National Workshop on Entrepreneurship & Skill Development for the Urban Poor and youth

The National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), a premier national level body for promotion and development of micro, small and medium enterprises including enhancement of their competitiveness through different interventions organized the National Workshop on Entrepreneurship & Skill Development for the Urban Poor.

The Workshop under the auspices of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) was organized with the objective of deliberating the issues involved in imparting skill training to one million youth during five years with a target of 2 lakh during 2009-10 and those involved in promoting self employment among the urban poor/youth.

Shri Pravir Kumar, Joint Secretary (MSME) in his address emphasized on the development of appropriate policies programmes for achieving the ambitious target of providing Skill Training to 500 million by 2022 as enunciated by the Government.

Shri K. R. Arya, Director General of NIESBUD welcoming the delegates dwelt upon the need of imparting skill training to the youth of the country for increasing their employability and motivating them to take to jobs/self employment so as to enable them to become an integral part of the society.

The two technical sessions of the Workshop which was chaired by eminent experts in the field was on ‘Skill and & Self-Employment As a Means of Livelihood for the Urban Poor’ and ‘Micro Enterprise Development Credit Linkage & Other Issues’.

The holding of the Workshop at a time when the Government is focusing on the multiple issues affecting the urban people which are expected to constituted about 41 per cent of the population by 2030 from the existing 28 per cent also assumes significance in view of the ambitious plan of the Prime Minister of imparting Skill Training to large chunk of the unemployed youth.

The Workshop was attended by 100 delegates drawn from Ministry of HUPA. State Government Offices, R & D Institutions, State Entrepreneurship Development Institutes and other Institutes.