MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

To familiarize Indian-origin youth (18-30 years) with their Indian roots and contemporary India.
• It is a three-week orientation programme for diaspora youth conducted with a view to promote awareness on different facets of life in India and the progress made by the country in various fields e.g. economic, industrial, education, science & technology, communication & information Technology, culture.
• Preference given to PIOs from Girmitiya countries –Girmitya’s are descendents of indentured Indian labourers brought to Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, East Africa, the Malay Peninsula, Caribbean & South America (Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname) to work in sugar plantations.

• To take Indian foreign policy and its global engagements to students across the country.
• To drive interest in diplomacy as a career option.
• It is voluntary programme in which all the ministry officers - under-secretary and above - will be asked to go to their hometowns, particularly their alma maters.
• They will be expected to interact with the students about the way the MEA works, basic elements of its policies, how diplomacy is conducted, and generally give students an idea of what a career in the MEA would look like.

Training and certification of Indian workforce keen on overseas employment in select sectors and job roles, in line with international standards, to facilitate overseas employment opportunities.
• It is a skill development initiative of the MEA in partnership with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship which will be implemented by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
• The short-term program (of 2 weeks to one month) will prepare the candidates holistically in taking up challenging assignments in different countries with confidence and meet transnational skill requirements.
• It involves training them in suitable skill sets which address the requirements in communication, trade specific knowledge and skills along with cultural orientation. These will be in line with international standards.

It is a demand-driven, response-oriented programme that focuses on addressing the needs of developing countries through innovative technological cooperation between India and the partnering nation
• It is fully funded by Government of India& as launched in 1964 by Ministry of External Affairs.
• Although ITEC is essentially a bilateral programme, its resources have also been used for financing trilateral and regional undertakings such as with the Economic Commission for Africa, UNIDO and G-77
• ITEC programme has significantly augmented India's soft power among developing nations
• It is an important aspect of South-South cooperation

• The project e-Sanad aims at providing a centralized platform for faceless, cashless and paperless document verification service for Indian citizens, foreigners who have obtained any documents (educational or commercial etc.) from document issuing authorities in India.

e-VidyaBharti (Tele-education) and e-ArogyaBharti (Tele-medicine) Project (e-VBAB)

• The two separate platforms, will link various educational institutions and hospitals in India and the participating African countries.
• It is fully funded by MEA, GoI.
• e-VBAB project also offers tele-medicine and continuing medical education for African doctors, paramedics and patients.
• It will also give an opportunity for Global acceptance of Indian University Education system and Indian medical Health services.

Shruti