Textile minister, Santosh Kumar Gangwar inaugurated a national workshop on Integrated Skill Development Scheme at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on August 27. DG & CEO, Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC), Darlie Koshy and textile secretary, S. K. Panda were also present at the event.

The ISDC has experienced significant progress over the last five years and ATDC is part of this journey since inception. The scheme has not only helped overcome the shortage of skilled workforce in the textile sector due to high rate of attrition but also become a ‘driver of growth’ in the industry, Koshy said. It has triggered innovation and scale which are important for a competitive and sustainable textile and apparel industry in the country, Koshy added.

Till date, 76 projects have been approved under the ISDS scheme. Total 3,215 training centres work under this scheme and have trained 4,15,541 candidates. Under the ISDS scheme government provides assistance to the extent of 75 per cent of the project cost with a ceiling of Rs. 10,000/- per person and target placement of at least 70 per cent of trainees in wage employment. ATDC has set up over 200 Centres Pan-India basis and have trained over 1, 56,000 candidates and in the main phase ATDS is expected to train over 78,000 candidates.

In the discussion at the workshop, key solutions to various challenges such as migration of trainees from native place to workplace, non-standardized wages, market demand for courses in which the candidates have received training were discussed.