On Monday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched an innovative project for skill training of construction workers called ‘NIPUN’ i.e. National Initiative for Promoting Upskilling of Nirman workers.
The project NIPUN is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under its flagship scheme of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) to train over 1 lakh construction workers through fresh skilling and upskilling programs and provide them with work opportunities in foreign countries also.
Shri Hardeep S Puri also interacted with some construction workers on the occasion and presented them with safety helmets.
While addressing the audience, Shri Hardeep S Puri said that the transformational impact of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) has definitively reduced the vulnerability of urban poor households by providing upskilling and employment opportunities to urban dwellers, especially the youth.
He further said that the spirit of entrepreneurship has been encouraged and supported by giving urban workers access to self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.
This NIPUN initiative will enable Nirman workers to be more proficient and skilled while making them adopt future trends in the construction industry by increasing their capabilities and diversifying their skill sets, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Puri said that he has been emphasizing on boosting the skill sets in the construction industry to be adopted on a war footing, but so far we have not been able to achieve what should have been done.
The construction industry has been investing in skills, but it has not spread horizontally across the industry.
Therefore, the initiative taken by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in this regard is really praiseworthy and should be expanded to cover a larger number of people.
The Minister said that skill and productivity go hand in hand and the Hon’ble Prime Minister saw it at the beginning itself.
The Ministry also undertook technology challenges, which led to the implementation of six Light House Projects in a record time, wherein technology and local materials were used to construct sustainable green buildings.