Dimapur: Nagaland is ready for a National Career Service Centre for the Differently Abled (NCSC-DA) for its estimated 29,000 Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
The training centre will be set up at the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) campus at Khushiabill, Dimapur.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Nagaland government and the Union Ministry of Labour & Employment to establish the centre on Saturday.
On behalf of the Union labour and employment ministry, NCSC-DA assistant director (employment), directorate general of employment, Ram Kishor Sharma signed the MoU while Nagaland director of employment, skill development and entrepreneurship department Chiden Yaden signed it on behalf of the state government.
Also Read: Assam: Ganja worth Rs 35 lakh seized in Gossaigaon
This will be the 22nd such centre in the country since the inception of the NCSC-DA (erstwhile Vocational Rehabilitation Centres for the Handicapped) in 1968.
Empowering PWDs is the mission objective of the programme through vocational guidance, career counselling, skill development and other rehabilitation support. Identifying the needs of PWDs, creating community awareness and social responsibility on their problems, demonstrating their abilities and providing professional guidance based on their residual functional abilities are the core objectives of setting up the centre.
According to Sharma, the NCSC-DA is designed to serve as a residential training centre for the PwDs and its costs are sponsored by the Union labour and employment ministry, including stipends to the trainees. He said the centre will be for non-formal skill development.
Sharma said the PwDs, aged between 15 to 50 years, will be trained in batches of 20 to 25 at the centre and a stipend of Rs 2500 per head will be paid to them, besides other facilities during the period of their training.
Also Read: Musician Kabir Suman seeks apology from Republic TV journalist
He added that the centre will function under the Union ministry of labour and employment while the state government will manage its technical aspects.
Yaden said the centre will temporarily function from the existing buildings at ITI while the permanent infrastructure will be built within the campus itself. The permanent structure for the training centre will be disabled-friendly, he said.