Lucknow, October 09: At a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday, the Cabinet approved the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Skill Training and Employment Zone (SVPSTPZ) Development Scheme. The scheme aims to develop Uttar Pradesh as the ‘Ultimate Sourcing Hub of Skilled Manpower’ and a ‘Global Manpower Hub’. Under the scheme, it will develop an integrated skill training and employment ecosystem across nine zones, covering all 75 districts of the state. This will help train young people to meet industry requirements and connect them with employment opportunities in India and abroad.
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector plays an important role in Uttar Pradesh's industrial development. The state has approximately 96 lakh MSME enterprises, accounting for 14.2 percent of the country’s approximately 6.77 crore enterprises. The sector contributes around 60 percent of the state’s industrial production and approximately 45 percent of its exports. More than 3 crore people are employed in this sector.
The scheme will play an important role in ensuring a skilled workforce to meet growing industry demand and connecting young people with employment opportunities on a wider scale.
The state will be divided into 9 zones, with an integrated skill development and employment ecosystem established on a hub-and-spoke model. Training arrangements in each zone will align with local industrial activities, market demand, and employment prospects.
This will help assess human resource requirements across industries, market segments, and departments, and generate employment opportunities.
In the first phase, the government will establish skill training and employment centers at five key locations. One center will be set up in Lucknow by the Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; in Kanpur under the public-private partnership (PPP) model; in Gorakhpur by the Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA); in Gautam Buddha Nagar through the joint support of the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authorities (YEIDA); and in Jhansi by the Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority (BIDA).
Zone 1: Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad and Hapur.
Zone 2: Saharanpur Division, along with Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Meerut.
Zone 3: Moradabad and Bareilly divisions.
Zone 4: Agra and Aligarh divisions.
Zone 5: Lucknow and Ayodhya divisions.
Zone 6: Kanpur and Prayagraj divisions.
Zone 7: Chitrakoot, Vindhyachal and Jhansi divisions.
Zone 8: Varanasi and Azamgarh divisions.
Zone 9: Gorakhpur, Basti and Devipatan divisions.
Centers to be developed on 10 to 25 acres, with four-lane road connectivity
Suitable, encumbrance-free land measuring 10 to 25 acres will be arranged for each center. To ensure convenient access, the scheme provides four-lane road connectivity from the nearest highway or expressway within two years. The centers will be developed and operated either through the public-private partnership-based Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) model or through government institutions.
Under the scheme, young people with non-technical educational backgrounds, such as humanities and commerce, will receive basic skill training. The scheme will also arrange technical skill upgrades for young people with backgrounds in ITIs, polytechnics, and engineering. The project will also provide need-based training in Indian and foreign languages, aligned with employment opportunities in other states and abroad.
The campus will provide hostel facilities, along with an employment office and placement cell. The project will arrange connections between trained youth and employment opportunities by coordinating with recognized and reputed placement agencies in India and abroad.
The project estimates total expenditure of ₹1,725 crore over the next three years. Viability Gap Funding (VGF) may also be provided to private developers and training providers as required. To ensure transparent and effective implementation, the scheme has established coordination and monitoring mechanisms at the state, district, and project levels.
These will monitor project establishment and operations, financial management, training quality, and employment-related activities.
The scheme will emphasize achieving its objectives through coordination among industries, concerned departments, and industrial development authorities. In addition, digital dashboards, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based technological facilities will be used to make skill training and employment arrangements more effective. The plan includes selecting a suitable technology partner.
