Minister for Human Resource Development Ganta Srinivasa Rao and Minister for Skill Development, Law and Justice and Sports Kollu Ravindra and the Minister for Labour and Employment Pithani Satyanarayana were coincidentally gathered at the Skill Development Institute (SDI) at Arilova in Visakhapatnam for the launch of the Udyogaratham, a mobile employment van. This is the second of its kind in the state. The first one was launched in Vijayawada last year by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The e-van is a Public Private Partnership ( PPP) initiative with CSR and government funds. It has a database of information of both job seekers and employers and this will help connect the youth of Andhra Pradesh to job opportunities available in the market.
This is the first of its kind vehicle equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
The employment van has computers, page screen TV, e kiosks and seating arrangement to enable youth to register and also get the latest information on jobs available in Vishakapatnam and neighbouring districts. The youth can discuss job information like qualification required, salary offered by talking to job counsellors present in the van.
The van travels to the doorstep of the unemployed which could include bus stands, local neighbourhoods, railway stations and colleges. After collecting the information of the unemployed, the software will connect them digitally to local and regional jobs. The registration is for free. A computer software shortlists suitable candidates for each local vacancy and informs both employer and shortlisted candidates through mobile.
A new feature has been added to the new van launched in Visakhapatnam. Keeping in mind the AP government’s dream to go digital in its citizen services, the job seekers can download a mobile android app called APPLI. This will be connected to a local Hotspot being created around the van by installation of data WiFi routers in the van. All the jobs will be visible through the app in the to-be employee's mobile, enabling in bringing jobs to the unemployed youth.
The van will list all the local jobs which will be listed, and small local employers will be able to hire free of cost. The unemployed youth in the region will get connected to jobs and will get interview passes without paying any money. The youth can see the local and regional jobs in their mobile app and also track their application status. They can also see the government jobs list along with the last date of application, exam dates etc in their APPLI.
"Many job seekers from low income and socially backward families do not have computers at home and are not savvy in English and hence are unable to use job boards and other job search options effectively. They also do not find the government employment exchanges effective," says T. Muralidharan, chairman of TMI Group, the private partner whose idea was to launch such e-vans. The TMI Group operates these buses.
"The biggest value add of the Udhyogratham is aggregation of local MSME (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) jobs in real time. Every day and every hour a team of executives from the van will approach employers nearby and register their vacancies with the offer of free shortlist," adds Muralidharan.
Minister Kollu Ravindra also announced that the state government was planning to start Udyogarathams in all districts of the state, provided companies came forward to fund this project, because this will help youth look for local jobs.
Live district level job vacancy data with compensation and qualifications required for MSME employers will be a crucial input in framing policy for skill training and for reducing migration to big cities and the feeling is that the Udhyogaratham will be the only channel to build this data.
The first Udyogaratham was launched in Vijayawada by Naidu in April last year and has been operational in Vijayawada and Guntur, successfully connecting candidates to employment opportunities. The Vijayawada Udyogaratham was funded by three organisations—Kesineni Trust , APSSDC and TMI Group. In fact during this launch Naidu was very keen that this job service is launched in every district of AP.
At Visakhapatnam, three organisations – the nodal agency for skills in Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), India’s leading employment and skill group TMI group and one of India’s largest Petroleum PSU which has a large refinery in Vishakapatnam— Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited came together to launch the Udhyogratham services.
