A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Livelihood Business Training Centre of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) Amarkantak and the Government of Chhattisgarh in presence of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at Circuit House in Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi district on Tuesday.

According to this MoU, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Community Centre or Skill Development Centre will be established at Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi. For this, 3 hectares of land has been allotted by the State Government at Lalpur village of the district. On this occasion, the Chief Minister said that this is a very good opportunity for the state. He expressed confidence that the MoU would not only work in the interest of the University, but would also work for the upliftment of the local youth and tribal populace here.

For this, the State Government will provide all possible help. Vice-Chancellor of the IGNTU Professor Sriprakash Mani Tripathi said that this MoU will prove to be a milestone. He said that the region is rich in rare medicinal species. Along with this, the residents of the area are knowledgeable about trees and plants and rare animals and medicines.

If they work together with the university, not only this area will flourish, but this could provide welfare to the entire human race.

Diploma and degree programs will be conducted by the centre set up by the university, which will include various employment oriented e-skill courses as per the guidelines of the National Skill Qualification Framework. Along with this, the service of market linkage and credit linkage will be provided to the candidates willing to establish self-employment with the help of this centre.

Its purpose is to provide skill development and employment-oriented, vocational education to the women, villagers and youth of the Self Help Groups formed under the National Rural Livelihood Mission in the district to make them financially self-reliant. The regional tribes and farmers will be trained in various trades by the Integrated Training Centre of Livelihood Business Incubation (LBI).Tribal communities and farmers will be provided training in various trades by the Integrated Training Centre of the Centre. Branding will also be done by the centre by preparing various products from regional products like kodo, kutki, honey etc. and the farmers will be provided fair price, which will increase the income of the farmers of the region and the products of Chhattisgarh will be recognized at the national and international level. Through this, the youth of this area will get self-employment opportunities by being proficient in skill development, they will also get opportunities to get higher education. Also, they will get freedom from going to big cities to get higher education. With this MoU, students studying in this centre will get an opportunity to do research. It will prove helpful in connecting the regional tribal community with the main stream, making them educationally and financially prosperous and self-reliant. Additional Chief Secretary Subrat Sahoo, District In-charge Secretary Abdul Haq Keshar, Bilaspur Revenue Division Commissioner Dr Sanjay Alang, Collector Richa Prakash Choudhary, District Panchayat DRD Project Director R K Khute, District Mission Manager of National Rural Livelihoods Mission Durgashankar Soni, Registrar of IGNTU P Siluvainathan, Professor Naveen Kumar Sharma, Dr Ashish Mathur, Dr Pramanik, Dr Dixit and Dr Aditya Srivastava were present.