Maharashtra: Govt to launch 500 rural skilling centers to promote rural economy

The Maharashtra government is planning to develop 500 village skilling centres. The process is nearing completion, and the centres are likely to be thrown open sometime soon, Maharashtra skill-development minister Mangalprabhat Lodha has said.

Need for rural skilling centres

The whole concept of skilling, upskilling, reskilling, etc. has been predominantly urban-centric, but the government realised the need for rural skilling centres, where skills required for the rural economy, like tractor repairing, would be imparted. Budgetary allocations of ₹50 crore were made for the scheme. Now that applications for such centres have started coming, there is an overwhelming response, Minister Lodha said while talking to reporters at Mantralaya.

"We are currently planning to launch these centres by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Shivarajyabhishek Din (the day when King Shivaji was coronated), and it will be an online function," the minister added.

Buddhist theme parks at Ajanta and Ellora

Lodha also handles the tourism portfolio. When asked about new schemes under the department, the minister said that the state is contemplating giving 5 acres of land each to 10 Buddhist countries at Ajanta and Ellora to develop Buddhist theme parks.

Similarly, the state government is planning to develop an exhibition and a museum on the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at his birthplace, the Shivneri fort. The government also plans to create a Savarkar Theme Park at Bhagur near Nashik, where Veer Savarkar was born, and a monsoon festival in Konkan from the ensuing monsoon season, the minister added. In Mumbai, the government plans to organize the Mumbai festival on the lines of the Dubai festival, the minister added.

He also said that basic amenities like toilets would be developed at all the trekking points in the state, and the government wants to support adventure sports.