URSETI paving way for youth employment

Rajamahendravaram (East Godavari District): Union Rural Self-Employment Training Institute (URSETI) is leading way for rural unemployed youth in achieving goals of employment. URSETI provides training to rural unemployed youth in various self-employment trades and also assists them in setting up employment units. This institute re-accelerated its operations after Covid pandemic. URSETI in Rajahmundry, which operates at the combined East Godavari district level, has arranged to train a total of 690 people in 24 trades during this financial year.

About 70 per cent of seats will be given to rural youth of below poverty line and 30 per cent to urban poor youth. Rural self-employment training institutes are run to make the youth ready to stand on their own feet and achieve self-sufficiency.

It is jointly run by the Central Rural Development Corporation and the Lead Bank of respective districts. The institute was formed on November 14, 1989. There are 580 rural self-employment training institutes in the country and 32 in Andhra Pradesh.

In 1989, Andhra Bank Rural Development Corporation was set up under the leadership of the then Lead Bank Andhra Bank in a vast area of five acres in Rajahmundry Alcot Gardens in the undivided East Godavari District. After the merger of Andhra Bank with Union Bank, it became URSETI. There is one director and two full-time faculty, one watchman cum gardener. Guest faculty services are provided for training in the respective disciplines.

The centre provides free meals and accommodation also along with training to 18 to 40-year-old candidates with a minimum of 10th class qualification. It has 24 sections like tailoring, beautician, emerald making, jute bag making, hand embroidery, fabric painting, cell phone repair, photography and video mixing, house wiring, car driving, and refrigerator AC mechanism, etc.

Self-help groups are also trained. After the training, Skill Development India and URSETI will issue two separate certificates. Loan facility is provided to those who own a unit.

The Institute Director GVVR Subrahmanyam said the company had trained 50,000 people so far. Almost 40,000 were set up their self-employment units. About 30,000 among them were loaned out by the bank. He said the settlement rate has been 72 percent since the company was founded and has achieved a settlement rate of 92 percent in the last two years. The focus is on youth employment in a three-tier system, he said. The director said that awareness seminars would be conducted in rural areas under pre-training and applications for training would be received, followed by training. He said they would monitor whether the self-employed were settled in the field under post-training.

He explained that last year's target is 500 people and they gave training to 530 youths. Before last year when all activities stopped with the covid pandemic, then also the institute had trained 341 youths, he said.

This financial year a total of 690 people will be trained in 24 departments. Two batches of training have already been completed and now 35 people are being trained in refrigeration and AC mechanism.

The institute is also giving away two pairs of uniform outfits free of cost to the trainees here. The sewing work contract is being promoted to a woman trained in the same company. A self-employed woman Rajeswari from Vemagiri said the URSETI has been very supportive in providing them with good training and also in the field of bank loans.