Gandhinagar, 24 February, 2012

Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala in his budget speech today announced 50 new buildings for ITIs, new Gujarat Skill Development Institute as a University, autonomous infrastructure university, 15 new colleges, increase of 12780 seats in present ITIs, an Automobile Training Centre at Sanand and number of other initiatives for youths.

Vala proposed scheme for an interest assistance of 6% on the loan of upto ` 50 lakhs to the M.B.B.S Doctors belonging to S.T., for establishing their dispensaries in the tribal area.

Following are the announcement in Shri Vala’s own words:

Skill-development

 The Government has framed a scheme of imparting special training to 4.5 lakh youth by the Labour and Employment department to enable them to benefit from the job opportunities available as a result of the unprecedented industrial development in Gujarat. As a part of this, a provision of ` 130 crore is made to establish 10 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITI); to construct 50 new buildings for ITIs and upgrade 27 ITIs.

 A provision of ` 9 crore for developing the Gujarat Skill Development Institute as a University.

 A provision of ` 11.60 crore to increase the capacity by 12,780 seats in the present ITIs.

 A provision of ` 10 crore to establish an Automobile Training Centre at Sanand.

 Provision of ` 7 crore is made for 35 new Kaushalya Varadhan Kendra out of which, 5 Kaushalya Varadhan Kendra would be meant for the disabled.

 A provision of ` 13.69 crore is made to impart vocational training to 60,000 youth in urban areas under “UMEED” Scheme.

 It is proposed to add 100 new skill development centres under Gujarat Industries Policy- 2009, for imparting training to 60,000 youth as part of creation of industrial manpower.

 With a view to impart training to the students of technical institutions and enable them to get practical experience in the Municipalities and Municipal Corporations, provision is made for the Techno-Sathi scheme.

 Special training programmes during the vacations are planned to be held by Raksha Shakti University, to encourage the youth of Gujarat to enter into all three wings of the defense forces.

 With the focus of foreign tourists turning towards Gujarat, it is necessary to develop skilled manpower for the sector. It is therefore proposed to start new vocational courses for Tourist Guide.

 It is proposed to frame “Vishwakarma Yojana” to provide the benefit of real work experience to engineering students and simultaneously apply their technical knowledge in the development of infrastructure in rural development.

Under this scheme, the villages of “Rurban” area will be adopted by the engineering colleges under the Gujarat Technical University. The engineering colleges would study the identified villages and make the recommendations on the application of technology to achieve integrated and comprehensive development, through project preparation and management.

The projects would be undertaken on a ‘Design to Delivery’ basis.

 Skill development is the central idea in the celebration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekanand. In the past, we have trained more than 2.56 lakh youngsters for the soft skills, including those trained under the SCOPE. This is an age of technology. In the future, information technology would be the driving force in the development of mankind.

The government is planning to initiate a wide spread campaign to train our youth and enable them to keep pace with the developing trends and to avail the benefits of technology to all the citizens. This program will be known as eMPOWER, meaning electronic manpower. Under this program, about 1000 youngsters in every taluka will be imparted primary training in computer and information technology. There also would be a provision for imparting further training to those who show interest. In the coming days, lakhs of youth would be trained thus to stand in the front row of the world. A provision of ` 25 crore for the same.

 Sanskrit language is the source our invaluable heritage. The endless treasure of Indian culture, traditions, values and age-old teachings is available in the Sanskrit works. Today’s youth can benefit a lot by studying these works. Modern India sages like Swami Vivekanand also derived their inspiration from such Sanskrit works and called for the youth to contribution in building the nation.

While we are celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Swami Vivekanand, in order to inspire the students of Sanskrit, the scholarship given to the students of Sanskrit Pathshalas would be revised. The scholarship in Madhyama, Shastri and Acharya are presently ` 25, ` 35 and ` 50, which will be revised to ` 150, ` 200 and ` 400 respectively.

There is also a plan to provide ancient scriptures, Sanskrit books and the Vedas in government and grant-in-aid Sanskrit Pathshalas. Further aid would also be provided to conserve and protect ancient works of Sanskrit. In addition to this, eight grant-in-aid classes would be increased in Sanskrit Pathshalas.

Futuristic Education

 A provision of ` 67 crore has been made to establish an autonomous University for infrastructure, engineering and management at Ahmedabad to prepare the necessary man power for the modern economy.

 In order to expand the access to higher education, 15 new colleges in the Arts, Commerce and Science stream are planned to be started by the Government.

 A provision of ` 4.50 crore is made to impart vocational training to the laborers in the unorganized sector and for education to their children.

Sports Activities

 After successful organization of “Khel Mahakumbh” a scheme is to be taken up for imparting special training in selected sports to prepare the best players for national and international level by the “Pratibha Samvardhan Kendra” under ‘Swarnim Sports University’, for which, a provision of ` 10 crore is proposed.

 It is also planned to arrange training centres for mountaineering as well as adventurous sports organized at Girnar, Saputura and Mount Abu.

Promotion of Entrepreneurship

 India does not lack talented youth. If these youth in India are provided with the proper environment to utilize their creativity and innovative spirit, new research can be done in the field of science and technology, for the welfare of mankind. With a view to meet this noble objective, an ambitious mission has been undertaken to provide such opportunity to the youth by establishing the world class “InCreate” complex

 Provision is also made for extending loan and economic assistance to the professionals going abroad for higher education in areas such as medicine and law.

 It is now proposed to introduce a scheme for providing an interest assistance of 6% on the loan of upto ` 50 lakhs to the M.B.B.S Doctors belonging to S.T., for establishing their dispensaries in the tribal area.