Addressing the unemployment issue continues to be a daunting task for development thinkers and policy makers. The unemployment rate for India had touched 9.4% in 2009-10, according to the first-ever household-level national employment survey conducted by the Labor Bureau, Government of India. 40 million people are still unemployed in the country and more employment opportunities are required for balancing the condition. As per the 66th round of the NSSO survey, the growth in jobs from 2004-05 to 2009-10 has been practically stagnant (only about a million new jobs created in five years).

Skill development initiatives can play an effective role in combating unemployment to an appreciable extent. Once the unemployed youths are equipped with appropriate skills, they can effectively contribute to the economic growth and social development of an economy. At present the capacity of skill development in India is around 3.1 million persons per year. The 11th Five Year Plan envisions an increase in that capacity to 15 million annually. India has set a target of creating 500 million skilled workers by 2022. Thus, there is a need for increasing capacity and capability of skill development programs.*

Bandhan identifies skill development for employability as an important strategy in the fight against unemployment. Bandhan is trying to address the needs of huge unemployed population by providing appropriate skills in order to make them employable and help them secure decent work.

Against this backdrop, Bandhan launched the Employing the Unemployed Program (EUP) in the year 2009 to integrate skill development into unemployment mitigation programs.

* National Skill Development Policy, March 2009

This program has been designed to address the following objectives.

• To develop a skilled workforce relevant to current and emerging employment market needs
• To identify unemployed youths with different profiles and needs and channelize them into appropriate skill development programs
• To ensure equal access to skill development for the underprivileged section
• To guide and link the trained youths to secured and decent job opportunities after the successful completion of the course

Bandhan has set up its own vocational centers in different pockets of West Bengal. These function like training institutes and are named 'Bandhan Learning Center'. Bandhan has four such centers located in Bally, Barasat, Garia and Behala which provide training on different domains namely Customer Relation and Sales(CRS) , Hospitality, Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES), Business Process Outsourcing(BPO), Computerized Accounting, Refrigerator and Air Conditioner repair , interior designing and similar fields in order to enhance the skill of young people and make them employable.

Classes are held 6 days a week in two shifts. The first session commences from 9 and continues till 1 pm while the second half begins at 2 pm and finishes at 6 pm. Bandhan has its own resourceful faculty for each discipline imparting dedicated service towards ensuring job assistance. Each batch consists of not more than 25 students. Special care is ensured for each candidate in terms of grooming, personality development, attitude building, facing interview etc. Guest lectures by industry experts are also facilitated sometimes. This 2 month course has been designed in such a way that the students are given both theoretical as well as practical insights.

After adequate training, the youth either generate self-employment or find themselves reasonable employment with reputed names like KFC, Pantaloons, Café Coffee Day, Mainland China, Godrej, McDonald's, Subway, Nokia, Big Bazaar, Spring club and others.

Once the students are successfully placed, EUP team does a 6 month follow up with them to track their working experience.

Performance of the employing the unemployed program has been detailed below. These data are all as of August , 2021.

No Particulars Total 1 States 5 2 Districts 29 3 Villages 114 4 Families covered 39,443 5 Staff 170

