IMPHAL July 2: The union minister of Development of North Eastern Region, Bijoy Krishna Handique inaugurated a programme “Developing Managerial Skills for Entrepreneurship” at the IIM Shillong today.
According to a statement of the DoNER ministry, while delivering his inaugural address, Handique said that, “I am lucky to be here to inaugurate the first programme which IIM, Shillong has taken the initiative to organize with the financial assistance of the Ministry of DONER. In fact, capacity building of youth and officials of this region has been identified as one of the critical areas for development. Ministry of DoNER and NEC have been focusing on this aspect for some time now”.
The union minister further lauded the efforts of IIM Shillong in establishing its Centre for Development of North Eastern Region (CEDNER) and said that this initiative would meaningfully contribute to the welfare of the society here.
According to the statement, he also said that,” The Ministry of DONER has with its main objective of development of the region and capacity building for the youth of the region according to the Vision 2020 has come forward to assist IIM Shillong in organising such training programmes so that it can provide training of national level with a regional orientation to the local youths. Such opportunities will enable the people and the region to move away from dependency on Government jobs since skill and confidence gained from such programmes will help to shape their own destiny and that of the region as a whole”. Handique also informed the gathering that another programme on hospitality management is coming up with IIM Shillong in association with North East Council (NEC) within a short time.
Shri Vincet Pala, Minister of State for Water Resources and Minority Affairs, Dr Ashok Dutta, Director, IIM, Shillong were also present in the inaugural programme.
The Ministry of DoNER has sanctioned an amount of Rs.79.15 lacs for this programme for training 60 youth from the region and the program is supported under the “Technical assistance and Capacity Building Scheme” administered by the ministry of DoNER.
Earlier in the day, Handique, who is also the chairman of NEC, visited the Assam Rifles School at Shillong where the NEC is sponsoring the education of 100 students.
He interacted with the students and faculties of the school.
NEC had accorded administrative approval for Rs.3.16 crore to the principal, Assam Rifles Public School, Shillong on March 30 this year.
This is under the NEC Scheme “financial support to students of North Eastern Region” for sponsoring education for 100 children of NE States. As a pilot project, NEC to sponsor 23 students from Class VI and intake will start from academic year 2011-12 and will continue till the first batch finishes Class X. Lt gen Rameshwar Roy, DG, Assam Rifles and U K Sangma, secretary, NEC were also present in the event.
The minister is on a two day tour of Shillong, added the statement.
