"In our National Action for Skill Development, we would like to set for the country the ambitious goal of 500 million trained people by 2020," the prime minister said while speaking at the National Awards presentation to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

This was in keeping with Sonia Gandhi's vision of Rozgar Badhao (increase employment), he added.

"With one of the youngest populations in the world, India is estimated to have the capacity to create 500 million skilled and trained technicians by the year 2020 and claim a fourth of the global workforce," the prime minister said.

"Education and skill development can be India's global opportunity," he said, adding that there are many simple measures that can help accelerate the pace of skill development.

"I have recently written to chief ministers to consider opening up the public stock of buildings of educational institutions of the high school level and above after class hours for those agencies and groups who are engaged in skill development for our youth," he said.

"I hope chief ministers will respond positively and agencies that promote skill development in the private and public sector will be able to utilize these new opportunities," he said.

"TECOS will deliver innovative skill building training to the impoverished at low cost and provide training in areas with high demand so that people can get employed easily," Dikshit said at a function organised to formally launch TECOS.

She added that the demand for skilled employees was increasing with opening of new establishments in the capital. Training under TECOS is flexible in terms of instructional hours, vertical mobility through modularisation in the sector and short duration of the training programmes.

After a meeting with the members of delegation from Kuwait, Chaudhary said the company had also adopted two Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) of Haryana at Tohana and Bhodia Khera in Fatehabad district.

He assured the state government would provide all necessary facilities in functioning of these ITIs. The company would recommend upgrading and adopting new techniques and courses in these ITIs. Keeping in view the increasing demand of petroleum and petro-chemical engineers in Middle-East countries, he said the overseas placement bureau would explore the possibilities to start petro-chemical training centres in the state.

On Wednesday, Valued Epistemics Private Limited (VEPL) launched greedge.com, India's first online training for GRE aspirants. "The online test was put on public domain after thorough research and development since 2005," says Anand Kannan, managing director of VEPL.

As many as 15,000 successful candidates have passed through its portals during its development process on its technology platform wizdom.in. "The inherent advantage of an online platform is that students can learn at their own pace and convenience, making it truly an anywhere, anytime learning", he added.

This follows approval of CSC by the Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Citizenship Services, the organization involved in service to individuals with developmental disabilities for 15 years announced.

The directorate of technical education has submitted a proposal to the Maharashtra government for permission to set up finishing schools in engineering colleges. Also, Dale Carnegie Training, a US-based soft skills institute, plans to open a finishing school in Pune.

"We have inputs from the industry that students from our engineering and polytechnic colleges don't have the required (soft) skills," said N.B. Pasalkar, the head of the technical edu- cation directorate. "But we can't change the course content as each industry has different needs and expectations."

So the industries would have the liberty to approach colleges with their requirements, following which a training programme would be designed. "The approval should come by December:" Pasalkar said. "If companies don't pay for training, students may have to pay".

The Dale Carnegie finishing schooling would be an option for non-engineering graduates.

"We are working on a proposal for Maharashtra. We are not focusing on one industry. It's for all graduates," said Sanjay Jha, executive director, Dale Carnegie. "The school should open next academic year".

The four month course will cost around Rs 50,000.

The finishing schools will train on personality development, presentation, communication and leadership skills as well as customer relationship management.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies had said of the 4 lakh engineers and 3 million graduates that come out of Indian colleges annually, just 25 per cent engineering graduates and 10 per cent non-engmeermg ones are employable.

The summit was organised by the first PGDM (HR) batch, which attracted industry practitioners to share their experiences. The guest list comprised senior corporate captains like Rachna Bhanot, head (strategic HR), IBM Daksh; Sunita Majumdar, senior manager (HR), ITC Welcomgroup Hotels; Rahul Taneja, head (talent acquisition), Dell BPO and N.S. Iyer, chief manager HR and central functions, Asian Paints. The summit provided a platform to the students and faculty of IMI to interact with the guest speakers, who presented an insight on various facets of the theme.

The department has invited proposals from industry, registered firms and other private and public bodies to set up professional training institutions in the state with a view to broadening the horizon of technical education. Deviating from the traditional vocational courses, the organisations interested in partnering vocational education are free to suggest courses in any area that has potential for employment.

According to officials in the department, the government is showing a lot of interest in setting up institutions that will prepare students in highly employable areas like retail management, jewellery designing, insurance and banking, mass media and communication, BPO training, cargo management, tourism and travel, aviation and crew training. "But we are open to any new field that has employment or entrepreneurial potential", an official said.

The Haryana Education Department will provide free coaching to the candidates for the various engineering entrance examinations.

Riding high on the success of the Edusat programme, the criteria for selection for the coaching course will be 75 per cent attendance and above in the Edusat programme as well as 60 per cent marks in the Class XI examination.

The education department, in association with the Chandigarh-based Chitkara Engineering Institute, will provide free coaching for various engineering entrance examinations conducted in the country

The district education officer (DEO) and deputy district education officers (DDEOs) have directed the heads of senior secondary schools in the state to prepare a list of the eligible candidates.

There are a total of 40 seats. There are 21 districts in the state. This brings the number of students selected from each district to less than two.

The students who get selected for the coaching course will have free boarding and lodging facilities during the period the classes are on. The education department will foot the bill.