Chennai: Industries that hope to make a mark and tread the growth trajectory should envisage engineering graduates to be part of their success stories, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said and called upon industry leaders to generate placement opportunities for graduates of engineering.
"The government has been taking up a large number of programmes on developmental skills for a sufficient and balance workforce. The industries too should come forward and provide job opportunities for the engineering graduates," Mr Palaniswami said. He was speaking at the engineering graduates skill development and employment opportunities programme and also the launch of new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy for 2018 at the secretariat here on Monday.
Every year, on an average over one lakh graduates and equal number of diploma-holders pass out of 509 colleges of engineering and 522 polytechnic colleges, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, deputy chief minister O. Panneerselvam said the government led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami is working on the principle of "peace, prosperity and growth" given by 'Amma" (late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa (ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections).
"This and also today's interaction meet should be a role model all higher education institutions in Tamil Nadu and industrial houses to join hands to provide more employment opportunities for engineering graduates and also provide them assistance to start business ventures on their own," Mr Panneerselvam said.
The futuristic outlook of late Jayalalithaa and her guidance, he said, had immensely inspired the framing of the ICT policy 2018 launched on Monday.
He also lauded IT minister M. Manikandan and department secretary Santosh Babu, and other officials for helping to bring out the policy.
Meanwhile, the State government has planned to set up ELCOSEZ, an IT and ITeS Special Economic Zone in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchy, Salem, Tirunelveli and Hosur to act as the destinations of choice for attracting investments in the segment within the state.
Land has been allocated to various companies, including Wipro, HCL, Ford Motors, Cognizant Technologies Solutions, Sutherland Global Services Ltd under these SEZs and these companies are operating with thousands of employees working from these facilities.
