What is the issue?
India is lagging to use its demographic dividend, there are issues in job creation and skills missions.
What are the concerns of Indian job market?
- Creating adequate jobs, and employable labour for those jobs, remains the biggest challenge of the economy.
- India failed to create enough jobs for the estimated one million young men and women who enter the labour force every month.
- There is no regulation to oversee that these people have the education, training, and skills to do those jobs.
- Only 3.8 million jobs has been created over the past three years, which is enough to absorb four months’ worth of labour inflow.
What are the issues with government initiatives?
- NSDC -The National Skill Development Corporation’s skilling targets constantly revised downwards and now practically dropped have missed milestone after milestone
- Many of the skilling and training centres it helped fund have been beset by fraud and mismanagement.
- Most of the loans it doled out initially have turned non-performing assets, and worryingly those getting skilled and certified are not getting jobs.
- Skills are created in sectors where jobs are not being created.
- PMKVY -The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, against the target of over 10 lakh enrolments for 2017-18, it has already passed the 9 lakh.
- But a mere 78,854 candidates have actually been placed in jobs.
What can be done?
- Skills curriculum - Itneeds review and appropriate skilling programmes in areas where jobs are, or are likely to be created is required.
- Skilling partners - Fraudsters needs to be eliminated and focus must be on building stable, long-term partnerships with the private sector.
- Professionalism -Most of the workers in the informal sector have learnt their skills from traditional methods.
- Their skills needs to be upgraded with a ‘train the trainers’ programme, and their pupils formally certified.
- National tools bank - It should be created to equip the skilled with tools so that they can become self-employed rather than job-seekers.
- The bank can microfinance tool purchase, and even lend from an inventory of tools on a daily or weekly basis at nominal sums.
- Labour code -The new labour code, passed by the Cabinet, needs to become law.
- It must ensure that a conducive environment and adequate opportunities are created in the sectors where skilled labour is being produced.
Source: The Hindu
