DIMAPUR:
The Naglang government, on January 30, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the union ministry of labour and employment for setting up a National Career Service Centre for the Differently Abled (NCSC-DA) for 29,000 persons with disabilities (PwDs) in the state.
The training centre will be set up at the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) campus at Khushiabill, Dimapur.
The MoU was signed between NCSC-DA assistant director (employment), directorate general of employment, Ram Kishor Sharma and Nagaland director of employment, skill development and entrepreneurship department, Chiden Yaden.
It was informed that the centre will be the 22nd such centre in the country since the inception of the NCSC-DA (erstwhile Vocational Rehabilitation Centres for the Handicapped) in 1968.
Once, set up the centre will empower PWDs through vocational guidance, career counselling, skill development and other rehabilitation support. The centre will also identify the needs of PWDs, and create community awareness and social responsibility on their problems.
According to Sharma, the NCSC-DA is designed to serve as a residential training centre for the PwDs and its costs, including stipends to the trainees, are sponsored by the Union Labour and Employment Ministry. He said the centre will be for non-formal skill development and the state government will manage its technical aspects.
Sharma said the PwDs, aged between 15 to 50 years, will be trained in batches of 20 to 25 at the centre and a stipend of Rs 2500 per head will be paid to them, besides other facilities during the period of their training.
Yaden said the centre will temporarily function from the existing buildings at ITI while the permanent infrastructure will be built within the campus itself. The permanent structure for the training centre will be disabled-friendly, he said.