Defence ministry ties up with skills ministry to boost employability of ex-servicemen

The ministry of defence on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) to facilitate strategic partnership on skill development and entrepreneurship to enable ex-servicemen find employment after their service in the armed forces.

Speaking on the occasion, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said the MoU will provide impetus to using the skills of servicemen for the country when they retire from the armed forces. ''The servicemen will also take to civilian life some rare skills which they acquire during their service life,'' he said.

Minister of state for MSDE Rajiv Pratap Rudy said there are differences in nomenclature of jobs in certain cases that the servicemen do in the armed forces and in the civilian field and these needed to be aligned. He expressed confidence that the MoU will be a harbinger of skill development in the country.

The MoU will boost employability and acceptability of ex-servicemen by the industry for those service personnel who are on the verge of retirement or have already retired. Moreover, to enhance their employability, these training facilities initiated by the Director General Resettlement will be aligned with the National Skills Qualifications Frameworkdeveloped by the Sector Skill Councils.

The MoU will provide an opportunity for the defence public sector undertakings and ordnance factories to participate in skill development initiatives. As per the ministry of human resources development, it will also introduce vocational education from class 9 to 12 in schools, which will be run by the ministry of defence (excluding Sainik Schools) also, in a phased manner.

The MoU will help train and provide gainful employment to approximately 3 lakh ex-servicemen / their family members in five years starting from this financial year. It will also make available skilled youth to defence public sector undertakings and OFs by using their infrastructure, CSR funds, establishment of centre(s) of excellence and development of model ITIs.

At the apex level, a steering committee chaired by the defence minister and co-chaired by the minister of state for skill development will provide necessary policy direction for the implementation of this ambitious scheme. An executive committee for this scheme, to be chaired by the defence secretary and co-chaired by the secretary, ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship will oversee the smooth roll-out of the clauses of the MoU.

For the successful execution of the scheme, three separate implementation teams have been formed. While the Director General Resettlement will head the ESM resettlement team, the joint secretary will look after defence public sector undertakings-related components while the department of defence production and respective education boards of the Army, Navy and Air Force will lead their respective education component. The Programme Management Unit will assist the steering committee and the executive committee.