Union Labour and employment ministry signs Statement of Intent with UNICEF for empowering youth

The Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Santosh Gangwar, on behalf of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, signed a Statement of Intent with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday.

Gangwar said, "By leveraging the strengths of the Ministry, UNICEF, and the associated network members, we hope to enable abundant choices for our young generation to contribute and shape our country's future".

Appreciating the idea of partnership for empowering the youths to gain relevant skills and guidance, Gangwar said that the collaboration is a starting point to facilitate direct dialogue and feedback mechanism between youth and other stakeholders including policymakers.

The minister also talked about India's commitment to improving employment outcomes for the youth of the nation, including women and the vulnerable section of the people, through an enduring, long-term commitment for better opportunities.

He said, "The Government is making all-out efforts to improve the bridge between education and employment and to prepare young people for the future of work. A number of policies and schemes have been undertaken for the upliftment of the youth through skills development, employment generation, and entrepreneurship programs".

Highlighting that India is a country of young people, Gangwar informed that the National Career Service (NCS), launched in 2015, caters to the employment and career needs of the youth. "It provides a variety of employment-related services like career counseling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internships, etc", he said.

Expressing hope that the together with UNICEF, in the next three years, the ministry would great achievement in the areas of collaboration and empowerment of Indian youth to face the future confidently, Gangwar informed that the ministry through NCS had taken a number of initiatives to mitigate the challenges in the labour market due to COVID-19 and the consequent lockdown of the economy.

"Online Job Fairs are being organized to bridge the gap between job seekers and employers where the complete cycle from job posting to the selection of candidate can be completed on the portal. A Special link for Work from Home Jobs and Online Trainings has been created on the NCS portal to give direct access to job-seekers to such jobs. All these facilities on NCS are free of cost", he added.

( With inputs from ANI )