New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil various youth-focused initiatives worth more than Rs 62,000 crore on Saturday, his office said, billing the exercise as a landmark initiative for youth development which will give a decisive push to education, skilling and entrepreneurship.
The PMO said Modi will launch PM-SETU (Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs), a centrally sponsored scheme with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore.
The scheme envisages the upgradation of 1,000 government ITIs in a hub-and-spoke model comprising 200 hub ITIs and 800 spoke ITIs.
Each hub will be connected to four spokes on an average, creating clusters equipped with advanced infrastructure, modern trades, digital learning systems and incubation facilities.
Anchor industry partners will manage these clusters, ensuring outcome-based skilling aligned with market demand, it said.
In the first phase of the scheme implementation there will be special focus on ITIs in Patna and Darbhanga in Bihar, the statement added.
He will also inaugurate 1,200 vocational skill labs established in 400 Navodaya Vidyalayas and 200 Eklavya Model Residential Schools across 34 states and Union Territories.
A special emphasis of the programme will be on transformative projects in Bihar, reflecting the state’s rich legacy and youthful demographic, the statement said.
Modi will launch Bihar’s revamped “Mukhyamantri Nishchay Svyam Sahayata Bhatta Yojana”, under which nearly five lakh graduates every year will receive a monthly allowance of Rs.1,000 for two years, along with free skill training.
He will also launch the redesigned Bihar Student Credit Card Scheme, which will provide interest-free education loans of up to Rs 4 lakh, significantly easing the financial burden of higher education.
Further strengthening youth empowerment in the state, Bihar Yuva Ayog, a statutory commission for people between the ages of 18 and 45, will be formally inaugurated by PM Modi to channelise and harness potential of the state’s young population, it said.
Other Bihar project that the Prime Minister will inaugurate is the Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur Skill University.
He will lay the foundation stone for new academic and research facilities in four universities of Bihar namely Patna University, Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University in Madhepura, Jai Prakash Vishwavidyalaya in Chapra and Nalanda Open University in Patna, under the PM-USHA (Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan). Together, these projects, with a total allocation of Rs 160 crore.