This article Nai Manzil Scheme consists of : need,objectives,eligibility,financing body,creating equal opportunities for all, empowering the youth minorities in particular.

Table Of Content

Nai Manzil Scheme:Empowering The Youth

“Empower Youth,Transform lives,Make a difference,Build a nation!”

“ an integrated Education and Livelihood Initiative”.

INTRODUCTION:

India is one of the those nations of the world, whose demograpic divident ( working group from 17-35 years of age ) is highly healthy as well as high but are deprived of basic requirements including education and skills falling into the category of minorities .The exponentially increasing population which was seen through negative glasses can turn the tables round when converted into HUMAN RESOURCE. Taking a route towards this path,the Union Government has signed a Financing Agreement of 50 million dollars with the World Bank for Nai Manzil Scheme- Education and Skills Training for Minorities. A holistic development of the Minority community through an integrated scheme of education and skill training is accordingly designed aiming to address low education attainment and employ-ability of the minorities.

The scheme was launched in Patna on August 8, 2015 under Union Ministry for Minority Affairs headed by Dr. Najma Heptulla to make innovative interventions in the field of education and skill development for improving the welfare of girls from minority background,ultimately empowering them.

More About The Nai Manzil Scheme – An initiative to Strengthen Minority Communities by Providing Skill-Based Training

In August 2015, central government launched “The Pradhan Mantri Nai Manzil Scheme”. It is a skill development programme which benefits girls from minority group. Government identified seven sectors for which assistance will be provided. Based on the recommendations of Sachar Committee to improve the social welfare and educational programmes of India, Government has kicked off the programme. The first institutions to be benefited by the programme were Madarsa Imam Sadique in Shadipur, Skill Development Centre at the University of Kashmir and Madarsa Shahi-i-Hamdan in Pampore.

The Indian Government has described the programme as “ an integrated Education and Livelihood Initiative”.

Need for such Scheme:

The Sanchar Committee has played a crucial role in conceptualization of the programme. High-level committee had scoped ways to elevate socio-economic and educational status of Minorities in India and submitted its report to Manmohan Singh, who was the-then Prime Minister. Report revealed that Minor kids in the age group of 6-14 were either school dropouts or had never gone to a school in the first place. Only 3% children in these families went to madrasas and received some primary education.

According to the report published by the Sanchar Committee, ever since the 1970s, the gap in rates of general attainment in higher education has been widening between Minorities in India. The percentage of graduates and post-graduates in the top colleges were 4% and 2% respectively. The committee recommended the institution of an equal opportunity body so that Minorities could be brought at par with other communities.

Objective of the scheme:

Nai Manzil aims to engage constructively with poor Minority youth and help them obtain sustainable and gainful employment opportunities that can facilitate them to be integrated with mainstream economic activities. Specific objectives of the project for the next five years are as follows:

Mobilise youth from minority communities who are school drop-outs and provide them with formal education and certification up to level 8th or 10th through National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) or other State open schooling systems.

As part of the programme, provide integrated Skill Training to the youth in market driven skills.

Provide placements to at least 70% of the trained youth in jobs which would earn them basic minimum wages and provide them with other social protection entitlements like Provident Funds, Employee State Insurance (ESI) etc.

Raise awareness and sensitization in health and life skills.

ELIGIBILITY:

The trainee should belong to Minority community as notified under National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 (viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis).
The trainee should be between 17-35 years of age.
The trainees should belong to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) population both from urban and rural areas.
The minimum qualification of trainee should be achieved as per NIOS / equivalent.

This is to be noted that : 30% of the beneficiary seats will be earmarked for girl / women candidates and 5% of the beneficiary seats will be earmarked for persons with disability belonging to the minority community under the scheme. To promote inter-community solidarity, 15% candidates belonging to BPL families of non-minority communities will also be considered. In case reserved categories as prescribed under this scheme remain vacant, these vacant seats may be treated as unreserved.

For more details Visit : Official website of Ministry of Minority Affairs

Nature of training:

Training programme has been designed considering the skills which will be relevant to a particular state. This means that beneficiaries will acquire skills which can be put to use where they are residing. This further implies that programme intends to meet the requirements of local industries for skilled labour. Besides training, beneficiaries will also receive INR 4500 per head.

The seven sectors where training will be provided may be enumerated as below:

Electronics
Embroidery
Saffron processing
Food processing
Tourism and hospitality
Computers and IT (both software and hardware)
Plumbing

Financial assistance from World Bank

Under this agreement, the credit will be facilitated by the International Development Association (IDA), World Bank’s concessionary lending arm. This credit will be in the form of loan which carries a maturity of 25 years, including a 5-year grace period.

An agreement between union government and world bank in which global financial body will provide credit worth $50 million to carry out the programme has provided much-needed financial boost to the programme. Experts believe that this agreement will certainly improve India’s status in international circles and when there is a need for skilled workers in domains mentioned above arise, India will be considered as a viable alternative.The total project size is 100 million dollars, out of which 50 million dollars will be available as IDA credit and the remaining balance funding from the Union Budget.

CONCLUSION:

Scholars like Mirza Asmer Beg, a professor of political science at the Aligarh Muslim University, are of the opinion that the high-level report has revealed that Muslims are not doing well but if given the opportunity and right direction, they can excel. Analysts describe the programme as a good initiative by the government, but at the same time they showed concerns about its possible results.

This programme is an endeavor to achieve the objective of development for all. The recommendations are worthy of implementation and the programme trusted the principle of elevating even the last person in the queue.

FOR MORE DETAILS : VISIT NAI MANZIL DASHBOARD