492 inmates certified under Skill Development Training Programme at Delhi’s Tihar Jail

New Delhi [India], August 24 : Prarambh Scheme, launched under the guidance of Sanjay Baniwal, DG (Prisons), is the first of its kind in any prison in India and aims to impart skill training and provide gainful employment to 1,020 inmates in the first phase, according to jail officials.
The programme is the single largest target (1020) skill training attempt ever done inside any jail in India. This would also help create best practices for reforms and rehabilitation for correctional centres across India and for thousands of inmates in terms of integrating with Civil Society from the present state of hopelessness, officials said.
So far, a total of 492 inmates, including 79 females, have been certified under the Skill Development Training Programme in Tihar Jail. 
According to Tihar Jail Officials, Gaurav Yadav, Superintendent Central Jail No. 4, was invited as a Resource Person by the Institute of Correctional Administration (ICA), Chandigarh, for a briefing about the “Prarambh Scheme”, which was launched in Tihar Jail under the guidance and leadership of Sanjay Baniwal, DG (Prisons). This scheme is the first of its kind ever introduced in any prison in India to impart skill training and then provide gainful employment to 1020 inmates in the first phase.
This is the first time that the Prison Administration is making all possible efforts to provide employment to the inmates, for which the Judiciary has also been requested to grant conditional bail to the successful inmates. 
This scheme was appreciated by all the participants, who represented different Prisons in the North Indian States. Other State Prison administrations have also shown willingness to adopt this scheme in their prisons.
The above-said Skill Development Training Programme is running under Innovative and Special Projects (ISP) of NULM and has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for 1020 inmates of Tihar Prisons. It is being delivered by M/s Primero Skills Pvt. Ltd. under the assessment and certification of the Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council (THSC) as per the guidelines of the National Skills Qualification Framework. 
Earlier, a delegation of THSC had visited the Jails and interacted with inmates. On August 18, this year, THSC sent a two-member team to pre-screen for job interviews all 492 certified candidates.
This process was to determine the location flexibility of inmates, understand their skill levels, and align them with industry partners who have in principle agreed to provide conditional job offer letters with free food and lodging, provided they are given bail and ready to have a second chance at integrating with society. 
At present, since the programme was launched in February 2023, the following is the status, Certified Candidates- 492 (including 79 female inmates); Dropout candidates because of bail received during the training process- 173. Candidates awaiting assessment and certification to be completed by September 7, 2023 (including fresh candidates enrolled against dropouts)- 487; Failed candidates-30, Awaiting results-11, officials said.