Livemint | NIPUN project: NAREDCO to partner NSDC in skilling construction workers

Feb 17,2023

The National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) has enrolled over 15,000 construction workers under the government’s National Initiative for Promotion of Upskilling of Nirman workers (NIPUN) project.

Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched this project for skill training of construction workers called “NIPUN," i.e., the National Initiative for Promoting Upskilling of Nirman workers, last year.

“With an aim of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, to certify over 1.06 Lakhs construction workers across the nation over the year under NIPUN project, NAREDCO has already enrolled over 15,000 construction workers out of 32,000 workers as of 15 February, 2023. Notably, women account for more than 18.6% of all enrolled workers," it said.

The industry body NAREDCO said it was appointed as one of the implementing agencies by the National Skill Development Corporation, to oversee the successful execution of the project.

It added that it has set a target to cover one lakh underprivileged construction workers by March 2024 in collaboration with the government.

“Presently, there is no shortage of opportunities for qualified labor in the real estate industry, but a lack of skills is a major barrier to employability and paying decent wages for the workers," said Rajan Bandelkar, National President, of NAREDCO.

“The NAREDCO initiative thus focuses on skilling, upskilling, and bringing up to speed the backbone of the construction sector—the construction workers. This helps in ensuring a steady flow of competent workers for the construction sector," he added.