Ask any manufacturer about the biggest challenge faced and the spontaneous response one gets is -- skilled manpower. The youth newly graduated from colleges face unemployment because they wish to start their career with a white collared job and fat pay packet, no one wishes to start from a small tyre puncture repair centre or a hair cutting saloon which generally have queues of waiting customers because skilled manpower is always in demand.
Hiring and retaining skilled workers at any manufacturing plant is a daunting task. Finding skilled labour is the biggest challenge confronting growth in this sector. Skill development is a major need in the manufacturing industries - be it pharma, food, automobile, construction or any other.
A professor at Civil Engineering department of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Satyendra Mittal says, “A time is going to come when we would not get welders or carpenters for our home repair works. Getting an electrician or a plumber is difficult these days, there is so much of skilled manpower crunch but no one wants to start such businesses. I always tell my students that what matters is the way in which they work and how they develop a system, not what they work on. Even a skillfully managed hair cutting saloon gets long waiting list of customers, so what is the harm in starting such a business which demands skilled handsIJ” These days every teenager owns a scooty and the tyre puncture shop always sees vehicles awaiting attention. An intermediate passed student can do that work but today the youth do not wish to learn the trade, laments Mittal. “They want government job and blame the system for giving no opportunities,” he added. A vocation that leads someone to become a carpenter, an electrician or a plumber is never a natural career choice.
According to National Skill Development Corporation, India will need to add 109.73 million people by 2022 to cater to 24 crucial sectors in the country. About 240 million people are engaged in the agricultural sector while 220 million are in the non-agriculture sector. However, by 2022 the number of people dependent on agriculture is likely to shrink to 215 million, while the need of the non-agri sector is expected to rise to 365 million.
Youth across the country still prefer traditional educational and technical degrees, even if it means they would remain unemployed for the lack of relevant skills. They generally avoid so-called low profile jobs. In the want to being as a high salaried employee, they sometimes remain unemployed for years together. Vocational education for acquiring a skill is often the last resort and is taken up when other options have been exhausted.
“I feel we have enough of engineering colleges, the need of the day is to initiate more Industrial Training Institutes. We are still facing dearth of good masons who can build forts of yore or make artistic homes for people. Even skills in agriculture field can generate farmers who take five crops in a year but it is a pity that son of an agriculturist never wishes to be an agriculturist.” says Mittal.
Analysing the scenario of State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation Uttarakhand limited (SIIDCUl), a joint venture between state government and state ITI’s could not breed success. It was an ambitious aim to stop migration from mountains and giving youth skilled employment but these ITIs running on the pattern of 1960’s could not match the modern industry requirements. Chairman of SIIDCUl Manufacturers Association of Uttarakhand, Harendra Garg said, “After the establishment of SIIDCUl in 2004, new generation of machines and technology has come across the globe in all industries- packing, plastic manufacturing and automobile. The 20 ITIs across the state could not address the need of the required skilled manpower. Now under the National Skill Development programme of the Centre, the reputed industries have started doing skill development on their own under CSR activities.”
Suggesting a permanent solution to the problem of skilled manpower, Garg says, “It is a continuous process and not a one time job so skill development centres must be established in industrial areas of Bhagwanpur, Haridwar and Selaqui to cater to the needs of the manufacturing industry of this region.” There is lot of scope of skill development for jobs like tourist guides and adventure sports guides in Haridwar and Rishikesh, he added.
City city based economist SK Batra says, “The requirement of industry has always been neglected by the academicians in schools and colleges. The students are taught on the set pattern and pre-decided course curriculum but no importance is given on their practical training and industrial visits.
A skill development laboratory must be developed in every educational institution wherein students are taught ways to identify and develop the industrial skills only then will Make in India and Start Up India ventures be successful.”