New Delhi: The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has identified the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) as one of the nodal agencies for monitoring of five pan-India projects for placement linked skill development programmes under the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY).

The training is to be provided by IGNOU in the area of Telecommunications, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Security. Two project implementing agencies are involved in implementing the project across India.

45000 rural BPO youths will be trained under this scheme and at least 75% will be employed suitably in the relevant sector. The programme is being carried out in 20 states, namely, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and West Bengal.

Fifty percent of the total BPL enrolment have to be from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes while fifteen percent BPL candidates have to be from minority communities.

A total of 10,219 candidates have been enrolled under the scheme from the rural areas of the above states, trained and awarded certification by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). A total of 7,269 (Seven thousand two hundred sixty nine) persons have been provided with employment with guaranteed minimum wages, PF, ESI and other social security benefits.

The training and certification, initiative taken by Vice Chancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai of IGNOU under this scheme will take a long way to go to the beneficiaries in attaining the desired competencies and livelihood.