Skilling: An Emerging Need as well as a Solution for Growth

Currently, India is positioned at a place where there is high potential to reap huge economic benefits by tapping on our demographic dividend in the coming decades. The average age of an Indian in 2020 will be 29 years, against 40 years in the US, 49 years in Japan and 37 years in China.¹ It is a great opportunity if tapped properly. What the mechanical revolution did to the European economy in the 50s and the oil revolution did to the Middle East economy in the 70s, the skilled manpower revolution can do the same for the Indian economy. The pre requisite, however is that we should be able to aptly gauge and realise the exact requirement of the industrial and service sector globally and accordingly train and certify our youth to a level which is acceptable on the global platform. This is the main reason that now skilling has appeared on the national agenda for development and many policy interventions in this regard are being executed by the Indian government.

Current Gaps in Skilling

The World Bank Enterprise Survey 2014 reveals that the percentage of firms offering formal training programmes for its permanent, full-time employees in India is just 35.9, compared to China’s 79.2.

There is a definite need to re-define the relationship of education, employment and skill development. Also, as a very large population, India would never be able to upskill all of its youth across the country through the conventional education framework. We need to do skill building in a manner that it is linked with income generation activities which enables the youth to earn decent livelihoods. Across India, population growth, combined with migration from rural to urban areas and increased urbanisation, have resulted in large pools of semi and unskilled workers, many of whom are unable to integrate socially, politically or economically into the mainstream society. The failure to provide this group with the appropriate skills, or support the upgrading of their existing ones, represents a loss of potential talent across a generation and could lead to a major economic downturn. The magnitude of the problem is represented by the following statistic: for a country that adds 12 million people to its workforce every year, less than 4 per cent have ever received any formal training.²

The Skill India Initiative

The government is already spending several thousand crores every year on skill development schemes through over 18 different central government ministries and state governments. Analysing the potential to become the worldwide hub for sourcing skilled labour, the Government of India has set a target to impart training in necessary skills to 500 million people by 2020³ . In this area of skill development, Indian planners have created an enabling ecosystem for skill development for the large unemployed marginalised population. The Union Budget 2015 paved the way for the launch of a much-awaited National Skills Mission to complement the ‘Skill India’ and ‘Make in India’ programmes. The revised National Skill Development Policy was also announced in 2015. The National Skill Development Mission was adopted and developed to create convergence across sectors and states in terms of skill training activities. The mission aims to contribute significantly (30 per cent) to the overall target of skilling / up-skilling 500 million people in India by 2022, mainly by fostering private sector partnerships and funding in skill development programmes⁴.

Better Understanding and Means for Skill Development: NOS

There is no universal definition for skill development. The definition by Kenneth King and Robert Palmer (January, 2006) fits the most in this context. “Skill development is not equated with formal technical, vocational and agricultural education and training alone, but is used more generally to refer to the productive capacities acquired through all levels of education and training occurring in formal, non-formal and on-the-job settings, which enable individuals in all areas of the economy to become fully and productively engaged in livelihoods and to have the opportunity to adapt these capacities to meet the challenging demands and opportunities of the economy and labour market.”

The National Skill Development Council (NSDC) through its Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models upgrades skills to international standards through significant industry involvement and develops necessary frameworks for standards, curriculums and quality assurance. It has developed the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for various skills. These are to ensure the quality and job readiness for various courses. NSDC has approved 38 Sector Skill Councils (SSC) approved in services, manufacturing, agriculture and allied services and informal sectors. These sectors include 19 of 20 high priority sectors identified by the government and 25 of the sectors under Make in India initiative.⁵

As the scope of skill development has broadened, the contents of training have also widened. Apart from acquiring technical know-how, trainings now a days embody learning and skill acquisition through empowerment and capacity building. ‘Training to overcome economic vulnerability’ encompasses a much wider set of skills rather than just conventional technical and managerial competencies. In fact, other than the occupational standards, NSDC encourages that every trainee is imparted modules like basic spoken English courses and personality development to ensure the inculcation of job readiness virtues.

TARA contributing to Skill India as NSDC Partner

Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA), a part of the Development Alternatives Group is a non-financial partner with NSDC through its special wing -TARA Livelihood Academy (TLA). TLA reworked its curriculum to be able to apply NOSs to its various skill development and up skilling courses for women and youth.

Gurukul: Banking for the Future

TARA Livelihood Academy with Fullerton India Credit Company Limited is imparting employability courses on banking and finance training for rural youth to make them market-ready for financial institutions. These trainings are being imparted in Gurukul Career Academy Centres in two small cities of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh respectively, ie. Khandwa and Bilaspur. The 180 hours of residential training has the following components:
• Banking and Fullerton Specific Content
• Personality Development and Interview Skills
• Spoken English
• Computer Skills
• Facilitation of Placement Linkages
• Post Placement Follow Up for Six Months

Under Gurukul, 455 youth are being imparted training on communication, financial and personality development skills in both the centres collectively. Till date placement record has been 75 per cent. Half of the trainees have been absorbed by Fullerton India Credit Company Limited itself and the rest are guided for market placement with other companies.

Women Empowerment - Stitching Dreams

As a part of Fullerton India Credit Company Limited’s Women Entrepreneurship Programme, TLA trainers have not only imparted courses on stitching and tailoring but beyond that as well. The trainees know how to cut the fabric pieces, stitch them together and also things like what is in demand, how to negotiate with different buyers and how to present their ideas. 1000 women who have been imparted this training in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh in Sagar, Jabalpur, Indore and Raipur today dream of their own boutiques and training centres. Some of them have been already linked to the market and some are working from home.

Endnotes

¹ Population Projection and its Socio-Economic Implications in India: A State Level Projection Till 2020,” International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
² The Hindu, 23rd March 2015
³ National Skill Development Policy, 2009
⁴ National Skill Development Mission: Framework for Implementation
⁵ Skill Gap Report, NSDC, 2013

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