Benefiting from the advocacy of two sisters, at least 50 surrendered Naxals of Koraput district and thousands in the entire country would be able to join ITI even without the basic educational qualification.
The modification in policies of the government to facilitate vocational training for such Naxals has largely been due to efforts of Kruti and her younger sister Mithi.
The Government of India has amended the policy to allow enrolment of all surrendered Naxals in the vocational training programmes irrespective of educational qualification.
Those not having the required qualification would first undergo a one-year foundation course, on successful completion of which they would further undergo a two-year vocational training of their choice. They will also get a stipend of Rs 6,000 for all 3 years.
All this was possible due to the persistent efforts of Kruti and Mithi Jethwa, who began their work on improving the lives of surrendered Naxals when they were students of a school at Damanjodi in Koraput district, .
Mithi in fact speaks of her dream to research on this aspect of social change when she grows up.
The daughters of Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Y Jethwa, the two had felt and observed the ripple effects of the strife between Naxals and police.
Having moved extensively within the state due to the nature of their father’s job, they had vivid memories of territories once deemed safe and peaceful making headlines as sites of conflict.
For the transfer of their father they too had to move to Pune, and fortunately Kruti got into a reputed college which had space for social research in its curriculum of Standard 11.
She took up the challenge of presenting a detailed study on challenges posed and faced by Naxals in places like Koraput. Kruti had visited Koraput last year as a part of her visit to different LWE regions to learn more about Naxals.
In the process she met 10 surrendered Naxals in Koraput who had shared the story of gaps in policy of government in admitting them into ITI.
The national rehabilitation policy drafted by the Home Ministry had made a provision of a stipend of Rs 6,000 per month to the surrendered Naxals for a maximum period of 3 years, provided they enrolled in any government vocational training centre.
However, the government managed Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) required a minimum qualification of education up to Class 8 for eligibility of enrolment.
In her conversation with Naxals, Kruti got to know that most surrendered extremists had left their homes and joined the movement at an early age. They did not possess the requisite qualification for enrolment. As a result they could not get the vocational training as well as the stipend which was crucial for their transition into the mainstream.
Wanting to address this problem at a policy level both the sisters moved from pillar to post till they reached the ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship at New Delhi where Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan heard them and took initiative to facilitate admission of surrendered Naxals to ITIs.
Now that changes were made in the guidelines, it was time for successful implementation at the institutional level.
Kruti, in the meanwhile, has gone abroad for higher students and her younger sister Mithi, an 11th Standard student at a school in Delhi has taken over. Mithi was in Koraput on Thursday to talk to police administration and surrendered Naxals.
She also had shared a concept of civil society organisations adopting one surrendered Naxal as a local guardian. Mithi also visited Malkangiri and Bastar to discuss the concepts that she and her elder sister have developed.
Her proposals were well taken by K Vishal Singh, SP, Koraput who promised support and cooperation to her initiatives.