Gandhinagar : After facing extreme criticism over the high level of unemployment in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had announced a scheme in the recent state budget to give stipend (unemployment allowance) to youths who take training as apprentices in any private firm.
The State Labour and Employment Department will fund private companies with Rs1,500 to Rs3,000 stipend per month for unemployed youth who join them as trainees or apprentices. For every degree holder or higher qualification bearing apprentice, government will pay Rs. 3,000 where as for Diploma holders the stipend will be Rs. 2000 and Rs. 1,500 for non diploma holders. The government has set a target of giving jobs and stipend benefit to one lakh youth through the Mukhyamantri Apprentice Scheme in the current financial year. Each apprentice under the scheme will receive support for a year.
The state labour and employment department has issued a Government Resolution (GR) and directed different departments to generate maximum possible employment in collaboration with the private entities associated with them.
The department of industry and mines has been asked to ensure implementation of the scheme in all GIDC estates and SEZs regulated by them.
Tourism department has been directed to ask hotels and other related industries to recruit maximum possible trainees as cooks, attendants, housekeepers, receptionists as apprentices under the scheme and the government will fund Rs1,500 to Rs3,000 for each person as stipend.
Urban development department will ask the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), builders, manufacturers of building materials and other industry stakeholders to take benefit of this scheme and recruit apprentices according to the law.
Likewise state-owned and private power companies have been directed to recruit and give benefit of the scheme to new apprentices. Health and family welfare, food and drugs, ports and transport, agriculture, co-operation and farmer welfare department, roads and buildings and all the other departments have been directed to tie up with private entities related to their domain and pass on maximum benefit to youths under the new scheme.
Rajiv Gupta, additional chief secretary (ACS), labour and employment said, “The government is very keen to implement the Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Scheme and help atleast one lakh youth this year alone.”
Gupta added, “Within a week of the budget approval we have implemented the scheme. We expect the number of beneficiaries to rise above one lakh. All the departments have been directed to generate maximum possible apprenticeship in their respective domain in the private sector. The new move will also expected to generate good amount of employment in short and long run.”
The government will motivate the employers to hire unemployed youth as apprentices and train them for the mainstream job market, said Gupta. “The government will give direct financial incentive to the concerned companies or units on the production of proof of payment of stipend through digital mode,” he added.
“The companies will get indirect subsidy as their cost on apprentices will come down significantly. So, it will motivate them to train more people at less cost. The government will pay for maximum one year period for each candidate,’’ Gupta said.
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