Under skill India initiative 2.29 lakh people trained

With a view to provide skilled manpower in the hospitality and tourism sectors, about 84,000 existing service providers have been certified in four trades and over 2.29 lakh people trained under a Tourism Ministry initiative from 2009 to November 2015. Currently, 45 institutes IHMs (Institutes of Hotel management) and FCIs (Food Craft Institutes) have the authority to test and certify existing service providers in four hospitality trades, namely food production, food and beverage service, bakery and housekeeping. "Since the inception of this programme in the year 2009 and till the end of November 2015, over 84,000 existing service providers have been certified," an official release said.

In 2009, the release said, the Tourism Ministry had launched an initiative -- 'Hunar Se Rozgar Tak' -- to impart, through short-duration training courses, employable skills in certain hospitality trades. "The total number of persons trained till the close of November 2015 is over 2,29,000," it said. "The initiative is meeting two important objectives: first, it is giving the sector the option of skilled hands at the lowest rung of service hierarchy, and second, it has grown into a strategy for poverty alleviation owing to its built-in, even if unsaid, pro-poor slant," it added.