Intending to create new job opportunity in the country by targeting to train more than eight crore youth in next five years, the government is considering establishment of a National Skill Development Authority (NSDA). A proposal to establish such an authority is high on the agenda of the Union Cabinet, which will meet on Thursday.
Sources in the government said if the meeting of the Union Cabinet, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gives its nod to establish NSDA, the new set up will replace National Skill Development Council (NSDC) headed by S. Ramadorai.
The proposal is in line with the Prime Minister’s promise in his Independence Day speech when he had said, “We want to create many new job opportunities for our youth in the coming years. To achieve this it is necessary that we train them in skills which our economy needs.” He had went on to add that the NSDC has formulated a major scheme for training about eight crore youth in next five years. “We are considering the establishment of NSDA so that skill development programmes all over the country can be implemented in a coordinated manner,” he had said.
Once constituted the NSDA would be able to push larger funds for projects to equip Indian youth with technical skills.
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14-day judicial custody for Koda scam kingpin
ANAND S.T. DAS
PATNA, JAN. 30
Anil Bastawade, the alleged kingpin of Jharkhand’s `4,000-crore mining and money-laundering scam allegedly led by former chief minister Madhu Koda, was on Wednesday remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in a jail in Jharkhand capital Ranchi.
A close associate and overseas consultant for Jharkhand’s disgraced former chief minister, Bastawade was presented by the ED officials before special judge (Prevention and Money Laundering Act) R.K. Choudhary. He was taken to the Birsa Munda Central Jail at Hotwar near Ranchi amid high security. A medical examination conducted before his presentation in court found him completely fit. ED officials said they were likely to seek Bastawade’s custodial interrogation in two or three days.