Ranchi, Aug. 27: After the tribal youths, it is now the turn of the Scheduled Caste candidates to look skyward.

Buoyed by the much-delayed yet successful take-off of a free commercial pilot training programme for 25 Scheduled Tribe candidates, the welfare department is planning to extend the facility to Scheduled Caste youths. Besides, the cash-rich department is also exploring job avenues for another batch of tribal aspirants.

Sources said the department was compiling details of job avenues for commercial pilots in the country.

The department, which has no dearth of funds, is also exploring the commercial aspect of imparting free training to local Scheduled Caste youths, sources said. The department is also working on extending 90 per cent subsidy to Scheduled Caste youths to purchase buses. The scheme is only meant for tribal youths at present, they added.

“The present lot of trainees and their sponsored candidates are expected to fill up the reserved category of vacancies in the Indian Airlines and Air India. But the department also plans to hone the skill of other Scheduled Tribe/Scheduled Caste youths of Jharkhand so that the reserved category candidates can be absorbed in the private airlines that have do not have any reservation policy. A number of private airlines have come up in the country and there seems to be great job potential in the sector,” a welfare department official said. Once trained, the commercial pilots can also try their luck in global airlines.

Sent to the Pondicherry-based Orient Flying School and Kanpur-based Garg Aviation Centre in the first week of July, the first batch of 25 pilots are undergoing an 18-month training programme at a cost of Rs 15 lakh each.

The training comprises 250 hours of single-engine flying and 25 hours of twin-engine flying, mandatory to obtain commercial training pilot licence. Garg Aviation Centre is training 12 youths, including a girl Sharda Kacchap, while Orient is taking care of the remaining 13 candidates. All are in the age group of 17 to 25 years.Each batch of 25 candidates mean free training for another 25 youths as every trained pilot will have to bear the commercial pilot training expenses for one unemployed educated youth. Thecondition in the training programme will ensure that more youths get an opportunity to make a career in aviation.