Karnataka - Mysore   

Guiding unemployed youth in riot-affected Udayagiri to productive activities

MYSORE: A citizens’ initiative, with the support of the Department of Labour and Employment and the Mysore city police, has taken a step towards bringing school dropouts and unemployed youth from Udayagiri — which witnessed communal clashes last year — to the mainstream, by training them in vocational skills. The programme envisions establishing harmony through economic development.

The Alert Citizens’ Team (ACT), a forum of dedicated citizens, use the Modular Employable Skills (MES) programme to create employment for the youth. Though the programme for the first batch of youth was launched informally at Udayagiri recently, Director-General and Inspector-General of Police Ajai Kumar Singh will formally launch the programme on Thursday.

In an informal chat with The Hindu, Police Commissioner Sunil Agarwal said although it was an ACT initiative in association with the Labour and Employment Department, the city police had decided to support it as the exercise aimed to create communal harmony in the locality which bore the brunt of the communal clashes.

“Our aim is to introduce the youth of the locality to productive activities. Perhaps, unemployed youth and dropouts are susceptible to getting involved in violence because of the amount of time on their hands. If they are engaged in some activity, their focus will shift to productive work. This is precisely what we are looking at,” he explained.

Mr. Agarwal said the ACT had also conducted health and dental camps in the riot-affected areas. The Labour Department had launched the MES programme for school dropouts, but the ACT proposed that this programme be used to bring youth from these localities into the mainstream. “We readily agreed to support the initiative. Thereafter, a batch of 30 youth started training after a list of beneficiaries was prepared with the help of local schools,” the commissioner said. The programme is spread across 180 hours, 220 hours and 300 hours depending on the skills imparted. “We are gradually making progress; the second batch is ready for the programme,” he said. The programme covers over 80 per cent of the skills used in industries. A nominal fee of Rs. 100 a student is charged; the programme is imparted by industry-training faculty, he said.

Registrations for the programme is done at the Hilal High School, the Srikanteshwara School and the St. Anthony’s High School, whose students took out a rally in Udayagiri soon after the communal riots with a mission to spread the message of peace and communal harmony. The city police, the ACT and the National Foundation for Communal Harmony had organised the rally.

“Once they complete the programme, a platform may be created for them to get employment in industries around Mysore. Industries can also come forward to employ them,” Mr. Agarwal said.

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