Facebook to introduce disaster response tools in India

       Facebook to introduce disaster response tools in India

                      

Facebook to introduce disaster response tools in India

Social media giant, Facebook has teamed up with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and an Indian non-profit body – SEEDS- to offer tools to these agencies in an attempt to help them respond more effectively to natural disasters.

Facebook would be bringing in disaster maps that would illustrate aspects such as movement of people and concentration of Facebook users in a particular area before and after a calamity.

According to Ritesh Mehta, Facebook Head of Programs of India, South and Central Asia, the intention behind introducing the initiatives is to help improve response efforts to natural disasters in India. He added saying that before and after any crisis, the response organisations require accurate information to help the communities to respond, recover and rebuild.

He continued by saying that the traditional communication channels are often offline and due to that it can significant time and resources to understand where help is desperately needed.

However, through the medium of Facebook, in case there is an area that has a high concentration of Facebook users that suddenly goes offline, even that data insight can be used to rush services to the area.

The Disaster Maps tool was introduced globally in June 2017. It uses aggregated location information that users have chosen to share with Facebook. These tools have already been deployed in Peru and the US.

Facebook’s Disaster Management Initiatives

• The social media platform has been increasingly used in the past by users to connect and extend support to their loved ones in disaster affected areas.

• The platform already has a safety check feature that allows users to notify their friends and family that they are safe.

• Besides this, Facebook is also holding its first annual Disaster Response Summit in India with NDMA that will bring together many humanitarian organisations to help train and discuss how technology can be used to devise better responses to natural disasters and subsequent recovery.

• It is also supporting the pilot of the ASK-DIV (Aapda Samachar Karyakarta-Disaster Information Volunteers) scheme, in which a network of trained volunteers would provide supplementary information to inform government relief efforts through the Facebook Workplace platform.

• The programme, which is being executed by SEEDS, will establish a network of volunteers to provide real-time, first-hand information on disasters in their local communities.

• The programme will be piloted first in two disaster prone states - Assam and Uttarakhand.

India’s first Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra for Skilling in Smart Cities inaugurated in New Delhi.

India’s first Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra Yojna for Skilling in Smart Cities inaugurated in New Delhi...

The targets set for skilling Indian youth demands systematic execution through speed, scale and sustainability. A major towards ensuring quality and consistency while meeting the numbers is the formation of state-of-the-art training centers called the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) in partnership with training partners across India. 

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) along with National Skill Development Corporation NSDC, is making continuous efforts to skill the unskilled population of the country with the vision of making India, the ‘Skill Capital of the World’. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) is a huge step in establishing a model and iconic centre of excellence for skill development.

Process for setting up of PMKK(Pradhan mantra kaushal Kendra)

Coverage

NSDC has followed a cluster based approach for the coverage of this programme across the country. To ensure a mix of districts with different levels of skill based developmental activities clusters have been created keeping in mind their socio-economic, demographic and skill based training abilities. Clustering has not been done in the North Eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territories due to the challenges faced in these areas. This will also ensure maximum participation of the skill based training agencies.

Infrastructure

The PMKK centres are divided into three categories based on the district population. Each category has a different minimum area requirement. The three categories A, B and C will have a minimum centre size of 8000, 5000 and 3000 sq ft respectively. The population in these categories is above 4 lakh for category A, 1-4 lakh for category B and less than 1 lakh for category C.

The PMKK centres have to follow the branding specifications provided by NSDC for colour specifications, designs and templates etc.

The training centres have to be easily accessible to people, located close to a main road and well connected by public transport with adequate lighting and movement of people.

Similarly there are specifications laid out by NSDC/MSDE for the equipment in the centres, hostel facilities, classrooms, counselling and placement services etc.

Financial Support

For setting up the PMKK centre NSDC will provide funding in the form of a loan to cover 70% of its expenditure at an applicable rate of interest with a repayment period of 4 years.

The loan is capped at a maximum limit of 70lakhs per centre and will be utilised for infrastructure, training aids and internal renovation.

The loan cannot be utilized for immovable property like land or buildings.

Additional loan can be provided, over and above 70 lakhs, for using pre-fabricated structures for setting up of PMKK centres. NSDC and promoter contribution to the loan shall be in a ratio of 75:25, respectively.

Each PMKK should maintain a bank account in a commercial bank and the release of funds will be made for each phase based on milestone completion specified by NSDC.

Training delivery

Following are some of the parameters for training delivery in terms of expectations to be met by the trainers, the trainees and other specifications.

All trainers hired should have a minimum specified academic qualification and minimum experience as per the SSC. The centre should have sufficient amount of trainers and in addition to the course trainers one soft skills and English trainer and faculty for employment readiness also should be available in every centre.

The trainees also have to meet the specified eligibility criteria for every skill program at the time of admission. Guidelines are provided for the duration and quality of the courses provided.

Assessment and Certification is the responsibility of bodies recognised by NSDC/MSDE. The assessment has to be done within a week of the course completion and the certificates issued in the next 7 days.

Those who complete the training successfully will be provided with placement assistance and on the job training also included part of the training program.

NSDC is developing a central database to monitor the project implementation. A dedicated website with information regarding the project, updates, guidelines and MIS is being developed.

The Road head

Several PMKK Centres have been inaugurated across the country. As the numbers and geographical coverage increase PMKK has the potential to become the benchmark of skill development infrastructure, training, and placement in the respective district and also in the entire country and will make skill development quality oriented, sustainable and aspirational.

My fastly developing India

                India signs MoC with Japan on Technical Intern Training Programme

                           

                                

Technical Intern Training Programme

The programme is an ideal platform through which complementary strengths of India and Japan could be leveraged for mutual benefit.

The technical interns trained in Japan under the TITP would be an asset for PM Modi’s Skill India initiative upon their return to India.

The Skill India campaign was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 July 2015 with the aim of training over 40 Cr people in India in different skills by 2022.

India on 17 October 2017 signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoU) with Japan on Technical Intern Training Programme (TITP).

The MoC was signed by Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Katsunobu Kato, Japanese Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan at the Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare in Tokyo, Japan.

The pact was signed during the visit of the Union Minister Skill Development Minister to Tokyo.

Key Highlights

• Under the programme, India will send 3-lakh youth to Japan as technical interns for on-the-job training for a period of 3-5 years.

• The MoC is expected to boost bilateral cooperation between India and Japan in the field of skill development.

• India is the third country with which Japan has signed the MoC as per the requirements of the Technical Intern Training Act scheduled to enter into force in November 2017.

• According to Japan’s official data for 2016, approximately 2.3 lakh technical intern trainees from multiple countries are on training in the island nation.

• In 2016, about 1, 08,709 technical interns entered Japan from various partner countries such as Vietnam, China and Indonesia that account for large numbers.

The MoC is an extension of the bilateral joint statement issued during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India in September 2017, in which both Prime Ministers expressed confidence that synergy between Japan’s advanced technology and India’s rich human resources can transform both countries into new centres of production in the global industrial network.