100 youth from Northeast to get free VFX & animation training in Bengaluru

Guwahati: In a strategic move to harness the rich creative talents of the Northeast, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) and its public sector unit, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), has announced a fully sponsored one-year course in three-dimensional (3D) animation and visual effects (VFX).

This transformative initiative, in collaboration with the Innovative Film Academy in Karnataka’s Bengaluru, is tailored for 100 aspiring youths from the region. The residential programme spans nine months, encompassing 390 hours of theory and 630 hours of practical, followed by a three-month internship at a professional media and entertainment house.

Set to kick off in mid-February this year, the online application for this promising training programme is closing on January 31. Successful candidates will receive complimentary accommodation, meals and a high-performance laptop valued at Rs one lakh, equipped with either a Ryzen 7 or Intel Core i7 processor and a dedicated graphics card, complete with a one-year warranty.

With projections indicating a need for at least two lakh skilled professionals annually in India by 2025, the I&B Ministry continues its commitment to youth skill development through NFDC’s various programmes. A similar course for 100 youth from the Northeast was successfully organised in New Delhi in 2023. At phase one of the training programme, 25 Manipuri youth participated and found gainful employment post-internship.

This exceptional initiative follows the recommendations of the national Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) promotion task force, calling for the institution of a National AVGC-XR (Extended Reality) mission to boost employment opportunities and sectoral market development.

Chairman of the promotion task, Apurva Chandra, envisioned India’s AVGC sector growing from one to six per cent of the global market, potentially creating 20 lakh jobs over the next decade. The task force’s report, ‘Realising AVGC-XR Sector Potential in India,’ was submitted to I&B Minister Anurag Thakur.

To further fortify the sector, the task force proposes establishing five regional Centers of Excellence (COE) alongside a national COE, aiming to be an international benchmark across skilling, education, industry development and research and innovation. The Manipur government, with its tech-savvy and creative resources, could emerge as a regional COE that is to be instituted to foster local industries and talents.

Amidst a booming global market, with the animation and visual effects industry expected to reach USD 290 billion by 2024, the gaming market is projected to hit USD 314.4 billion by 2026, and the comic book market reaching USD 19.5 billion by 2028, the states of Manipur and other Northeastern states of India hold tremendous potential to make substantial contributions to these growing creative industries.

Realising this potential requires the establishment of a conducive ecosystem in these tech-savvy and youth-populated states.