GIVE HIGHEST PRIORITY TO APPRENTICESHIP---UNION LABOUR MINISTER

    The Union Minister for Labour & Employment, Shri
Mallikarjun Kharge has urged the Industry to make concerted efforts to train at
least 10 lakh apprentices every year in all sectors of economy. He was
addressing the 33rd Meeting of newly constituted Central Apprenticeship Council
(CAC), here today. The CAC is an Apex Statutory Tripartite Advisory Body which
advises the Government on various aspects relating to formal apprenticeship in
the country.



   Shri Kharge said 25,472 establishments were engaging trade
apprentices at present. For Graduate, Technician and Technician (Vocational)
Apprentices implemented by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, 99,372
seats were located, out of which about 51% i.e. 50,394 were utilized. The
Minister expressed his dissatisfaction for not being able to utilize the Scheme
and said that we should cover at least one lakh establishments under the Scheme.
He urged the representatives of Industry, Trade Unions, State Governments and
other stake-holders to give highest priority to Apprenticeship Training and turn
out the most highly skilled technicians to meet future challenges. The Minister
of State for Human Resource Development, Smt. D. Purandeswari, the Vice Chairman
of CAC, also spoke on this occasion. The day-long deliberation was attended by
the representatives of various Trade Unions and Industries from across the
country.