Tripartite MoU Signed for ST Youth Livelihoods at Rourkela

A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 22 October 2026 to widen livelihood and enterprise support for Scheduled Tribe youth at the Livelihood Business Incubation Centre, Rourkela, in Odisha. The three signatories are the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, NSIC under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and the Rourkela Steel Plant of Steel Authority of India Limited under the Ministry of Steel.

A centre run by three ministries

The Rourkela centre was set up in 2018 and has since been recognised as a Centre of Excellence by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It is an unusual arrangement in which three ministries and three central public sector undertakings under them work on a single campus. The Rourkela Steel Plant provides the site, plant and machinery were installed under the ASPIRE scheme of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and the running expenses are met by the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation out of a grant from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

What the centre teaches

• Courses running for Scheduled Tribe students this year include assistant beautician, self-employed tailor, assistant computer operator with accounting software, assistant electrician, bread and bakery manufacturing and mushroom farming.
• Earlier batches were trained in welding technology, furniture manufacturing, soya milk extraction and tofu packaging.
• More than 600 students have gained from the centre and have started their own ventures in trades such as bakery, mushroom cultivation, beauty parlours and tailoring.

Why the model matters

The ministry's reasoning is that economic empowerment of a community works only when skills and processes are upgraded along with it, and that skilling has to be tied to finance if livelihoods are to last. Budding entrepreneurs, it notes, need capacity building in specific job roles along with a working grasp of marketing, branding and the money side of a small business. The aim at Rourkela is to lift confidence, raise productivity and give direction through a mix of training and hand-holding so that trainees build enterprises rather than look for jobs alone.

Who attended

T. Roumuan Paite, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Chairman and Managing Director of the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation, attended the signing along with corporation officials, representatives of Steel Authority of India Limited and of NSIC. An interactive session was held with trainees and faculty, and officials discussed mobilising candidates, the working of current modules and the progress of trainees.