Minister T P Ramakrishnan to Open India Skills Kerala on Saturday

KOZHIKODE:
As many as 253 youngsters will converge in this north Malabar city for three days starting Saturday, as India Skills Kerala 2020 is all set for its final round that will be inaugurated by State Labour and Skills Development Minister T P Ramakrishnan.

The February 22-24 India Skills Kerala at Swapna Nagari here will start at 10 a.m with the Minister declaring it open at the ceremony to be presided over by the event’s organising committee Chairman A Pradeepkumar, MLA. The participants will compete in a total of 39 disciplines in their bid to get into the national and world rounds of the event. India Skills Kerala 2020 state-level round here features prize monies worth Rs 78 lakh overall.

Of the 39 skills, competitions for 32 will at Swapna Nagari. Three (CNC Milling, CNC Turning, Plastic Die Engg) will be held at NTTF, Thalassery (Kannur district). Print Media Technology will be at Mathrubhumi, Cooking at SIHM, and Water Technology at CWRDM—all in this city. Car Painting competition will be held at Govt ITI at Chalakudy in Thrissur district.

The inaugural function at Swapna Nagari will be addressed also by M K Raghavan, MP, Kozhikode Mayor Thottathil Raveendran, District Panchayat President Babu Parassery and District Collector S Sambasiva Rao, besides State Labour and Skills Development Additional Chief Secretary Satyajit Rajan and ITD Director of Training S Chandrasekhar, who is also KASE Managing Director.

Organised by the Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE) and Industrial Training Department (ITD), India Skills Kerala highlights the state government’s efforts to develop finesse and expertise in a wide range of skills. The winner of each skill will get Rs 1 lakh as prize money, while those coming second will be given Rs 50,000. Those finishing in the subsequent four ranks will get Rs 10,000 each.

The valedictory function will be at 6.30 pm on Monday, with Transport Minister A K Saseendran as the chief guest. The three-day event will hold technological exhibitions and open forums featuring experts on a wide range of subjects, besides cultural evenings.

On the opening day, the open forum will be on ‘Information Technology and 21st-century India’ (4 pm). On February 23 (2.30 pm), there will be an open session on ‘Modern Labour Sectors and Skill Development’ and, on February 24 (4 pm) on ‘Innovative Ideas and Entrepreneurship’.

The cultural segments are as follows. Feb 22: Kalarippayattu martial art by Kadathanadu Kalari Sangham followed by a musical nite led by playback singer Sithara Krishnakumar; February 23: Musical nite by Yamuna Ajin and Vaishnav Girish followed by an instrumental fusion concert by the Swam Band. Feb 24 8 pm: Ghazal concert by playback singer and Sufi singer Shahbaz Aman.

At the district level last month, the competitions had 4,298 candidates vying for honours. The 1,278 winners among them subsequently qualified for the zonal rounds held separately for the north, central and south regions of the state. The state-level winners will qualify for the national competitions. The prize-winning performers in that round will represent the country at World Skills 2021 in Shanghai, China. That global round next year will have youngsters from 83 countries vying for honours and prizes in 54 skills.

India Skills Kerala had its preliminary district-level competitions concluding on January 20, while the four-day zonal-level event concluded on the last day of that month. The age bracket of the contestants has been wide, as they include little boys and girls as well as adults of any educational qualification. The age limit for India Skills Kerala is 21 years,

The following are the competition categories at Swapna Nagari:
3D Digital Game Art, Auto Body Repair, Automobile Technology, Bakery, Beauty Therapy, Brick Laying, CNC Miling, CNC Turning, Cabinet Making, Car painting, Carpentry, Cooking, Cyber Security, Electrical Installations, Electronics, Fashion Technology, Floristry, Graphic Design Technology, Hair Dressing, Health and Social Care, Hotel Reception, Information Networking Cabling, Jewellery, Joinery, Landscape Gardening, Mechanical Engineering CAD, Mobile Robotics, Painting and Decorating, Patisserie and Confectionery, Plastering and Drywall System, Plastic Die Engineering, Plumbing and Heating, Print Media Technology, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Restaurant Service, Wall and Floor tiling, Water Technology, Web Technologies, and Welding.