Apex industry chambers informed the Prime Minister’s Office that 1,500 companies in the private sector have voluntarily adopted affirmative programmes for SCs/STs and weaker sections to make them educated and employable.
In a meeting with Assocham, CII and Ficci, Principal Secretary of Prime Minister T K A Nair asked them to prepare their report card on affirmative action for SC/STs and weaker sections before August 15, so that it can be included in Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech. ?We were told that the report card should be given early so that the initiatives can be highlighted in the Independence Day speech of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,? sources said.
According a PMO release, Ficci and Assocham have appointed ombudsman to monitor progress on affirmative action while CII is in the process of doing so. It said that emphasis was on ?self regulation through ombudsman? by the industry.
In the affirmative action initiated, under the supervision of the PMO, the industry has been taking several steps to help SCs/STs and economically weaker sections in terms of training and employability. It was informed at today’s meeting that 20 per cent of employees in the member companies of CII belong to SC/ST community. CII has adopted Nawashahar district in Punjab and Cooch Behar in West Bengal and Ficci – Sonabhadra in UP for the 4E – Employability, Education, Entrepreneurship development and Employment – programme.LD
The industry associations are also supporting Mid-Day Meal programmes.
Ficci reported that it is imparting skill training to 11,000 SCs/STs candidates to enhance their employability. As many as 2.70 lakh entrepreneurs have adopted the voluntary code of conduct for affirmative action, it said. A similar meeting has been called tomorrow on skill development