By Elton Gomes
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das has said that the state government plans to provide employment to one lakh youths through skill development. The chief minister added that the government plans to focus on six backward districts of the state.
During a meeting of the Jharkhand Skill Development Mission Society (JSDMS) held on April 9, Das directed senior officials to establish skill development centres in backward districts, and to begin teaching interested young prospective students the curriculum at the earliest.
Das plans to focus on tribal-dominated areas. He confirmed that the skill development centres in backward states will be established in areas dominated by tribals. Residential facilities will also be available at the centres.
According to the Pioneer, each new batch will contain a total of 200 students100 boys and 100 girls. The students’s training will be linked to constructive jobs. Government buildings that are currently not being used will be repurposed to house these skill development centres.
Unemployment in Jharkhand
The chief minister’s step to set up skill development centres comes as the state continue to reel under the burden of escalated levels of unemployment. If successfully implemented, the initiative will be a significant boost to Jharkhand.
In 2016, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced a plan to start 25 driving schools in Jharkhand, in an effort to curb unemployment. This Statehood Day, I give 25 driving centres to Jharkhand. It will help the state curb unemployment by providing jobs to at least five lakh youths from backward areas in a year, Gadkari told Hindustan Times.
The report by the Hindustan Times also mentioned an inconsistency in the number of job seekers and those who have been shortlisted. In 2014, after BJP came to power, more than 8.22 lakh job seekers enrolled themselves in 40 government employment exchanges throughout India. However, only a total of 12,211 individuals were shortlisted for jobs in 78 recruitment camps.
India’s need for skill development
With technological developments currently booming, it appears that the Indian job seeker has failed to catch up. According to a report by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India’s current status as a so-called IT hub has inculcated a hope of the economy likely being saved from disruption. However, this appears to be far from the truth.
“With prestigious and highly regarded Indian sectors such as IT amounting to little more than cyber ‘coolies’, the manufacturing and agricultural sectors are in an even more precarious situation. Much of Indias workforce is already hampered with outdated and irrelevant skills. As technology continues to surge forward in leaps and bounds, both blue and white-collar jobs will become increasingly sparse,” the ORF report stated.
To tackle this problem, the government developed a skill program that aimed at increasing the pace of skill development, creating new employment opportunities, and transforming India’s labour ecosystem. However, there have been doubts over the effectiveness of the government’s skill programs.
According to a report in The Wire, the government spent more than Rs 1,500 crore in an attempt to help over 18 lakh people develop skills, but its objective of high rates of job placement was not fulfilled.
The BJP-led NDA government followed the UPA government initiatives which promised free vocational training. However, instead of helping youngsters gain stable jobs, it only served to fill the pockets of private vocational education institutions.
Although the efficacy of the government’s skilling scheme remains a large question, there appears to be some sigh of relief for job seekers. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is planing to develop India International Skill Centres (IISC). These centres will impart skills training to those seeking overseas jobs.
Jayant Krishna, the executive director and chief operating officer of the NSDC, told Business Line, We are experimenting with the concept and it is at an early stage. We have started the IISCs, which will train the youth so that when they go abroad, they already have a skill.
As India prepares to seemingly transition from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy, imparting skill-based training will become essential for young job seekers in the coming years.
The World Bank, in a report, states that, “More than 12 million youth between 15 and 29 years of age are expected to enter Indias labor force every year for the next two decades. The governments recent skill gap analysis concludes that by 2022, another 109 million or so skilled workers will be needed in the 24 key sectors of the economy.”
As per the report, 2.3% of Indias workforce has received some type of formal skills training. However, providing skill-based training should be made a priority, with an effective scheme in place.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das’s scheme to focus on skill development needs to be emulated by other states. By having effective skill development schemes in place, the young Indian workforce will become much more holistic.