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Madhya Pradesh to get CoE in food processing in Q2 of fiscal 2018-19
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Tuesday, 16 April, 2019, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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Madhya Pradesh will get its first centre of excellence (CoE) in food processing in the second quarter of this fiscal. The centre, which shall begin operations between July and September 2019, is expected to impart skills in courses designed by the National Skill Development Council (NSDC) for the food processing sector.
It shall be housed in the Bhopal-based Rabindranath Tagore University (RNTU), which has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Food Industry Capacity and Skill Initiative (FICSI) to establish the central Indian state’s first CoE in food processing at the university.
The centre will aim and focus on training of manpower for MSMEs (micro-, small and medium enterprises) and start-ups in various sub-sectors of food processing, along with building entrepreneurial capabilities in the state.
Nitin Vats, director-IQAC, RNTU, said, “This partnership is expected to boost the University’s efforts to bridge the overall skills gap in higher education and improve employability in Madhya Pradesh.”
“Formerly known as AISECT University, RNTU was launched in 2012 as India’s first skills university ,where skill credits are a mandatory part of the course curriculum,” he added.
“Over the years, the University has introduced 51 types of skills as electives across all the disciplines. These electives are in addition to normal subjects and core-related elective subjects,” Vats said.
“To make skill delivery effective, these skills are offered through skill academies established as autonomous entities under the various departments at RNTU. Many of these skills are aligned with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). The university has also established a Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) under the Skill India Mission to empower the youth,” he added.
Meanwhile, it is pertinent to mention that FICSI is the sector skill council for the food processing sector and has been formed under the aegis of the National Skill Development Council (NSDC) and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of India (FICCI) as an initiative to promote skill development.
Under the partnership, RNTU will impart training in food processing based on FICSI’s Qualification Pack (QP) as the training curriculum for the students. The curriculum covers nine sub-sectors of the food processing industries, including bread and bakery, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, food grain milling, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, soy foods, packaged foods and multi-sectorial.
FICSI will also conduct assessment and provide certification to the trained students and in collaboration with RNTU, FICSI will also organise the Train the Trainers programme. The two organisations will also collaborate for various initiatives under Skill India, especially the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS).
FICSI will also support RNTU for creation of a B. Voc programme in food processing as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Human Resources Development.
In recent times, food processing has emerged as an important sector for linking Indian farmers to consumers through value addition in the domestic and international markets.
The processed food market is expected to grow to $543 billion by 2020 from $322 billion in 2016, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 14.6 per cent. This will see a spike in the requirement for trained food processing professionals across the food industry sectors.
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