National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC), a central public sector enterprise of Ministry of Minority Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Maruti Suzuki India limited (MSIl) on imparting “Driving Training to persons belonging to Minority Communities” was here in the presence of K Rahman Khan, Union Minister of Minority Affairs. The function was attended by Dr lalit K Panwar, secretary (minority affairs) and YP Singh, joint secretary who is also the managing director of NMDFC.
In tune with priority of Government of India, NMDFC has taken up the Skill Development Programme in eight Minority Concentration Districts (MCDs) in Uttar Pradesh and two MCDs in Uttrakhand through reputed training agencies, wherein overall 6,300 candidates are being trained.
MSIl will impart training in vehicle driving skill to the persons belonging to minorities through its six Institutes of Driving Training and Research (IDTRs) and 284 Maruti Driving Schools (MDSs) spread across the country. These driving schools impart training in driving of light Motor Vehicles (lMVs) in the MDSs and for both lMVs & Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) at IDTRs. The course curriculum involves safe driving culture through theoretical sessions on behavior and road sense. MSIl has put in place the state of art facilities for facilitating comprehensive driving training programmes focusing on all aspects of driving, including skill, knowledge and attitude. MSIl has professional setup of six IDTRs located at loni (Uttar Pradesh), Sarai Kale Khan (New Delhi), Rohtak (Haryana), Bahadurgah (Haryana), Vadodara (Gujrat) & Dehradun, Uttrakhand and network of 284 MDSs.
Driving Skill opens up several employment and self employment opportunities. There is substantial demand for trained drivers in the country. The driving vocation presents an employment opportunity for the persons belonging to minorities if they are trained by a professional training institute. This would enable them to engage in professional driving, becoming driving instructors/entrepreneurs and start their own driving schools and also seek employment in related activities where driving is an essential skill.
The MSIl has projected tremendous requirement for drivers in our country and has emphasised that the person trained as per the standard curriculum of the MDS/IDTR will be well placed to take up a career as a driver and will get preference owing to the MDS certification. With the MDS training, the employability of trained persons even in other trades will also improve both as driver and in other avenues where mobility is required as an additional skill.