S Ramadorai, advisor to Prime Minister on skill development, today said efforts were on to amend the National Rural Gurantee programme (NREGA) to include skill development without compromising on the original intent of the scheme.
Ramadorai and his team on Monday took part in a review meeting along with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on the skill development initiatives currently under way in the state.
“We are in touch with the Rural Development Ministry and we will seek the help of Andhra Pradesh to find out what is coming in the way of extension of skill development programmes to NREGA,” he said. The next important factor was apprenticeship, he said, adding most of the companies were shy of implementing the apprenticeship programmes because of the Apprenticeship Act . The Prime Minister’s team is in dialogue with the Ministry of Labour and Employment to ensure that there are no restrictions or impediments in taking apprentices.
The chief minister said AP was happy to be the campaign state for national-level mission for employment generation. The state would dovetail the national mission and integrate all departments concerned to achieve the ambitious goal of creating 500,000 jobs per year.
Ramadorai appreciated the efforts of the state in employment generation, particularly its attempts to make all the students coming out of the college employable by starting skill development centres and Jawahar Knowledge Centres in all degree, engineering and other professional colleges.
