Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Pilot project for Skilling tribal youth

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has launched the Rural Tribal Technical Training Program (Grameen Udhyami Project) as a pilot programme to provide more opportunities to rural youth and to strengthen local village economies during May 2022.

Scope of the project

The pilot project envisages training for about 250 beneficiaries of 17 clusters of 17 districts selected from 6 states of India – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Odisha and will be organized at Vikas Bharti, Gumla, Jharkhand.

Training will be provided to the beneficiaries in 5 disciplines- electrical and solar energy, agricultural mechanization, e-governance, plumbing and masonry, two wheeler repair and maintenance. This training will also enable the youth to start their own business, thus generating more employment opportunities for other youth as well.

Extensive training with multiple skills will be extended to 50,000 to one lakh students in 50 tribal districts in the coming years.

Pilot projects to preserve Namda craft

About Namda craft

Namda is a rug made of wool by felting technique. It is a traditional craft in Srinagar, Kashmir. 

The history of the namda rug goes back to the eleventh century when a man named Nubi created a felted covering for Akbar's ill horse. The rugs are made from the wool of indigenous sheep in Kashmir which is felted not woven, giving it a unique texture. 

Namda is usually a sandwich of many layers of wool flattened over each other. After a layer is spread, it is sprinkled homogeneously with water and pressed with a tool known as ‘pinjra’ (woven willow wicker). Finally, the carpet is embellished either by patches of coloured felted wool or with Kashmiri aari embroidery.

Due to low availability of raw material, lack of skilled manpower and marketing techniques, the export of this craft has declined almost 100 percent between 1998 and 2008. 

Activities to preserve Namda craft

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 3.0, the following two pilot projects are to be taken up.

• Revival of Namda craft of Kashmir
• upskilling of artisans and weavers of Kashmir under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), component of PMKVY

The objective of these projects is to boost and preserve the traditional Namda craft of Kashmir and upskill the local weavers and artisans to enhance their productivity through RPL assessment and certification.

Through this special project under PMKVY, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has designed short-term training curriculum to preserve this endangered craft. The project will be implemented in 25 batches in 3 cycles of training. Each training program will be of approximately three and half months, which results in the cycles being completed in approximately 14 - 16 months.

The Namda project will be an industry-based training program with beneficiaries involved in Namda Crafts Production who will contribute towards preserving and reviving the rich heritage associated with Namda craft in Kashmir. This will also improve the access of existing artisans of Namda crafts cluster in Kashmir and will improve their prospects of employability.

The training delivery partner for the upskilling initiative are Mir handicraft, Srinagar Carpet Training and Market Centre and there is special value addition for 10% high performers.

The Namda project will benefit 2,250 people of 30 Namda Clusters from 6 districts of Kashmir (Srinagar, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Bandipora, Budgam and Anantnag) and RPL initiative targets to upskill 10,900 artisans and weavers of Jammu and Kashmir.

Source : PIB