No BSDC's Address Contact No States Domains Durations 1 Chandannagar BSDC : Khalisani, garerdhar, near-1no platform of chandannagar station, hooghly 9147005072 West Bengal BFSI, Sales, Computer Accounting, Hardware & Networking, BPO 90 days 2 Behala BSDC :114 Nafar Chandra Das Road,Behala,Kolkata-700034 033-23960234 West Bengal BFSI, Sales, Warehouse, Hardware & Networking, BPO 90 days 3 Garia BSDC :P-4, velly park, (opposite mahua cinema hall), gari-sreerampur road, near-nazrul metro, p.s-patuli, dist-24 pgs(s), pin-700 084. 033-24308050 West Bengal BFSI, Sales,Warehouse,RAC,BPO 90 days 4 Siliguri BSDC :Datta bhawan, loknath bal sarani, pardhan nagar, p.s-pardhan nagar, siliguri,pin-734003. 03532510515 West Bengal BFSI,BPO,Warehouse,Sales 90 Days 5 Patna BSDC :North sk puri, house no-8,kasturbapath, boring road,patna-13, (near jamuna apertment). 06122578165 Bihar BPO,RAC,Warehouse,KYP 90 Days 6 Chakdaha BSDC :369 KBM,Chakdaha,Dist-Nadia,Pin-741222,Near 2 no platform Chakdaha railway Stn. 6290624723 West Bengal Sales,RAC,Warehouse,BPO 90 Days 7 Bardhaman BSDC :Dishari Complex,1st floor,J.B.Hazra Road,Rasikpur More,P.S:Bardhaman,Dist-Purba Bardhaman,Pin-713101. 03422663266 West Bengal Sales,RAC,Warehouse,BFSI 90 Days 8 Jalpaiguri BSDC :New Town Para, Kotwali, Dist:Jalpaiguri, Pin:735101 9433638031 West Bengal Sales, BFSI, Warehouse, BPO 45 Days to 90 Days 9 Dhupguri BSDC :145/145 Netaji Para, Ward No:3, Dhupguri, Dist:Jalpaiguri, Pin:735210. 03563-250007 West Bengal Sales, BFSI, Warehouse, BPO 45 Days to 90 Days 10 Maynaguri BSDC :Sahid Garh(West), P.O & P.S:Maynaguri, Dist:Jalpaiguri, Pin:735224 8348304523 West Bengal Sales, BFSI, Warehouse, BPO 45 Days to 90 Days 11 Kulpi:Kulpi PS,24 porg(South) 8617631110 West Bengal Tailoring 60 days 12 Barasat BSDC :58/4/A, Jessore Rd(South), Prasadpur, 11 no RailwayGate, North 24 Porg, Barasat, Kolkata-124 033-25841020 West Bengal BPO, BFSI, Sales, RAC, hardware & Networking, Warehouse, Enterprenurship Development 45 Days to 90 Days 13 Uttarpara BSDC :25 New GT Road, Uttarpara, Hooghly, Pin-712258. 9903105429 West Bengal BPO, Warehouse, Hardware & Networking, RAC 90 Days 14 Indore BSDC :RH/3 Scm No.54 behind Pindbaluchi Restaurant, Satyasai Square. Indore-452001,M.P 0731-4068024 MP BPO, Sales 90 Days 15 Bhubaneswar BSDC :Plot No:700,Shaid Nagar, Bhubaneswar, 1st & 3rd Floor, Near Punjab National Bank, Pin:751007. 06742951617 Oridsha BFSI, BPO, Warehouse, Sales, Hardware& Networking 45 Days to 90 Days 16 Malda :76 B,S.M Pally, M.K Rd, P.O+Dist-Malda, Pin-732101, West Bengal, Opp:HDFC Bank. 03512-266014 West Bengal BFSI, SALES, BPO, Warehouse 90 Days 17 Patna-II :C/O: Smt.Usha Kumari, Near Bank of Baroda, Kati Factory more, Gandhi Nagar, Kankarbag, Patna. 06123562955 Bihar BFSI, Warehouse, Sales, Hardware& Networking 90 Days 18 Berhampur :2 No.Banjetia, P.O:Cossimbazar Raj, P.S:Berhampur, Dist:Murshidabad, Pin:742102, West Bengal. 9002916994 West Bengal BFSI, SALES, BPO, Warehouse 90 Days 19 Guwahati :Paramount Inn Guest House, Borthakur Mill Rd.Near KFC Restaurant, Ulubari, Guwahati, Assam- 781007. 03613-593263 Assam Warehouse, BPO, Sales 90 Days 20 Patuli :1/10 Baishnabghata, Patuli Township, Block-C, Kolkata-700094. 8617631110 West Bengal Warehouse 90 Days 21 Tamluk BSDC :SALGACHIA, PO+PS: TAMLUK, PURBA MEDINIPUR,PIN:721636. 03228-263045 West Bengal Sales, BFSI, Warehouse, BPO 45 Days to 90 Days 22 Kanthi BSDC :Dhandighi,PO+PS: CONTAI, DIST:PURBA MEDINIPUR.PIN:721401. 03220-296296 West Bengal Sales, BFSI, Warehouse, BPO 45 Days to 90 Days 23 Kharagpur BSDC :MALANCHA ROAD, PO: NIMPURA,PS: KHARAGPUR, PASCHIM MEDINIPUR,PIN:721304. 03222-253242 West Bengal Sales, Warehouse, BPO, BFSI 90 Days 24 Midnapur BSDC :Roy tyre building, Above Bandhan Bank, Battala Chowk,WEST MIDNAPORE,PIN:721101. 03222-276627 West Bengal Sales, BFSI, Warehouse, BPO 45 Days to 90 Days 25 Haldia BSDC :SWASTIK APARTMENT, 3RD FLOOR, ROOM NO:7.BASUDEVPUR, PO: KHANJAN CHAWK, PS: DURGA CHOWK, HALDIA, DIST: PURBA MEDINIPUR,PIN: 721602 03224-274027 West Bengal Sales, BFSI, Warehouse, BPO 45 Days to 90 Days

Note:

1. The minimum batch size of each domain is 20 no of candidates.
2. NA - Not applicable the domains/courses on that particular center.