Now, govt to help youth find jobs abroad

HYDERABAD: A new corporation, ''Abroad Job Agency for Youth'' (Ajay), with the objective of creating employment opportunities abroad and preventing the cheating of job seekers by placement agencies, will be started soon by the government.
''Bhavishyat'', an ongoing programme to impart training to university students to face international examinations such as Toefl, GRE and GMAT, will be linked to Ajay.In addition, ''Merupu'', a programme for developing communication skills would be tied to Ajay, official sources said.
Through this initiative, the state government hopes to place a good number of people in jobs in West Asian and South East Asian countries.
The corporation will take the entire responsibility of placing a person, right from arranging the travel schedule to settling him in a job. The corporation will identify jobs in the global market and verify the credibility of the employers through the Indian embassy there. In addition, it will keep an eye on the safety of the chosen candidates. The corporation will go in for a tie-up with other placement agencies with good Crisil ratings.
The proposed corporation will also train candidates so that they can meet international standards and requirements. For instance, if a hospital in the US is looking for paramedical staff, the aspirants would be trained for the job.
To make the corporation self-reliant, registration, service and consultancy fee would be charged after placement. A registration fee of Rs 500 to Rs 800 would be charged for one year, sources said.
The government underscored the need for a state agency as AP ranks third in the country in the export of manpower. At least one lakh people from the state go abroad in search of jobs every year. Many of them are cheated by unscrupulous travel agents and placement agencies.
Tamil Nadu and Kerala have taken the lead in tackling the problem. The two states have placed about 6,000 and 5,584 candidates respectively in jobs abroad.
The AP government is proposing to start the new corporation under chairmanship of the principal secretary (labour). The governing body will have 15 directors, drawn from various departments and educational institutions. The police commissioner of Hyderabad, and the IIIT vice-chancellor would be among the directors.