GOVERNMENT is working on a new plan to meet the demands of over 4 million skilled workers in the textile sector over the next five years. It has proposed to set up a series of textile institutes at the district and sub-district level under a scheme — Neighbourhood Apparel Training Institutes for Job Assurance (NATIJA). The government would open about 400 institutes under public-private partnership (PPP), in association with the industry and the state government agencies. The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), which operates Apparel Training & Design Centres (ATDCs) to train manpower for the garment sector, would be the designated agency for the execution and operation of the projects under the initiative, textile secretary AK Singh told ET. While the complete machinery component for the training would be provided by the industry, existing ITIs and polytechnic institutes may be considered for locating such centres. The scheme would give job assurance to the trainees for at least 4-5 months in a year. The AEPC would ink an MoU with the state government agencies and industry associations for setting up the training facilities and provide employment under the scheme. The centres would provide free training and would keep in mind the needs of the local industry. It envisages a three-tier skill development that would include basic and advanced sewing machine operation.