Utkarsh Bangla, is committed towards a more inclusive society, by ensuring equal access for all women & men to affordable quality technical, vocational & tertiary education and eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education & vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons of disabilities. It promotes an increase in the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical & vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs & entrepreneurship. With dedicated Industrial Training Institutes established for women and specially-abled persons in the State, helps in a more focused approach to reach out to the most deprived segments of the society. The Utkarsh Bangla scheme also provides great importance to inclusivity for sustainable development of all segments of the society. The portal facilitated the training of skilling of inmates of correctional homes, wherein the trainers have used ICT based solutions to create an interactive space for trainees and simultaneously help in upgrading their skills for a transformational life after correctional home. Gender Equality: One of the objectives of the programme is also to bridge the digital gender divide through a unified strategy of “include, upskill & innovate”. Keeping a note of the study in G20 countries in 2016 instituted by OECD wherein it was found that the gap in labour market participation rates between men & women aged 15-64 was around 26%, the Government of West Bengal put special emphasis on designing of an inclusive skill development strategy. The “Utkarsh Bangla” programme has a special component for young girls (who are the beneficiaries of Kanyashree programme, another flagship programme of the Govt of West Bengal, which is also the first place winner of United Nation‟s Public Services Award 2017) to provide the skill training. In fact, half of the trained candidates under “Utkarsh Bangla” are female. The Industrial Training Institutes are also having a 10% quota for female candidates. A study by World Bank also reveals that employment rate of female trainees post completion of a skill development programme in India, rose by 12% compared to 4.5% increase recorded amongst male trainees. The Government of West Bengal, through 2 Utkarsh Bangla wants to tap this potential and empower women by providing them with opportunities to get skilled, self-reliant and thus fostering gender equality.