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Punjab minister pushes for IT skill centers in villages to stop brain drain
The minister said that youth should bring a new revolution in the IT sector in Punjab and the government was trying its best to provide employment opportunities to them here and stop brain drain
The Punjab government would set up IT skill centers in rural areas to prevent brain drain and encourage the state’s youth to work for foreign firms staying back home, rural development and panchayats minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said on Thursday.
Dhaliwal made the comments while visiting an IT company at Tangra village near here, established by a village woman, Mandeep Kaur, providing employment opportunities for the youth.
“The model implemented by this daughter, Mandeep Kaur, in rural areas would be implemented in the whole Punjab so that the youth could be kept abreast with the latest technology. This would give a major impetus to the rural economy,” the minister said, adding that it is imperative to strengthen the village infrastructure for such initiatives.
Lauding Mandeep for taking this bold step, he said that youth from rural areas were migrating to foreign countries and the Punjab government was trying its best to provide employment opportunities to them here.
Dhaliwal said the newly recruited SDOs, BDPOs, JEs in the rural development and panchayat department would be sent on a tour of this center to study this model. “Our main goal is human development,” the minister added.
He said it was Punjab’s youth who had brought green and white revolution and now the youth should bring a new revolution in the IT sector and the Punjab government would provide all possible assistance to this village-based IT firm for this purpose.
To a query from the media, Dhaliwal said that the Punjab government would negotiate with the companies to provide cheaper internet services in rural areas.
He also presented a shawl and a memento sent by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann to Mandeep.
