Interview: Dharmendra Pradhan, Skills minister
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Our skills agenda aims to raise the quality of existing workforce — ie. develop courses for most jobs, improve content & encourage widespread uptake, — retrain people for changes in technologies and provide higher numbers for the future. For a better picture of skilled manpower situation, we will use Aadhaar population data and data analytics. We will identify skills requirements through a real-time platform with inputs from Indian industry and global economy.
Our skills courses are now designed to give a person all the capability to perform and earn straightaway. Tailor-made courses are offered for common overseas jobs. We are working with States and other govt depts to improve training outcomes. Govt is providing employment incentives to train new recruits, and cheap loans to spur self-employment. India has to embrace disruptive forces at play in the economy. This means we must contribute in the innovation process itself and adopt them in time.
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Full Inteview >>
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Our skills agenda aims to raise the quality of existing workforce — ie. develop courses for most jobs, improve content & encourage widespread uptake, — retrain people for changes in technologies and provide higher numbers for the future. For a better picture of skilled manpower situation, we will use Aadhaar population data and data analytics. We will identify skills requirements through a real-time platform with inputs from Indian industry and global economy.
Our skills courses are now designed to give a person all the capability to perform and earn straightaway. Tailor-made courses are offered for common overseas jobs. We are working with States and other govt depts to improve training outcomes. Govt is providing employment incentives to train new recruits, and cheap loans to spur self-employment. India has to embrace disruptive forces at play in the economy. This means we must contribute in the innovation process itself and adopt them in time.
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Full Inteview >>
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—✽Building a skills ecosystem✽—
Devising skills courses and imparting training-------------------------------------------------------------
Govt must start by identifying new facilities or build new facilities. It must train teachers and may wish to use ex-military or retired professionals. It must identify skills requirement, devise skills courses and certification norms with help from industry. It should popularize those training courses where there are local vacancies in the jobs market. It should ideally link training in institutes to employers who can commit to taking up a significant proportion of those trained.
External courses can be run by private operators but they should meet the criteria for quality, suitability, credibility, recognition and transferablility.
Funding for skills-------------------------
Minister's projection of 6 lakh crore can be funded through -
1) Schools and higher education, who are being encouraged to provide vocational training for older pupils
2) Existing employment, where it can be provided in-house or through approved (high quality) external courses
3) PSUs set up specialist training institutes and run training programs
4) Formal academic courses in higher education colleges or universities paid for as usual
5. Govt employment incentives to train new recruits or would be recruits.
6) A person will fund his own development whilst changing careers, going self-employed, going abroad or updating skills for changing technologies.
REPLY Oct 14, 2017 - Govts package for International jobs market
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Govt will establish 15-50 new IISCs to offer fully certified, jobs-specific courses; and MEA will provide pre-induction soft-skills and language modules. For unskilled youth, ex-servicemen, trades people, engineers and professionals.
REPLY Oct 8, 2017 - Full Interview
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The issue of skilling has been important for the country’s growth. After a month at the ministry, I understand there is no mechanism in the country to tell us how many people are actually skilled. Reskilling, skilling, mapping the skill-manpower market need to be looked at afresh, considering there has been so much advancement in technology. Initially mapping of our country’s population was entirely dependent on census data, but now, with Aadhaar, 99% has come to the fore. Real-time data for analytics is available. What my ministry is doing now is assessing this data.
To start with, we are looking at the needs of the industry, of our economy, neighbouring economies and international markets. A real-time platform has emerged now which we are studying. I have looked at the government of India’s spending on skills in all these years and the focus of spending in the last three years. All ministries are spending on skills. Every state government is taking initiative of its own and so are the industry and some NGOs. As a policy body, our job is to synergise them, give Skill India the public momentum that it deserves. And this is possible as shown by mass movements, be it swachhta or LPG subsidy.
Every year this country produces more than one crore youth who are fit to get into jobs. The workforce of the country is around 50 crore. There are employed in Union government, state governments, industry, NGOs, etc. The impact of our growing economy raises demand for internal workforce but there is also an international dimension because our people are going abroad. Our 50 crore workforce is not unskilled. They are skilled, just that they may need to be reskilled so that their economic condition improves and our mass productivity increases.
Take drivers for instance, EVRs (electric vehicles and roadways) are emerging; the engines are becoming electronically driven. They (workers) need to be reskilled to match the demands of the industry. The aim is to identify such sectors that have potential where we can do things. For instance, good hotels are in demand not just in big cities but also in smaller towns where if a person spends Rs 1,000-2,000 a night, he expects clean bed sheets, clean toilets, toiletries. Providing these essentials needs skilled people. This will change our overall turnaround. If a youngster from India goes to a foreign country, many of which have a left side driving, they require him to learn the skill for six months to one year. That can be avoided if he is trained here and sent. His earnings will start early, and our economy gets strengthened too.
On the question of job losses due to automation and artificial intelligence, we have to make people understand that technology continues to evolve. From bullock cart to flying car, it has come through systematic adoption of innovations. What is modern technology today, will not be modern for very long! The PM has often iterated that though we had a knowledge base, we missed the industrial revolution thrice—but this time we have to have our say. Artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and other such disruptive technologies have hit the world, and even in these areas Indians are there, in every area of innovation from high-end to low-end. The Meenakshi temple was built hundreds of years ago and still the pillars stand strong because, obviously, sustainable methods were used.
The opposition has targeted us after official figures showed an increase in unemployment from 4.9% in 2013-14 to 5% in 2015-16. But their narrative of jobs is stuck in the sixties, not understanding that society is changing. PM Modi has combined three initiatives related to skilling and training for jobs, and given us five mandates. Apprenticeship is old but was not widely practiced. We have revived it by passing legislation to curb state intrusion, and govt is also giving scholarships which was never done before. Government wants to promote entrepreneurship at lowest level, so we have given unprecedented amounts of loans through the MUDRA scheme to a person who will start a trade, or a small family business looking to expand.
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REPLY Oct 14, 2017 REPLY Oct 22, 2017
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