Centre for Innovations mooted in State

Magsaysay award winner Dr H Harish Hande on Thursday expressed the need for establishment of a ‘centre for innovation’ by the State government.

Dr Hande, who is the managing director of Selco India Private Limited, was speaking after inauguration of the ‘Mangaluru Udyog Mela’ organised by the district administration at the Canara Engineering College campus at Benjanapadavu in the taluk on Thursday.

Dr Hande expressed disappointment that in spite of having a large number of innovative minds and suggested that the government should tap productivity through an innovative work force, especially in the rural areas. Referring to the World Bank report, he said that the best innovative work comes from Karnataka. “This will naturally create jobs. The government’s effort towards building a skilled work force is 10 per cent and the rest is contributed by the people’s efforts,” he explained.

Government effort
District In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai, who chaired the inaugural programme, promised that the State government would think in the direction of establishing an Innovation Centre in the district.

J Manjunath, Commissioner of the Karnataka Government Employment and Training Department of Labour, said that 41 job fairs have been conducted by the Labour Department and one lakh jobs have been provided to aspirants during job fairs.

“The government also conducts mini job fairs through the employment exchange centres,” he said.

He explained that the working-age population in India is 62 per cent and comprises of people in the age group of 15 years to 59 years. “This working-age population is higher than that in other countries, but, the skilled population in the country is only 4.69 per cent, which means there is need for greater focus,” he added.

Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim, Superintendent of Police Dr S D Sharanappa, Alva’s education Foundation chairperson Dr M Mohan Alva, MUDA president Ibrahim Kodijal, Mangaluru City Corporation Mayor Jacintha Vijaya Alfred and KCCI president Rammohan Pai Maroor were present on the occasion.

Colour coding
Job aspirants were given different coloured cards, according to their educational qualification. The colour coding system helped the candidates to choose from the range of companies, as per the requirements.

The help desk personnel too helped the candidates during the job fair by providing the list of companies which were looking for candidates with the specified criteria.

Some of the fresh engineering graduates, who submitted their resumes at the company stalls, spoke to Deccan Herald and said that they were looking for opportunities in companies which can employ freshers. Several companies are preferring experienced candidates over inexperienced, they said.

Adesh, an MCA graduate said he passed out in 2014 and was expecting a job with a good company as software developer, irrespective of the pay scale. He has several companies in his mind and hopes to get into one of them. Padmanabha, from Puttur, said he studied up to SSLC and that he is looking for a job of a driver in companies. Another participant Hari, who has passed PUC, said he was trying to get a call centre job. ITI and diploma holders too took part in the Mangaluru Udyoga Mela.