Youth to be trained in drone-driven services for self-employment: Sukhu

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that drone technology could play an important role in construction, agriculture and delivery of small logistics like medicines and food. He presided over a meeting to discuss the role of National Resource Management and Agro-ecology on the motto of ‘Samridh Himachal-Green Himachal’ here.

He said that the government would support drone-based enterprises. Courses on drones would be started in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), he added.

Sukhu said that effective steps would be taken to make Himachal a self-reliant state by 2027 and the most prosperous one by 2032. He added that medium and small scale industries played a pivotal role in creating self-employment opportunities for the youth and the government was serious about setting up such units.

He said that tapping renewal solar energy would open doors of self employment. “The ball has been set rolling to bring 16 lakh sloping roof households and buildings under the Solar Rooftop Subsidy Scheme on the mission mode. The youth can earn by selling excess electricity produced to the government. The government is planning to raise the price of electricity purchase and facilitate bank loans in near future,” he added.

Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar, Education Minister Rohit Thakur, Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani, MLAs Sanjay Awasthi, Kewal Singh Pathania and Suresh Kumar attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister said that the Crack Academy had proposed a scholarship of Rs 34 crore to provide coaching to 6,800 students preparing for various competitive exams.

At a meeting with the representatives of the Crack Academy, he said, “The academy has proposed a Rs 34 crore scholarship to coach 6,800 students for various competitive exams,” according to an official press note.

Sukhu said that the government had taken several initiatives to offer world-class coaching to students. The Crack Academy aims to prepare 100 students each from Himachal Pradesh’s 68 Assembly constituencies for competitive examinations.

As part of the initiative, the academy would also provide students Class VI onwards with information on competitive exams and skill development, the release stated.