Skilling, re-skilling and upskilling is a continuous process under ‘Ujwala Bhavitaku Upadhi’, the employment programme taken up in Chittoor district. The perseverant efforts paid off at the national level in the form of a Silver SKOCH award for 2022.
As many as 7,200 persons gained jobs through job fairs conducted by the Society for Employment Generation and Enterprise Development in Andhra Pradesh (SEEDAP), coordinating under District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) in the composite Chittoor district. Nearly 1,100 out of the 1,200 youths trained under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY), the placement-linked skill training programme of the Union Ministry of Rural Development, have been placed.
When the pandemic wreaked havoc on the livelihood sources, the district witnessed reverse migration of employed youth from several cities. Even after the pandemic subsided, many preferred to stay back due to various reasons, making the unemployment rate go up.
When the trend was felt across the then Chittoor district (now divided into Tirupati, Chittoor and Annamayya), the DRDA identified such youths through a survey conducted by the local Self Help Groups (SHGs) and prepared a data bank consisting of 8,500 such persons. “We conducted physical as well as virtual interviews even in red zones to the candidates by duly following the Covid-19 protocol”, SEEDAP District Manager (Jobs) N. Saritha Reddy told The Hindu.
The team headed by the DRDA Project Director roped in Sanghamitras enrolled under Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) to identify local jobs in Sri City, Palamaner and the Electronic Manufacturing Clusters at Tirupati. Similarly, post-placement support services were also identified in catchment areas like Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Vizag.
The candidates were trained for jobs in varied sectors such as retail, electronic, automotive, health, life sciences, construction and hospitality. Apart from SEEDAP’s own training centre that nurtures skills in candidates for the retail jobs, training partners were also engaged in Madanapalle, Tirupati and Chittoor. “Our trained candidates got a decent salary. Some who were already holding good positions before Covid-19 were engaged for a pay of up to Rs.80000 p.m.”, adds Ms. Saritha Reddy.
The result is so conspicuous that the DRDA’s initiative fetched SKOCH award to Andhra Pradesh, out of 175 projects in the race across the country. In fact, Chittoor district got the lone award under the ‘employment’ category in the entire country.
