At a glance: Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs)

RSETIs stand for Rural Self Employment Training Institutes. RSETIs are promoted and managed by banks with active cooperation from state governments.

RSETI concept is based on RUDSETI (Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute), a society established in the year 1982 jointly by three agencies i.e. Syndicate Bank (now merged with Canara Bank), Canara Bank and Sri Manjunatheswara Trust based at Ujire in Karnataka. Dedicated institutions are designed to ensure necessary skill training and skill upgradation of the rural BPL youth to mitigate the unemployment problem.

One RSETI is established in every district in the country. The concerned bank is the lead bank in the district and takes responsibility for creating and managing it. The government of India will provide one-time grant assistance, up to a maximum of Rs. 1 crore for meeting the expenditure on the construction of buildings and other infrastructure.

After successful completion of the training, they will be provided with credit linkage assistance by the banks to start their own entrepreneurial ventures.

Infrastructure:

The common minimum infrastructure of each RSETI will be 2-3 classrooms with toilet facilities (separate for women and physically challenged friendly). Two workshops, two dormitories with bath facilities, adequate physical infrastructure for training, administration, hostel, staff quarters, etc.

Programme Structure & Contents:

Each RSETI should offer 30 to 40 skill development programmes in a financial year in various avenues. The programmes are of short duration ranging from 1 to 6 weeks and could fall into the categories listed below:

Agricultural Programmes – agriculture and allied activities like dairy, poultry, apiculture, horticulture, sericulture, mushroom cultivation, floriculture, fisheries, etc

Product Programme – dress designs for men and women, rexine articles, incense sticks manufacturing, football making, bag, bakery products, leaf cup making, recycled paper manufacturing, etc.

Process Programmes – two-wheeler repairs, radio/TV repairs, motor rewinding, electrical transformer repairs, irrigation pump-set repairs, tractor and power tiller repairs, cell phone repairs, beautician course, photography and videography, screen printing, domestic electrical appliances repair, computer hardware, and DTP.

General Programmes – skill development for women

Other Programmes – related to other sectors like leather, construction, hospitality, and any other sector depending on local requirements.

Training programmes will be decided by the institute based on the local resource situation and potential demand for the products/services. A uniform standardized curriculum would be developed and circulated among the institutes. There shall be two sets of training curriculums in all the RSETIs:

i. Basic orientation programme courses for SGSY SHGs.

ii. Skill development programmes for micro-enterprise and wage employment/placement.

Soft skill training shall be an integral part of all the training programmes.

Selection of Trainees & Batch Size:

At least 70% of the trainees should be from the rural BPL category certified by the DRDA. Proper weightage, as per Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) guidelines will be given to SC/STs, minorities, physically challenged, and women.

An ideal size of a batch should be 25-30 candidates. Shramadan/Yoga, presentation of MILLY would become a common input in the training module. Thus, RSETIs manage transformative hubs, empowering rural youth with skills, knowledge, and confidence to embark on entrepreneurial journeys. These institutes not only contribute to individual prosperity but also play a pivotal role in the economic development of the regions they serve.

Recognition of RSETI trainees:

Certificates issued by an RSETI will be recognised by all banks for purposes of extending credit to the trainees. It means that RSETI-trained rural youths will be free to access any scheduled bank for loans/credit.

Credit Linkage:

Upon successful completion, RSETIs offer handholding support for establishing enterprises and assist in seeking financial assistance from banks/financial institutions. Credit needs of trainees will be appraised by RSETIs and the sense will be conveyed to the bank branches. Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was introduced by the Ministry of Rural Development to assist poor families living below the poverty line in rural areas in taking up self-employment. The scheme is funded by the Central Government. The RSETI trainees could avail of bank loans under SGSY or any other government-sponsored programmes.

National Centre for Excellence of RSETIs (NACER), is functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India which has been entrusted with the responsibility of mentoring & monitoring the performance of each RSETIs sponsored by all Banks in our Country.NACER is headed by the National Director (NDR). NDR is assisted by the team of Group Heads who are having and expertise in this field for offsite monitoring of all the 585 RSETIs in our country which have been sponsored by various Banks. In addition to that NDR is supported by State Directors in each State who are monitoring each RSETIs under their jurisdiction in respective States and directly reporting to the NDR.

All proposals for organising training programmes for RSETI Directors/ Nodal officers/other stakeholders to be organised by NAR shall be routed through the National Director for RSETIs and NDR shall closely monitor the same for its quality. The National Director for RSETIs shall maintain separate books of accounts at NACER Bengaluru, which shall be open for inspection to all the stakeholders and shall be subjected to audit every year. The day-to-day affairs of NACER shall be carried out by the National Director for RSETIs and he shall exercise general supervision on every affair of the RSETIs through the State Director for RSETIs under the direct control and supervision of the President, NAR.  The NACER is responsible for carrying out any instructions received from MORD (Ministry of Rural Development) for strengthening the RSETI movement in the country.

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