Odisha Tourism has received an Award from Union Ministry of Tourism as the “Best State for taking initiative under Hunar Se Rozgar Yojana” for 2011-12. Principal Secretary Tourism & Culture, Ashok Kumar Tripathy received the Award from Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi in New Delhi. Unemployed youth are trained for various hospitality related skills under this program and Odisha has taken a lead in this move.
Under this scheme, a person seeking admission to the programme should be minimum eighth pass and in the age group of 18 to 28. The trainees of the 6-weekk Food and Beverage Service and 8-week Food Production courses are paid Rs.1500/- and Rs.2000/- each respectively. The Ministry of Tourism launched this special programme in 2009-10, fully funded by it for creation of employable skills among the economically weaker youths.