Nitin Gadkari addresses first meeting of Shipping Ministry’s Advisory Committee 

#NewDelhi : The Advisory Committee on Skill Development constituted by the Ministry of Shipping held its first meeting in New Delhi ,  The committee was constituted in April this year to help organizations under the Shipping Ministry  identify existing skill gaps  and work out road maps for up-scaling their skill development initiatives .

Speaking on the occasion the Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari called upon the committee members to help maritime organizations work out skill development solutions that could provide low cost, quality training  to the youth and enable them to get jobs. He said that  this exercise for bridging the skill gap in the sector holds special significance as the maritime sector is expected to generate  over a crore of employment  directly and indirectly. He said that the projects for modernization and capacity enhancement of ports, setting up of industrial clusters, port connectivity projects and development of inland water transport are expected to throw up a wide variety of jobs,  and it is essential to equip the youth and build their capacity to take advantage of this golden opportunity

The main functions of this Advisory Committee are as follows:

· To review the existing skill development initiatives undertaken by the organizations under the Ministry of Shipping and identify key challenges/issues and areas of synergies.
· Assess the future skill and manpower requirements in the organization and guide the organization in preparing a roadmap including their vision, mission, and annual skilling plans.
· Based on the roadmap, suggest measures to scale up the skill development initiatives.
·Identify existing schemes of the Central/State Governments which can be utilized for skill development initiatives of the organizations.
·Provide recommendation to foster knowledge sharing and in assimilation and incorporation of international best practices in the skill development initiatives of the organizations.
· Provide inputs towards setting up of Centers of Excellence for skill development in the ports & maritime sector.

The Government of India in the recent years has put in a lot of emphasis in the skill development of the people. Sagarmala, the flagship programme of Ministry of Shipping, also has provision for skill development of the coastal community. This will help in generation of jobs and also help to increase the living standard of people.

Shri Rajive Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping and other officials of the Ministry also attended the Advisory Committee meeting.