Mission 'Skill, Speed and Scale' needs to move to next orbit

The skill development role currently performed by nearly 20 central ministries, including the ministries of labour and human resources development, calls for a dramatic change.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mantra of 'Skill, Speed and Scale' and creation of an independent Ministry of Skill Development on the day of his swearing-in and references to skill development in every public broadcast reflects the commitment to address the issue.

Three key agencies - National Skills Development Corporation, National Skill Development Agency and National Skill Development Trust - earlier part of the Ministry of Finance are now under the administrative control of the Ministry of Skill Development.

National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) has over the years covered a lot of ground in identifying 31 sector skill development councils and 131 training partners it is clear that the target for skilling 500 million Indians by 2022 by NSDC is by no means daunting.

A look at the 'under construction' website of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship at the end of 120 days, however, is bound to dampen the spirits of India's aspiring youth looking for meaningful and economically rewarding jobs. Like many others I only hope that the website is not reflective of the speed, seriousness and urgency with which the ministry is taking up its task.

The skill development ministry's coordinating role, with 20 other ministries charged with skill development envisaged at least for now, is akin to serving 'old wine in a new bottle'. While clubbing departments of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship with Sports and Youth Affairs sound logical, I hope that it is not priority No. 3 for the youthful minister.

The Department of Sports demands full-time attention with a series of crisis surfacing from faction-ridden sports bodies and shabbily treated, ignored and neglected sportspersons. Despite logical reasons for clubbing Sports with Skill development and Entrepreneurship, the Minister needs to watch out that its gets the attention it deserves.

The progress of several skill development councils posted on the NSDC website brings out clearly that the Information Technology (IT) and BPO sector outshines the rest in terms of certification of skills and creation of job opportunities.

The Indian IT and the related BPO sector grew rapidly in the last 25 years by creating a robust manpower pool of 3 million new employees. The sector is a shining example of skill building and offers several take-aways for India's efforts in this area.

No other sector has

>> Provided, by way of lateral mobility, well-trained talent pool to sectors such as financial services, e-governance, manufacturing, education, and R&D.

>> Tapped talent from non-metro cities for their learnability, technical prowess and skills.

>> Opened up 5 million new job opportunities in facilities management, catering, transport, real-estate and housing sector.

And not to forget the massive economic multiplier it offered to home towns of IT and BPO workers - metros, mini metros, small towns and villages.

As the government sets out to convert 100 Indian cities into smart cities, skill millions of young Indians, clean the country and invite tourists there may are lessons to learn, processes to adopt and methods to emulate.

Here is an opportunity to take back IT and BPO workers closer to their homes, not so much for their IT and BPO skills but for problem solving,  putting process in place and training youth and adults to gain employable skills.

The growth of IT and BPO industry will continue to give fillip to Civic, Real Estate and IT infrastructure, offer well-paying jobs for youth closer home with its spread beyond metros generating an accelerated economic multiplier while earning valuable forex.

I single out the BPO industry for skilling its entire work force at zero cost to the government especially as it does not ask for grants or tax incentives for skilling its manpower pool.

The task of skilling to Indians in the deep interiors of the country is not without challenges, that include:

>> Help Indians to overcome the inertia of investing time and money in acquiring new skills, adapting new methods and technologies.

>> Emulate entrepreneurial models that they own and set up entrepreneurial firms that deploy local skills, arts and crafts, materials and expertise.

>> Motivate unemployed youth to skill themselves and build pride in adding to India's productivity.

>> Restore dignity of labour for jobs that are not respected.

>> Skill building and entrepreneurship development has to move beyond big cities and spread to the farthest corners, just as BPO industry is moving to small towns and rural areas.

The skill development ministry will have to find methods to make skilling attractive for youth, especially when 'dole oriented' schemes like MNREGA dampen the initiative to pick up new skills or to re-skill themselves.

Just as the American education system has seen declining interest in enrolling sciences and technology at college level, what if Indian youth choose to shun careers in farming, mining etc. We need to find methods to motivate youth to take up socially less acceptable jobs like plumbing, shoe-making or scavenging. Devising differential wages for hazardous or less glamorous careers may be a method.

We need to deploy mechanisation and technology in all sectors, agriculture, and infrastructure sector included to build the attractiveness of low-skilled low-paying yet strenuous jobs.

The earlier we build on the demographic advantage of rural and small town India the better. India's development rests there.

(Sanjiv Kataria is a Strategic Communications Counsel for the Services Industry. Among his customers, Encyclopaedia Britannica and NIIT are engaged in education and skill building while Teleperformance India offers extensive on-the-job skills to its contact center staff. The author has not been paid by any of them to write these.)