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Craft Development Institute (CDI) and Indian Institute of Carpet Technology (IICT) have been declared as J-K's maiden "Centre of Excellence" (CoE) in handicrafts and carpet sector.
According to the J-K administration's official statement, the Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom, Kashmir (DHHK) had submitted two proposals in the month of February 2022 to the Handicrafts and Carpet Sector Skill Council of India for recognizing CDI and IICT as the Centre of Excellence in traditional and heritage crafts. The twin Centre of Excellence has been envisioned to be a one-stop resource centre for raising training standards, boosting productivity, addressing emerging skill gaps and aligning training and research with the current industry needs with the intent to overcome skill demand-supply mismatch and to have a continuous supply of skilled workforce and disseminate best practices. "The CoE shall also work towards developing an association between academia and industry for the benefit of the skill development sector, conduct Research and Development in the Handicrafts and Carpet sector and disseminate the results of the R&D and other activities through the filling of patents and transforming them into sustainable business proposals/solutions," the statement reads. It shall also provide support to creative and innovative designs with respect to crafts based on emerging national and international demands and establish a sound new institutional base for executing the programmes/projects by strengthening the existing infrastructure. The Director of Kashmir's Handicrafts and Handloom said that CoE institutions have been envisioned to work towards realizing the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. "These CoE institutions are first of their kind in the Handicrafts and Carpet Sector in J-K and have been envisioned to work towards realizing the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat wherein the traditional and heritage crafts from J-K shall be taken to the global level by introducing frugal design innovations and develop a unique academia-industry model for the better product development to revive the Handicrafts and Carpet industry of the UT," he said. Besides, the two CoE shall work to foster relations across countries, and between governments, provide incubation, mentoring and support to start-ups in the entrepreneurship education domain and establish an Entrepreneurship cell for interested youth in the Handicrafts and Carpet Sector. The CoE shall offer skill development courses as per the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)with an aim to increase the employability of the artisans and job seekers in the Handicrafts and Carpet sector for different job roles, certifying up to 500 candidates and training as much as 100 master trainers in next three years. (ANI)
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