Chief concerns plaguing the skill development industry like gender parity, role of artificial intelligence, and role in direct selling industry were discussed in a national summit-cum-awards called ‘Skilling India–The Way Forward’, at a city based hotel here on Friday.
The summit, organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) saw panellists from various sections of the skill development industry discussing the challenges and scope of the sector.
The chief guests, Urban Development and Transportation Minister C P Singh and Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Minister Saryu Roy congratulated the Central government for the initiative of Skill India and emphasised on the efforts to make India a skill-based nation. C P Singh also pointed out that the real challenge is to provide employment for the skilled labour.
Many enterprises and corporates were also awarded during the summit in appreciation of their work in the sector, including Adani Skill Development, which was awarded for its work in the area of women empowerment. Adani Skill Centre Head Jatin Trivedi said that the company has given sewing training to more than 1300 women and with the help of district administration it has made a huge garment production hub and made them self dependent.
During the panel discussion, the issue of gender parity in the industry was highlighted by Aroh Foundation President Neelam Gupta. “Women’s contribution to the country’s GDP is only 17 per cent, and only of women are in the labour force.
Working closely with unprivileged women for years, I realised that one of the main reasons behind this was the fact that unlike men, women working outside their homes have to do all the house chores too.
This housework goes unpaid and is not qualified as a contribution to the GDP. Thus, even after getting skill-based training for months, women refrain from working full-time because of this double oppression,” she said. “A change in policy is required that can quantify this unpaid labour that women perform on a daily basis all their lives. We have to recognise this labour as a contribution to the economy of the country,” she added.
Mukesh Sinha, CEO Gravitas Consultants Ltd talked about the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in information dissemination and productivity increase in the sector. “AI is an inevitable reality facing humanity. Ella, a digital assistant developed by our company, helps companies and institutions in automating and regulating daily chores and thus saves time and increases productivity,” he said.
The importance of skill-development programmes in the direct selling industry was also brought up during the discussion. Vice-President of Amway India, Chandra Bushan Chakraborty, pointed out the lack of retail selling skills in partners of the direct selling companies like Amway and the challenges in training them. “Amway has signed a MoU with Retailers Association’s Skill Council of India (RASCI) for training of its employees,” he told the audience.