SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN SIKKIM

Commission concerned over low skills development

By chennaivision at 5 February, 2009, 5:45 pm

Gangtok, A high-level Commission on Human Development of Sikkim today expressed concern over the low entrepreneurship growth despite human development measures adopted by the state government.

”Several departments have been imparting training to develop entrepreneurship skills. However, only 20 per cent of the trainees have been able to make use of the training,” rued Prof BK Roy Burman, chairman of the Commission for Review of Environmental and Social Sector Policies, Plans and Programmes for Human Development (CRESP-HuD) here at Chintan Bhavan.

The noted social scientist heads CRESP-HuD, constituted in December last, for recommending measures to strengthen the state plan for human development.

Special funds have been set up towards this end since 2007, besides each department allocating at least 2 per cent of the annual expenditure for their respective capacity building programmes.

Expressing his concern over the low delivery of the entrepreneurship development, Prof Burman said that the Union government has set up a committee with him as its chairman to coordinate entrepreneurship studies by seven northeastern Universities.

”The study reveals that the position of all other states and northeast India in not better than Sikkim . We propose to introduce an action research programme in the state to gain more insight,” Prof Burman said.

According to Prof Burman, most of the industries had set up their establishments in Sikkim by being attracted by the incentive of tax holiday under North East Industrial Promotion and Policy package. Some of them had their establishments in other states from where they moved out when tax holiday period was expiring, he said.

Except for unskilled labour, they hardly employ any local people at administrative and skilled labour levels, said the CRESP-HuD chairman adding the position is same in other NE states.

He also pointed out at the problem of food grain security in Sikkim which has limited storage capacity and disruptive communication links.

The Prof also proposed the Sikkim government to host an international level discourse on ‘war and peace’ with involvement of religious and educational institutions.

UNI