Bhubaneswar: With an aim to add new dimensions in skilling and employability for the youth of the state, the Government of Odisha signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and two agreements with Tata Strive and Tech Mahindra at Kharavela Bhawan, Monday.
The MoU and agreements were signed in the august presence of Chief Minister Sri Naveen Patnaik.
The first agreement was signed between Directorate of Technical Education & Training (DTE&T) and Tata Strive to impart Life Skills to the students of Government ITI. This will help the students to sharpen their Soft Skills and make them ready for employment in the industries as well as to compete for global placements. The agreement was signed by Reghu G, Director, DTE&T and Anita Rajan, CEO, Tata Strive. As per the agreement, Life Skill will be imparted to all the 49 Government ITIs of the state.
An MoU was also signed with Tech Mahindra and Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), Odisha and College of Engineering & Technogies (CET) to setup a Centre of Excellence in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to work on proof of concept (PoC) on real life business problems to keep up the market demand and to enhance the employability of the engineering students. Every year 30 students will get the training in the CoE in the field of AI/ML for a period of 12 months. This initiative will help in creating and enhancing the talent pool in the field of AI/ML. This is the first ever CoE in AI space in a government engineering college in the state. The MoU was signed by Sri B. K. Mishra, S. V. P (Global Delivery Head),Tech Mahindra ,P.K. Patra, Principal, CET and Sri H S Behera, Registrar BPUT.
The third agreement was signed between IDCO and Tech Mahindra to setup a state-of-the-art facility to start its operations for International BPO operations for Fortune-500 Global customers to be serviced from Fortune Towers, Bhubaneswar. This facility will provide additional employment in the BPO sector for the state which will help the Skilled-in-Odisha youth seeking an opportunity in International BPO sector without leaving their home state. The agreement was signed by Pratap Pattnaik, Manager Corporate Services, Tech Mahindra and Sri Rabindra Jha,CGM (P&C), IDCO.
From Tech Mahindra side, Sujit Bakshi (President Corporate Affairs), Mr B K Mishra, (SVP, Global Delivery Head), Mr Mukund Kannan (Global Head AI & Automation) along with other local leaders from their Bhubaneswar centre joined the event.
On this occasion Chairman, Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA), Subroto Bagchi said that “we are extremely delighted with the quality of partners who are now coming forward to work in Odisha. Tata Strive and Tech Mahindra share our philosophy that skills must lead to human transformation. We welcome them to our state.”
Expressing his satisfaction Premananda Nayak, Hon’ble Minister, SD&TE said, “Our government’s constant endeavour is there to attract high quality training institutions of employers to come to our state.”
Tech Education secretary Sanjay Singh said, “This unique collaboration between Tech Mahindra and CET will be a big step forward in building joint capabilities for the local industries and the state of Odisha, in the area of Artificial Intelligence. The CoE will be a catalyst in implementing new age technologies in various sectors and will help us design cutting edge solutions for the future.”
During the ceremony, Industry Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra, E&IT Minister i Tusharkanti Behera, Chief Secretary, Sri Asit Kumar Tripathy, APC, Sri P K Mahapatra, Secretaries of different Departments, Senior Official and Director, Directorate of Employment-cum- CEO, Miss Rashmita Panda were present.
PNN