Arvind Kejriwal inaugurates 'lighthouse' in Old Delhi's Matia Mahal

     New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday inaugurated a 'lighthouse' in Matia Mahal saying many more such centres will come up soon in the national capital.
     The cost of the Matia Mahal centre will be borne by the Dell Foundation, with skilling work being taken care of by the Lighthouse Foundation, the CM said.
     The Lighthouse Foundation's website describes a 'lighthouse' as a centre to run sustainable livelihood programmes for the urban disadvantaged youth.
     Kejriwal at the inauguration spoke about the state of the economy and rising unemployment to highlight the need for such centres.
     "Today, the biggest challenge is to provide employment to youth. On the other hand, the country's economy is gradually getting worse. Data shows that about 12 lakh high net worth individuals migrated from India in the last few years," Kejriwal said, adding, there was an "atmosphere of fear" in the country.
     He said the government had originally planned only four lighthouses, but has now decided to establish several of them.
     "We can develop community centres lying in disuse to set up lighthouses," he said, adding, the next lighthouse centre will come up in Patparganj.
     Kejriwal said that more than 3,000 students were trained at lighthouse centres in Kalkaji and Malka ganj, out of whom, 1,000 are currently employed at big companies like Amazon.
     "Education is meaningless if the educated youth does not get a job. So, I am trying to create jobs for them," Kejriwal said.
     He said the lighthouse centres run 30 different courses, with several of them in high demand, such as those connected to digital apps, computers, and even Chinese food.
     Education minister Atishi said that the Matia Mahal lighthouse was set up in a building earlier known as "Bhutiyaghar" (haunted house).
     The government said that under the lighthouse programme launched last year, several youths found jobs in major firms.
     Aditya Kumar Saini from Malka ganj, a son of a daily wage labourer, was employed by Indigo airlines, while Natasha Kumari from Khanpur, whose father was a peon, got employed as an office executive by a Pune-based company, it said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)