<span style="color: #222222;">Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has opened the first-of-its-kind footwear training center in Delhi to train the marginalized community of leather artisans. The center has been established with the technical knowhow of Central Footwear Training Institute (CFTI) in Agra which is a unit of the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises.<br />''<br />''The KVIC-CFTI Footwear Training Cum Production Center located at Gandhi Darshan in Rajghat, will provide a comprehensive two-months training program to leather artisans for making high-quality footwear.<br />''<br />''KVIC Chairman VK Saxena, while inaugurating the centre said that it will also provide logistical support to the trained artisans in starting their own shoe-making business once their two-month training is completed. The artisans will also be provided a tool kit worth five thousand rupees for carrying out their activities in future.<br />''<br />''The KVIC-CFTI Footwear Training Center is equipped with advanced tool kits and machinery has been set up in a record time of less than two months. Initially the training program was designed for a batch of 40 leather artisans but keeping in view the social distancing norms in wake of COVID-19, the number has been reduced to a batch of 20 artisans. KVIC is setting up a similar footwear training center at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh as well.</span><br />