between the buyers, sellers and exhibitors.
The state has come a long way in attracting investment aggregating more than Rs 6.5 lakh crore. While the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate in the state has become higher than the national rate, Orissa has been among the top three investment destinations of the country. In this backdrop, the state will continue to focus on the manpower development, he added. S S Nandurdikar, chairman, Santosh Mohapatra (ex-chairman) and R K Jena, vice-chairman of CII spoke on the occasion.
