Our Correspondent
Kohima | August 15
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today asserted that as part of youth empowerment and capacity building efforts, the state government, in collaboration with the Carver Academy of Civil Aviation, was in the process of setting up Aviation Institute at Dimapur.
“The institute will provide training facilities for pilots as well as aircraft maintenance engineers,” Rio said in his address at the Independence Day celebration here in the Secretariat Plaza. He said that it also planned to develop it into a regional level institute in future.
In the meantime, seven students, having been selected under the corpus fund, are undergoing training in Maharastra and Uttar Pradesh to become commercial pilots through the government’s assistance.
Rio said that since 2003-04, 14, 319 people have been sponsored under the Chief Minister’s Corpus Fund, 8,048 for capacity building programme and 6,271 for establishing self employment ventures. Ten students under CM’s Corpus fund for vocational training in Singapore and 5 students for job oriented training with CMC (Tata Company) at Kolkata were also sponsored with a view to capacity building and creating employment opportunities.
Rio said the current year has been declared as the “Year of the Entrepreneurs,” through which educated unemployed youth and fledging entrepreneurs, from all the districts, will be helped to become successful entrepreneurs and the backbone of the state’s economic growth.
During the current year, the government intends to help atleast 1000 entrepreneurs all over the state by providing financial and technical assistance.
To train the youth in entrepreneurial skills, Rio said, the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has given its approval in principle for setting up a branch of Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship at Dimapur.
“This initiative will help in building up entrepreneurial capabilities in the state,” Rio said.
Rio also maintained that the state is experiencing a positive change in the attitude of the youth towards employment in non-traditional sectors.
“Our youth are now ready to seize the opportunities in the business and professional sectors,” Rio said adding that the increasing presence of Naga youth in All India and Central Services including the Army “are positive trends, reflecting the new spirit of adventure and determination of our youth.”
In the meantime, Rio said the State Government is pursuing the policy of making all payments of scholarships to the students through their respective bank accounts so that students can receive their scholarships directly through core banking and ATM services.
“This will require all our students to compulsorily have bank accounts, which will have long term benefits as they will inculcate bank culture, financial discipline and also better understanding of student loan facilities which are extended through banks and financial institutions,” Rio said.
Referring to Music Task Force, Rio asserted that the Force is steadily moving closer to its objective of turning music into an industry.
He said the government was also extending financial and material help to individuals for professional trainings, and also to institutions undertaking music activities.
“We strive to provide our youth with the best platforms for showcase their talents,” he assured.
