ahluwalia
Courtesy: Imphal Free Press

Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, SS Ahluwalia advised the officials of National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) to arrange crash course for the media fraternity about the threats related to cyber world and digital media.

Union minister Ahluwalia was here to attend Certificate Distribution of Skilled Development Courses at NIELIT at Akampat, Imphal on Friday. The Skilled Development Courses is sponsored by Ministry of DoNER.

Stating that cyber crimes are taking place through invisible forces during the gathering, he said forwarding of messages and digital images are helping invisible forces which can be a threat to the country. He hoped that crash course can help the media persons to gain knowledge and further spread awareness to the masses regarding cyber related cases.

He said that he had visited Manipur many times but this is his first visit as a Minister of State. The Minister expressed his happiness with the various training programmes taken up by NIELIT, Imphal in providing Skill Development courses to the youths of the State irrespective of gender and age group.The Institute is a big asset for the Nation in capacity building of the youths, he said.

Appreciating the works of NIELIT, the Minister expressed his desire that NIELIT should play an active role to make the youths skilled in different sectors. He said that it is very important to be educated as well as skilled to become a professional.

Assuring that necessary assistance needed by the Institute will be provided by the Central Government,the Minister opined that people of the State becomes lethargic as there is no competition among themselves but their skills are utilised at the maximum when they work at the national mainstream. He said the capacity building provided by the NIELIT will be a big asset for the nation.

Director General Rajiv Kumar of NIELIT said that the institute started as a skill development training centre and has been providing skill training courses to many Government employees of the State. For providing skill development courses two new extension centres will be set up at Senapati and Churachandpur, he added. He further added that intake of student capacity will also be raised after the opening of the extension centres.

At present, there are three Business Process Outsourcing centres at Mantripukhri and even though it is small, it has provided employment to the local youths, he added.As part of his visit, the Minister inspected the campus of the Institute and planted saplings at the campus, Imphal. The Minister also distributed certificates to 30 students, from different districts of the State, who have completed the Skill Development Course. The function was attended by Omkar Rai, Director General, STPI, Th Prameshwor Singh, Executive Director, NIELIT Imphal, faculty members, staffs and students of NIELIT.

Sobhapati Samom is Northeast Now Correspondent in Imphal. He can be reached at: [email protected]