Chiphen Rigpel – an ambitious human capacity building project, implemented by NIIT and launched by The Royal Government of Bhutan in partnership with Government of India (GoI), has successfully completed five years. The project was initiated on April 30, 2010 on the sidelines of the SAARC summit held in Bhutan. This GoI assisted project was designed to empower the people of Bhutan to transition into a modern Knowledge Society.

NIIT’s impeccable execution of this project over the last five years and the successful completion on time and within budget and to the fullest satisfaction of the varied groups of learners was well appreciated by all the stakeholders present at the Closing Ceremony held at Thimphu, Bhutan.

As part of the Chiphen Rigpel project, NIIT has imparted ICT skills to over 1,25,000 learners and in turn touched the lives of more than 30 per cent of Bhutan’s population. The project has six components that include – enabling e-governance, empowering teachers and taking ICT to schools, enabling employability, furnishing tertiary institutes with ICT training centres, reaching the unreached all over the nation, and managing e-waste. Chiphen Rigpel reaches out to all sections of Bhutanese society including national leaders, civil servants, local government, teachers, schoolchildren, youth, underprivileged children and the monastic body.

Under the Project, NIIT imparted computer education and computer aided education services to 168 Government Higher Secondary Schools covering classes VII to XII. It provided 5,204 certifications to the teachers thus enabling them to use ICT tools in the teaching – learning process to enhance their effectiveness. NIIT provided e-governance literacy to 7396 government Leaders, civil servants, officials, managers and executives. Under the project NIIT set up 16 training facilities to provide high-end IT training, vocational IT training, basic IT literacy and provide 20,541 certifications.

The project bridged the rural-urban digital divide and provided access to education for remote and rural citizens. NIIT set-up 131 Playground Learning Stations (PLS) as part of Community Centres bringing the rural population into the ICT fold. Awareness for e-waste management has been created along with formulation of a strategy for further implementation. Also training programmes conducted for the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications, National Environment Council, Municipalities and Local Government.

The Government of India is implementing two schemes namely “Scholarships to Young Artistes in Different Cultural Fields” to grant scholarship/financial assistance to artists in the field of performing arts in order to promote them in their respective fields and “Scheme for Award of Fellowship to Outstanding Persons in the Field of Culture” for research oriented projects in various fields of Art and Culture.

Under the scholarship scheme, up-to 400 scholarships to be given every year to young artistes in the age group of 18-25 year for advance training in the field of Indian classical music, dance, theatre, visual art, folk and traditional and indigenous art etc. Under the fellowship scheme, up-to 400 (200 junior in the age group of 25-40 years and 200 senior in the age group of above 40 years) Fellowship are given every year to outstanding persons in the fields of art and culture.

For both the Schemes, meritorious candidates are selected on the basis of their performance/interview by the Expert Committees constituted by the Ministry of Culture. Under the Scheme of Scholarship each selected artist is to be given scholarship of Rs 5000 per month for a period of two year. Under the Scheme of Fellowship each selected Junior Fellow is given fellowship of Rs 10,000 per month and Senior Fellow Rs 20,000 per month for a period of two years. There is no art and state-wise quota in both the Schemes.

The World Bank has funded the Vocational Training Improvement Project, ‘Upgradation of 400 Government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)’ across the country, informed Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

The scheme includes enhancement of knowledge and skills of ITI instructors, strengthening facilities in 14 central institutes, strengthening curriculum development, reforms, and capacity building. Under the project, the key institutional reforms introduced are constitution of Institute Management Committee (IMC) at ITI level with the chairmanship from the industry.

Till September 2015, Rs 1605 crore has been utilised under the schemes, out of which 83 per cent has been disbursed by the World Bank. Since the scheme started in December 2007, around 70,000 trainees are trained annually. The closing date of the scheme is September, 2016.

The Minister further said that National Skill Development Agency has not made any estimate of funds required for meeting the target fixed for skill development. However, in order to understand the sectoral and geographical spread of skill requirement/gaps and incremental human resource requirement across the sectors, studies have been undertaken by the Government through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a Public Private Partnership (PPP) entity.

As per the study, employment opportunities in India would increase from 461.1 million in 2013 to 581.9 million in 2022, across the 24 sectors, pointing at an incremental human resource requirement of approximately 120.8 million. Considering the overlap in the human resource requirement across a number of sectors, the unique number for incremental demand would be 109.7 million by 2022, wherein the top 10 sectors would account for 80 per cent of this requirement.