The D. Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Development Corporation will provide training to beneficiaries of employment schemes of the corporation to help them obtain skills, chairman R. Raghu Kautilya said here on Sunday. It will then grant them loans also.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Kautilya said that the corporation is actively pursuing Kaushalya Karnataka scheme mooted by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to provide skills and boost entrepreneurship.
The corporation has decided to provide skill training to a minimum of 50 beneficiaries from Backward Classes (BCs) in each taluk every month. “By the end of the year, there will be more than a lakh skilled beneficiaries,” he said and added that the skill training will make beneficiaries self-employed and capable of repaying loan. “As much as ₹ 400 crore of loan amount is yet to be recovered,” he said.
The corporation is listing out the skills that beneficiaries need. It includes skills for marketing of forest products and of limestone paste traditionally extracted by a backward class tribe. “We want beneficiaries to adopt technology in their traditional skills. We are also working on providing an avenue for them to market their products,” he said.
The corporation has proposed to the State government to have people, other than officials, as members for selecting beneficiaries for the Ganga Kalyana scheme under which borewells are drilled in agriculture land. The corporation will work with elected representatives and others to reach the benefits of the schemes to members of all the 206 castes coming under the Backward Class categories 1, 2A and 3A, he said.