Bhubaneswar: With participation of youths, individuals from all age groups and members of the LGBTQ community— the ‘skill mela’ seemed to be an ‘inclusive’ affair. It concluded with about 170 persons participating in the day-long event at Kalyan Mandap, Monday.
Organised by the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) the ‘skill mela’ is a pilot initiative under the people-centric programme for helping the Smart City to be ‘socially smart’. A collaborative initiative of BSCL, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and United Nations Population Fund, the ‘Socially Smart’ project was initiated in January 2017 in eight slums under Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (Smart District) and currently covers 100 slums of the city
Thirteen institutions put up kiosks to inform youths for skill training in different trades. The yougsters inquired about different schemes as Deen Dayal Upadhya Gramin Kaushal Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Prime Minister Kaushal Vikash Yojana (PMKVY).
Sanjana Behera, a member of the LGBTQ community from Utkal University Basti said, “The skill mela will definitely help the youth especially those who are school or college dropouts. With many courses and vocational skills on offer, the event is going to empower the youth with more ideas for a better future.’’
Though the skill mela was primarily aimed at helping out students and youngsters from slums, others also came in and took part in discussion with the counselors of the institutes and agencies imparting skill education.
Pushpanjali Rana of OUAT Farm Gate basti was interested to know about training options available at Urban Micro Business Centre (UMBC), Pokhariput, Roji Sahoo of the same basti inquired about skillls in retail and coffee.