As part of the Nitish Kumar Government’s ‘game changer’ move to make Bihar the hub of skilled manpower under the Bihar Skill Development Mission, the State Govt in partnership with NSDC, recently organised a skill competition. BSDM CEO Dipak Kumar Singh, a Principal Secretary with the State Government, opened up on a slew of issues in a candid chat with Deepak Kumar Jha at Patna
What is the perspective and motive behind organising the Skill Competition in a State like Bihar which lacks industries and manufacturing unitsIJ
This was one of its kinds of programmes which gave a major boost to the skill development of the State’s youth. Chief Minister (Nitish Kumar) showed his keenness and gave me the go-ahead to organize this programme. Avid participants and panelists both from the Government and private sector from across the country converged at Patna to make it a success. We also had a speaker from Switzerland. We hope such programmes benefit the overall development of participants and partners.
Why you are focusing so much on skilling Bihar, when in many States and also at the national level this seems to have fizzled outIJ
You are wrong. Skill development is the need of the hour. Industry demands have undergone a sea change. To make our youth competitive in the new world, we need to acquaint them with the latest developments and also prepare them to face competition at the global level.
My question was in the perspective of employment opportunities. What’s the point in enhancing skills when there is no demandIJ
I can’t talk about others but certainly skilling is paying back both economically and socially. Our skilled people have been in demand abroad too and soon some of them will join a company in Australia. It is no less an achievement for a family in Bihar, for instance, that was thinking about its next meal daily.
Are you able to provide jobsIJ
Certainly yes, especially when industries look forward to Bihar first for skilled manpower. We also conduct job fairs and simultaneously adopt a unique system called RTD (Recruit, Train, Deploy). In this model companies are invited to first recruit our skilled candidates, then train them as per their needs and finally deploy them as per employability. They get a good remuneration for that. Not only this, we can also pay the companies which conduct training or skilling programmes for our candidates within their organisations. For instance, if circumstances prevail we can pay for training modules to a diamond cutter company in Surat if it trains our candidates before giving them jobs.
What are the basic skilling trades offered by BSDM and their scopeIJ
We prominently focus on traditional Bihar art such as Madhubani Paintings, Tikuli Art and Stone Pottery, alongside newer technical skills like CNC milling, welding, fashion technology, culinary skills and mobile robotics. Altogether, we have 27 skill categories.
Where do you take this World Skill competition from PatnaIJ
My Government has encouraged me to do something unique and go beyond skilling of youth. Bihar under the guidance of Mr Kumar, has taken the lead in organising such a competition. The winner of this competition has to undergo a further two-tier competition, before being adjudged India Skills Champion and will then get the opportunity to represent India at the World Skills Competition in Kazan (Russia) in 2019, considered the Skills Olympics.
Currently, about 71 member countries compete in 52 trades across six sectors. The last competition was held in Abu Dhabi last year, where the Indian team won a Silver, a Bronze and nine medallions of excellence.
Besides this, what are the other new initiatives being taken by BSDMIJ
We will shortly undergo digitisation of our ITIs. There has been a shortage of trainers so by using Digital ITI Mode, students of institutes where there are no instructors can benefit by the learning being provided at one ITI.
Private parties, through different modes of funding including CSR, have expressed their interest in joining hands with Bihar as industrial partners to make our skilling mission more robust. There are some policy changes also through which any individual ready to invest in infrastructure can associate with BSDM. They need not run an NGO or a Trust.