Various initiatives are being taken by the State Government for skill development, which is currently a high priority for the State, said the Chief Minister Harish Rawat while speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Uttarakhand’s Annual Session 2016 here on Thursday. This session was primarily focused on partnerships, innovations and skill development.
The CM said that a skilled youth with access to livelihoods is the key to future growth and development of the State.
Delivering the theme address, CII northern region chairman Shreekant Somany said that only 2.3 per cent of the workforce in India has undergone formal skill training as compared to 68 per cent in the UK, 75 per cent in Germany, 52 per cent in USA, 80 per cent in Japan and 96 per cent in South Korea. “large sections of the educated workforce have little or no job skills, making them largely unemployable. Therefore, we have to necessarily focus on scaling up skill training efforts to meet the demands of employers and drive economic growth,” sauid Somany while also expressing his ideas on how Uttarakhand could overcome its cost disadvantages in manufacturing through focusing on skill development for productivity enhancements.
Additional Secretary, Training & Technical education Dr Pankaj Pandey, shared information about the work that is being done under the Uttarakhand Skill Development Mission.
SIIDCUl managing director and additional secretary of Industries, Dr R Rajesh Kumar shared the draft start-up policy for Uttarakhand with the members of CII and Young Indians- the confederation’s youth wing. Members of the youth wing also gave varied innovative ideas like setting up start-up hubs on the model of Silicon Valley, creating a innovation council with industry partnership.
CII Uttarakhand State council chairman Prashant Mahadik State stressed on the need for skill development for a young State like Uttarakhand. He said, “Skill development lies at the heart of addressing issues like inclusive growth, growth itself and competitiveness of the State’s nascent economy. Skill development has been a focus area of the State Government since inception of the State. However, the challenge is so huge that we need to look at partnerships and innovative models for addressing the same,” added Mahadik.
CII Uttarakhand vice chairman Suresh Redhu stressed on the need for developing skill among the youth of the State for the new emerging sectors of the economy like e-commerce, green businesses etc.
The session was followed by a panel discussion, which included experts like Basab Banerjee, advisor, Skill Development at Asian Development Bank, Umashankar Gautam, Head – Technical at Sona Skill Development Centre, Shivaji Mahadkar, CEO, Indo German Competence Academy and Pranay Narang, Head of Business North & West, Team lease. Pranay shared his experience and lessons of Team lease University—the only skill university in the country.
The sessions were well attended by over a 100 delegates from the industry, institutions, Government, academia and also by non Governmental organisations.