Deputy Commissioner, Ramban Mussarat Islam today inaugurated seven day Skill Training programme for women under Centrally Sponsored Scheme SANKALP (Skill Acquisition & Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion), organized by the Department of Horticulture at Batote.
DDC Member, Jagveer Das; Chief Horticulture Officer, Anil Gorka; Dy. Registrar Cooperative, Priyanka Sharma; Area Marketing Officer, Sunil Bakshi; Sarpanch Poonam Devi; Mahatma Gandhi National Fellow Ramban, Nilesh Sharma, besides PRIs and a large number of locals attended the programme in plurality.
As many as, 25 women members of two registered Cooperative Societies of Batote will be trained by KS Sodhi and other experts in value addition techniques of food processing and preservation of fruits and vegetables. The will be imparted training in making pickles, jams, juice, and squash.
Batote holds a forte in production of fruits in Ramban and up-skilling in this sector will empower the trainees to become successful entrepreneurs and establish their own business units by availing government subsidy up to 60%.
After inaugurating the programme, the Deputy Commissioner interacted with women and laid emphasis on exploring potential sectors in Ramban, involving value addition and motivated them to lay foundation for community initiatives along with their daily chores to earn livelihood and create employment opportunities for other women as well.
He listened to the issues projected by the trainees as well as the PRIs and said that he would extend full support to them in marketing their produce.The DC laid stress on creating Organic (Desi) Cooperative Marketing Society in Ramban with an aim to cater to the local needs.
“The Society can meet the demand of the hotels on the the National Highway NH44 and those at Patnitop for which signing of a MoU was offered to ensure round the year supply for the benefit of the young entrepreneurs along with the other stakeholders.
The DC also informed the masses about holding of multiple short-term trainings in the coming month by numerous other departments of Ramban under SANKALP like Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Handicrafts. He exhorted the educated unemployed youth to come forward, enroll for these trainings and up-skill themselves to steer the society and the District towards a progressive change. These trainings are scheduled to be held in all Sub-Divisions of the district to cover maximum number of youth.