Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 5 Jun: Three significant Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at the Secretariat, here, on Wednesday. An MoU was signed between the Government of Uttarakhand, State Institute for Empowering and Transforming Uttarakhand (SETU) Commission, and Tata Trusts to work jointly in the field of social development.
In another key initiative, a tripartite agreement was signed between the SETU Commission, Department of Higher Education, Department of Technical Education, and NASSCOM/IT-ITES Sector Skill Council to transform Uttarakhand into a major skill hub in the field of technology. Additionally, a tripartite agreement was signed between the SETU Commission, Department of Higher Education, and the Wadhwani Foundation to establish skill development centres for emerging technologies and employment-oriented personality development of students.
Under the 10-year agreement with Tata Trusts, represented by its CEO, Siddharth Sharma, various sectors such as water management, nutrition, telemedicine, rural livelihoods, and green energy will be addressed collaboratively to further the socio-economic development of the state.
To make Uttarakhand a digital talent hub, the agreement with NASSCOM outlines that courses will be introduced with academic credits in all government and private higher education institutions across the state. Moreover, one model college in each district will be developed as a “mentor institution”. The aim is to provide nearly 1.5 lakh students across the state with skills and knowledge in fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Python, and Generative AI through the FutureSkills Prime platform.
As part of the three-year agreement with the Wadhwani Foundation, courses focusing on AI-based personality development and self-employment skills will be introduced from the next academic session in all government higher education institutions. This initiative is expected to benefit around 1.20 lakh students in the state.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stated that the three agreements – for social development, making the state a digital talent hub, and launching AI-based personality development courses—will prove highly beneficial for the people of Uttarakhand. He emphasised that the state government is working with a focus on the welfare of the last person in the queue, with the vision of making Uttarakhand a leading state in every sector. Multiple new initiatives are being launched by taking all sections of society together for the holistic development of the state.
The Chief Minister added that these agreements are an important step toward preparing a technologically skilled workforce and positioning the state as a modern hub for AI and cybersecurity. AI-based curricula will help equip Uttarakhand’s youth with employable skills and essential soft skills for the 21st century. He expressed gratitude to Tata Trusts, NASSCOM, and the Wadhwani Foundation for their collaboration through these key MoUs.
Present on the occasion were Cabinet Minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat, Vice Chairman of SETU Commission Raj Shekhar Joshi, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, CEO of SETU Commission Shatrughna Singh, CEO of Tata Trusts Siddharth Sharma, CEO of NASSCOM Skill Council Abhilasha Gaur, Executive Vice President of Wadhwani Foundation Sunil Dahiya, Higher Education Secretary Ranjit Sinha, Secretaries Radhika Jha, Nitesh Jha, Chandresh Yadav, V Shanmugam, and C Ravishankar.
