New Delhi: At present there are 978 employment exchanges are functioning in the country.  The government is upgrading these exchanges.  The National Career Service (NCS) project has a component of interlinking of employment exchanges and provides part funding of upto Rs 8 lakhs per exchange to States for their upgradation.

Mr Bandaru Dattatreya, Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, informed in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today that the Ministry is implementing the NCS Project as a plan scheme for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services like job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, etc. These services are available online on the National Career Service Portal (www.ncs.gov.in) and supported by Call Centre/Helpdesk. The Minister said the services under NCS are accessible from multiple delivery channels like NCS Portal, Employment Exchanges (Career Centres), Common Service Centre, etc.

The NCS Project envisages setting up of 100 Model Career Centres (MCCs) in collaboration with States and other institutions to deliver employment services during the 12th Five Year Plan. The Government provides financial assistance to these centres upto Rs 50 lakh per centre based on the proposals and scheme guidelines. These model centres can be replicated by the States from their own resources. In addition, the NCS project has a component of interlinking of employment exchanges and provides part funding of upto Rs 8 lakhs per exchange to States for their upgradation. Based on the scheme guidelines and proposals received from the States, approvals have been accorded for release of funds to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.