Unemployment root cause of many problems, says Maharashtra minister

Mangal Prabhat Lodha. File Pic

Unemployment is the root cause of many problems and skill training is necessary to tackle this issue, Maharashtra minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha has said.

Speaking at a function organised in Thane on Saturday night, the Skill Development Minister said industries should set up skill training centres in factories and at construction sites to prepare the skilled manpower required for industries.

Lodha said the Maharashtra government will extend all the necessary cooperation by giving the requisite licenses.

"Unemployment is the root cause of many problems in India and to tackle this, skill training is necessary. If a youth has skills, his life will be happy. Therefore, entrepreneurs and industries need to unite with the government to fulfil the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to build 'Skill India'," Lodha said.

In the first industry meeting, an MoU was signed for creating 1.27 lakh jobs.

During Saturday's meeting at Thane, MoUs were signed with 290 entrepreneurs and through this 2.03 lakh jobs will be available.

Under the Maharashtra State Innovative Startup Policy, the Maharashtra Student Innovation Challenge initiative was launched on Saturday to promote innovation among students, realizing the startup dream of students and providing them with a platform at the local level, a release said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the state is progressing on various indices of education, days after NCP president Sharad Pawar expressed concern over Maharashtra's performance as per a Central grading index.

Devendra Fadnavis stressed Maharashtra is performing well on the education front.

Sharad Pawar has written to the state government expressing concern over Maharashtra's performance on the grading index.

"Union human resources ministry has released Performance Grading Index 2.0 which shows Maharashtra has slid from the second position to the seventh one. It is very unfortunate that Maharashtra has failed on improving the quality of education," Pawar stated.

When asked about the issue, Fadnavis said, "The valuation system has used 10 grades. In the first five grades, no state has secured a place. Punjab and Chandigarh are in the sixth grade and Maharashtra is in the seventh one. It means Maharashtra is actually in the second position."

"Excluding Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, Maharashtra is progressing ahead. The situation is not that Maharashtra has slid on these fronts," he said and claimed a survey for the same was carried out during the tenure of the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (government).

"But who was in power is not important," Fadnavis added.

(With inputs from PTI)