18 ‘Vama swavalamban kendras’ to empower police families in UP

Lucknow: The Vama Sarathi on Friday launched 18 ‘Vama swavalamban kendras' across UP at the police headquarters here, along with the signing of a 3-year MoU with the UP skill development mission, aimed at providing employment-oriented training to women, youth and dependents of police personnel.Chairperson of Vama Sarathi (UP Police family welfare association), Meenakshi Singh, and principal secretary, vocational education, skill development and entrepreneurship department, Hari Om, jointly inaugurated the centres.Singh described it as a transformational step for police families, stating that this is a pathway to financial independence, confidence and long-term security. She said the MoU with the UP skill development mission would help align police family welfare with evolving market demands through quality, nationally recognised and market-oriented courses.She said that training options were selected after assessing participant interest and employment potential. Singh stressed that in today's rapidly changing job landscape, practical skills, digital literacy, financial awareness, cyber safety and entrepreneurship are as important as formal education. DGP Rajeev Krishna underlined that the welfare of police families is a moral responsibility of the department. He said that when police personnel are assured about their families' future, they can perform their duties with greater focus and commitment. Krishna encouraged police family members to think beyond job-seeking and explore start-ups and entrepreneurship, becoming employment generators rather than dependents.Hari Om announced key relaxations for police families, including enhancing the age eligibility from 18-35 years to 18-45 years and ensuring that training and employment opportunities remain locally accessible. He also outlined plans to expand the programme from 4-20 skill sectors in future.Mission director of the UP skill development mission, Pulkit Khare called the swavalamban kendras a visionary and sustainable model, revealing plans to scale it up from 18 divisional centres to all 75 districts of UP.