Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SAMARTH) was approved towards addressing the skill gap in textile sector and also to supplement the efforts of textile industry in providing gainful and sustainable employment to the youth. The objectives of Samarth are as follows:
- To provide demand driven, placement oriented National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) compliant skilling programmes to incentivize and supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors, covering the entire value chain of textiles, excluding Spinning and Weaving
- To promote skilling and skill upgradation in the traditional sectors of handlooms, handicrafts, sericulture and jute
iii. To enable provision of sustainable livelihood either by wage or self-employment to all sections of the society across the country
The skilling programme under Samarth is implemented through Implementing Partners (IPs) comprising Textile Industry/ Industry Associations, State Government Agencies and Sectoral Organizations of Ministry of Textiles. The details of training targets allocated to various Implementing Partners after physical verification of training centres under the scheme are as follows:
| Agency | Training targets allocated
(in persons) |
| Industry/ Industry Associations (Entry Level) | 1,36,073 |
| Industry/ Industry Associations (Up-skilling) | 30,326 |
| State Government Agencies | 90,078 |
| Sectoral Agencies | 43,020 |
| Industry Association working with MSME textile industries | 34,572 |
Status of beneficiaries trained so far under Samarth Scheme in Andhra Pradesh is as follows:
| S.No. | District | Number of beneficiaries |
| 1. | Anantapur | 395 |
| 2. | Krishna | 53 |
| 3. | SPSR Nellore | 30 |
| 4. | West Godavari | 30 |
TOTAL |
508* |
* 293 beneficiaries completed training, of which 85 have been provided placement.
All training batches ongoing during March, 2020 had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic and restriction imposed on account of lockdown declared by the Government. Further, the Government had allowed commencement of skill development training programme only from September, 2020. In view of the impact of COVID-19, the actual physical achievement and utilization of funds have been affected under the scheme. However, a special measure has been initiated during the period to carry out online Training of Trainers (ToT) programme and more than 500 trainers have been certified through online mode.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Textiles, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani in Rajya Sabha today.