UPGRADATION OF SKILLS IN HABITAT INTERIORS - A TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR SCHEDULED CASTE POPULATION

Funding Agency: Science and Society Division of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

The project had envisaged to impart training to a total number of 150 persons selected from Scheduled Caste population for upgradation of skills in Habitat Interiors. Most of the participants were from the weaker sections and about 50% were women participants. The objectives of the project were to train persons identified from Scheduled Caste population who are involved in building construction in a supervisory level in the field of Interior Design, to develop human resources in supervisory level in the design of interiors as well as in related fields like plumbing, electrics, painting, decorating, furniture design and home repairs, to impart actual know-how in these fields through actual on-site field exposure and training through visits to construction sites and workshops, to introduce cost effective technology in the fields mentioned above and also to introduce energy saving equipment and methods.

The programme has two components - theoretical training and imparting practical know-how through actual field training. In the on-site field level training, the participants were taken to sites where they are exposed to different stages of work on the interiors. The participants were also taken to sites of architectural excellence and interior beauty, like some prominent hotels, traditional buildings, palaces, and finished housing complexes where they could assimilate the effects of design on the interiors and on the immediate environment. Apart from these, they visited Tropical Botanical Garden with a very nicely landscaped area and also some workshops in fields like carpentry and furniture design, terra-cotta modelling, stabilised mud block manufacturing units etc.