Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs George Kurian has said that the PM VIKAS programme is helping members of minority communities become entrepreneurs and technically skilled professionals, while stressing that the initiative aims to build a highly skilled and empowered society.

He was speaking at the National Institute of Technology Calicut (NIT-C), which hosted the formal signing of a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday (May 18).

Mr. Kurian said many women had successfully transitioned into entrepreneurship under the PM VIKAS scheme, while several others had gained technical qualifications. He added that the programme was not limited to students or working professionals, but intended to uplift minority communities as a whole.

Reflecting on initial regional hurdles in cutting-edge domains — such as the Internet of Things (IoT) course launched at IIIT Kottayam and chip design at IIT Palakkad — the Minister challenged students of India’s elite technical institutions to rethink their career trajectories.

Mr. Kurian strongly appealed to the youth of India to pivot from seeking employment to creating it. He urged the nation’s youth to embrace the mentality of becoming job creators to remain competitive in the modern world. The Minister encouraged students to use available government funding to launch startups from their homes, experiment with their ideas, and eventually scale those ventures.

The event was organised by the institute’s Centre for Continuing Education and Skill Development (CCESD) at the NIT-C campus. The MoU was signed and exchanged by V.B. Sameer Kumar, Registrar of the Central University of Kerala, Sunil Jacob John, Registrar of NIT-C, and Shah Faiz Ahmed, Under Secretary in the Ministry of Minority Affairs, in the presence of NIT-C Director Prasad Krishna and Central University of Kerala Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Siddu P. Algur.

Under the initiative, NIT-C has been allotted training for 1,100 candidates under the non-traditional component. The courses include Marketing Manager (E-commerce), Process Instrument Technician (Oil and Gas), Supply Chain and Logistics Analyst, and Essentials of VLSI Design. Of the total allocation, 500 seats have been earmarked for the VLSI programme and 200 each for the other three courses.

The Central University of Kerala has been allotted 400 seats for training in women’s leadership and entrepreneurship.

The PM VIKAS scheme is a flagship integrated effort by the Ministry of Minority Affairs designed to modernise the traditional livelihoods of minority and marginalised communities while equipping youth with 21st-century skills.