Minister of State (I/C) Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal has said that his Ministry will welcome and embrace all meaningful skill development efforts with open arms, as skill development is a social transformation tool leading to wealth creation for individuals and through them, for the entire nation. Inaugurating the Global Skills Summit here today, He called upon the Industry to focus on inclusive skilling and reaching out to areas affected by left-wing extremism, the North-Eastern region and other hill states. He urged the captains of the Industry to come forward and work with the government to reach out to the youth in the challenging areas of the country. He said women constitute a sizable number in the country; however, their participation in the economic growth is limited. Shri Sonowal said, this must change by creating a conducive environment for their participation in the skills development activities.
Shri Sonowal said, the importance of skill development was echoed by the Prime Minister on 15th August when he said “If we have to promote the development of our country, then our mission has to be “skill development” and “skilled India.” The minister said that the best way to achieve this is to converge and synthesize all efforts, which his ministry is set to do. At the same time, we have to excite and engage the youth of the country to participate without inhibitions. This requires delivery of skills to meet the local aspirations, demand and conditions. It is time that we make the youth and the parents aware that developing skills is as important and dignified as securing a degree.
Following the text of the speech:
“I am grateful to FICCI for having given me an opportunity for discussing Skill Development, which is one of the most critical subjects for India today. I am told that the FICCI Global Skills Summit is an annual event and every year the skilling community gathers at FICCI to debate and exchange thoughts and ideas to recharge themselves and translate these ideas to actions on ground. While coming on to the dias, I signed the Skills Pledge, an expression of my commitment to honour skills. I urge everyone to do the same – even those who have signed the pledge earlier need to renew their commitment.
The importance of skill development was echoed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 15th August when he said “If we have to promote the development of our country, then our mission has to be “skill development” and “skilled India.” We also understand that the best way to achieve this is to converge and synthesize all efforts, which my ministry is set to do. At the same time, we have to excite and engage the youth of the country to participate without inhibitions. This requires delivery of skills to meet the local aspirations, demand and conditions. It is time that we make the youth and the parents aware that developing skills is as important and dignified as securing a degree.
We all know that this mammoth task cannot be achieved by the government alone. Industry’s participation is necessary, and I urge FICCI to take the lead in bringing the industry onboard to recognize skills not only through jobs but through preferential employment, increased salaries / wages and creating an atmosphere within their companies for employees to get skilled and upskilled. Industry has to lead by example, and there are many ways that you can contribute. Providing apprenticeship opportunities is one. This will help reduce the disconnect between industry and vocational training centres as well as school education and vocational training, which will ensure that the training is less relevant to industry’s needs. A larger effort is needed to percolate the same feeling in the community, since in our case the unorganized sector offers more employment than the organized sector. Unless the community starts demanding quality work, the importance of skilling will not easily set in.
The Government has been facilitating the setting up of sector skills councils, to bridge the employer, the training providers and the educational system. The sector skills councils can play a very important role, but that is only if you as members of the industry engage with them. The basic function of the Sector Skills Council is to present the view points and needs of the sector that it represents, and its effectiveness in being able to do so will depend on how well it is interacting with its members. This is a two-way responsibility – while the Sector Skills Council need to reach out to individual units in the sector, each such unit also needs to make its view known to the council. In this context the theme of the Global Skills Summit: “India’s Skill Eco-system: from Design to Action” is appropriate. The action has begun.
Women constitute a sizable number in our country; however, their participation in the economic growth is limited. This must change by creating a conducive environment for their participation in the skills development activities. I am happy to note that this important issue is set to be discussed in the summit.
Moreover, the magnitude of the task ahead is so great that only an outcomes-based approach with scope for mobility, both vertical and horizontal within and between general and vocational streams will get us close to the objective of skilling the youth. Consequently, the National Skills Qualification Framework, a competency based framework has been notified which would make the youth break all inhibitions regarding vocational education. Such an approach would also mean that the millions of people in our country, who have mastered various crafts and trades through the traditional mode of the guru-shishya parampara, or who have become adept through sheer experience, could also become certified as long as they are able to perform to the outcome standards. This recognition of prior learning would itself empower millions of our workers through formal recognition of their skills.
Another dimension is the fact that 70% of this population of our country falls in rural and tribal India. To properly equip these millions of youth with the skill sets needed for them to be part of the modern work force, integration of skill development and the formal education system is necessary. This requires a collective effort by government, as well as by the private sector. The need of the hour is to synergize the efforts and resources to provide a feasible platform for vocational education and skill development. The ideal way forward will be to seek both national and international partnerships that will strengthen the process of quality and inclusivity. In this context, I would like to apprise you all that for the smooth implementation of the various skill development schemes of the government, we are rationalizing the various schemes of the government to achieve greater degree of convergence and harmonization. I assure you that we have also taken the regional differences in terms of geography into consideration and very soon we all will adopt a regionally balanced skill development approach which would be more fruitful.
It is important, through both macro and micro policies to create a Pull Factor which attracts and also enforces the people to get skilled to get into employment or self-employment. One such example could be to include a minimum percentage of certified skilled work forces in the tendering process of every manpower intensive project and increase the minimum percentage every year by a reasonable margin based on the life of the project. At a local level, the industry could enforce it by ensuring that their ancillary services like drivers, housekeeping, security etc. are certified skilled. Of course, besides ensuring that the people at the shop floor are certified skilled. Another important pull factor that needs to be addressed is the issue of minimum wages. These need to be re-looked and aligned to the levels defined in the National Skills Qualification Framework.
I understand that every year, this Summit is attended by delegations from foreign countries and we attempt to learn from each other. This year, I am told that we have representation from the United Nations, as well as from UK, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand, Canada, Pakistan and other parts of Europe. I am sure that this Summit will be mutually rewarding experience. I hope we will see concrete outcomes from this summit.
I cannot conclude without highlighting the specific needs of those regions of our country that face additional challenges, including those of topography and geography. It is essential to focus on inclusive skilling and reaching out to these challenging areas, such as those affected by left-wing extremism and the North-Eastern and other hill states. I urge my friends from the industry to come forward and work with us to reach out to the youth in these areas. It is only through collective action and consolidated plan from all the stakeholders present here today that we can facilitate access to wage and self-employment opportunities for the working population of these regions and give them hope for a better future. Having first- hand knowledge of one of these areas, I can assure you about the potential of the youth in these areas.
I take this opportunity to state that my Ministry and I will welcome and embrace all meaningful skill development efforts with open arms, as we see skill development as a social transformation tool leading to wealth creation for individuals and through them, for the entire nation. I wish you all a meaningful two days here and look forward to the receiving a summary of the actionable agenda”.
