Maruti Suzuki India said on Wednesday that it has given training to 98,000 people from the underprivileged section of the society in the last two years.

Under its National Road Safety Mission, launched in December, 2008, the company has trained a total of 3.58 lakh people so far, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

“Of these, over 98,000 people are from the underprivileged section of society, who are keen to take driving as a profession,” it added.

The company had set a target to train at least five lakh drivers over a three year period under the mission, out of which over one lakh would be from economically weaker section.

MSI currently operates 4 Institute of Driving Training & Research (IDTR) and 166 Maruti Driving Schools in the country.

The company’s training initiatives have benefited about 7 lakh people so far. To promote safe driving, the company today announced a driving competition in the 18—30 years of age group.

The contest — Young Driver 2011 — will be held at 63 Maruti Driving Schools across 34 cities in the country, the statement said.

“Though we are trying to educate different sections of the society through programmes and infrastructure like IDTRs and Maruti Driving Schools, we believe that the young population of the country holds the key to road safety promotion.

“Therefore, Maruti Suzuki has chosen the youth of India to be its brand ambassadors for this cause,” MSI Chief General Manager (Marketing), Mr Shashank Srivastava, said.

The preliminary rounds of the competition will be held at different regional centres. The final is scheduled in IDTR, Delhi, and the winner will be gifted MSI’s small car A—Star.

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