Skill building is key to inclusive growth

INDIA ECONOMIC SUMMIT 2008

Industry leaders and policymakers pin their faith on a multi-faceted approach that includes education and vocational training.

Industry captains and key policymakers attending the India Economic Summit have unequivocally called for more steps to beef up skill enhancement in order to make the economic growth process more inclusive.

Achieving inclusive growth is the biggest challenge in a country like India, according to Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce & Industry. Nath said in a democratic country like India, bringing 600 million people living in rural India into the mainstream was the biggest concern. The best way to achieve inclusive growth is through developing peoples’ skills, he added.

“This is a challenge through the world, be it in China or South Africa. There should be a multifaceted approach including aspects like education and vocational training,” said Jeffrey Joerres, chairman and chief executive officer, Manpower, USA.

R Seshasayee, managing director, Ashok Leyland, India, said schemes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme had done their bit in increasing demand in rural India, which, in turn, has also contributed to the India growth story. “But in the middle term or long term, we will have to develop skills in rural India as well,” added Seshasayee.

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who was confident that the Indian economy would tide over the over the current global economic gloom, pointed towards a progrmme taken up by NIIT at his constituency Chindwara (in Madhya Pradesh) to promote soft skills. “The programme has helped graduates in my constituency to get trained in skills required by them to work in an environment, which they are not familiar with,” he said.

Taking over from Nath, Rajendra S Pawar, Chairman, NIIT Group, said the biggest problem for skill development in rural India was the cost. “The problem in small towns and rural India is that the rural community cannot afford the price that has to be paid for skill upgrade. It has to be a multi-stakeholder scheme.”

Seshasayee called for a second look at the current system of education dissemination, so as to bridge the skill gap. “We talk about these things after someone completes secondary school education. But the right thing to do is to put value in the current education system itself.”

According to him, the level of technology infusion in the manufacturing process has increased, and hence the rural population will need skills to get absorbed. “There is a higher level of technology in the shop floor today and thus, anyone who wants to work, needs to get preparatory training,” he said.