The Furniture & Fittings Skill Council (FFSC) has started the process of selecting candidates for participation in the international level skill competition WorldSkills 2019, which is to be held at Kazan in Russia from 22-27 August. The participants for the international competition will be selected from among winners of regional competitions being held under India Skills 2018. FFSC works under the aegis of National Skill Development Corporation, which has been set up by Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, and is tasked with training people in the skills of carpentry and wood work.
According to FFSC, all of three candidates will be selected from the carpentry trade and an equal number of candidates will be selected from cabinet making, from the India Skill Competition. The states of J&K, Punjab, Kerala, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana and the UT of Chandigarh have successfully conducted district and state level competitions in the skill trade of carpentry. As for cabinet making, the states of Odisha, Maharashtra and Gujarat lead the pack in conducting state and district level competitions.
For candidates hailing from states that did not conduct district and state level competitions, a separate Track 2 and Track 3 competition has been conducted. The north and south zone competitions were held at Bhartiya Skill Development University (BSDU), Jaipur and at Caple Industrial Solutions, Bengaluru, respectively on 17 May this year.
A training boot camp was also organised at Hettich Poddar Woodworking Institute (HPWWI) in Faridabad, for candidates who have qualified from the state level competitions. State finalists from Haryana, Odisha, Bihar, and Gujarat attended the boot camp.
Following the district and state level as well Track 2 & 3 competitions, regional selections were held at Jaipur and Lucknow. The west zone regional selections were held at Jaipur International Exhibition Centre from 25-27 May 2018. In the carpentry trade, Vikash Kumar Naga from BSDU and Amar from Haryana were respectively declared winner and runner-up. As for cabinet making, Rajesh P Solanki from Gujarat was the winner along with Santosh Ojha from Odisha and Amar Prem Kale from Maharashtra as first and second runner-up. For this event the infrastructure support was provided by Caple Industrial Solutions and Bosch India Foundation; jury and workshop manager support was provided by Caple Industrial Solutions, Bhartiya Skill Development University, I.EVO, Bosch India Foundation and NID Ahmedabad.
The north zone regional selections were held at Indira Gandhi Pratisthan, Lucknow from 31 May to 2 June. In the carpentry category the winner was Sukhvir from Punjab and runner-up was Bharat from Chandigarh. For this round of regional selections the infrastructure support was provided by Caple Industrial Solutions; jury and workshop manager support was provided by Caple Industrial Solutions, Bhartiya Skill Development University, I.EVO and Bosch India Foundation.
Keeping with the momentum, regional skill competition-south, in carpentry and cabinet making, was held from 21-23 June at Bengaluru’s BIEC. The competition had a total of seven participants from the carpentry trade (2 from Kerala, 2 from Bihar, 2 from Track 2 & 3 and 1 was wild card entry) and six participants for cabinet making (from Track 2 & 3 and wild card entry). Bhartiya Skill Development University, Caple Industrial Solutions, Bosch India Foundation, Hettich, and I.EVO supported the regional skill competition. Sushith and Rajeesh M K, from Kerala, were declared winners – rank 1 and 2 respectively – in the carpentry trade, while Avinash C from Karnataka, Mohit Kalal and Keshar Singh Rajput from Rajasthan were winners in cabinet making.
