14 lakh households to be provided skill development training under LIFE

NEW DELHI: About 14 lakh households, which have completed 100 days of work under the rural job flagship scheme MGNREGA in the last financial year and have workers under 35 years of age will be imparted skill development training to help them find urban employment opportunities

The project, named Livelihoods in Full Employment (LIFE), has identified 14 lakh households which have completed 100 days work in 2014-15 and have workers under 35 years of age, the ministry said in a communique.

Government has proposed that workers from such households may be skilled in line with the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Skill Development Yojana programmes of the Rural Development Ministry.

The project aims at strengthening the livelihoods of the poorest households dependent on MGNREGA work for their sustenance, the communique said.

This would be done by imparting skills required for migrating to urban areas using the apprenticeship or the DDU-SKY skill training and later placing them in jobs in urban areas.

The programme will also strive to group workers into labour cooperatives, training and equipping them so that they seek contract work with construction/road laying firms, it said.

It will also organise workers into groups, skill and equip them with essential machinery to take up agricultural operations efficiently and at competitive market rates.

According to government officials, this will not only help in giving sustainable incomes to the workers but would resolve the problem of labour shortage in agriculture.

The ' LIFE-MGNREGA' is likely to be implemented in July and states have been asked to prepare their plans.