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Skill Development and Productivity of the Workforce

Ms. Sunita Sanghi, Adviser, Education, Skill Development & Employment, NITI Aayog & Ms. A. Srija 1, Director, Skill Development & Employment in NITI Aayog Introduction

Linkages between skill development, pro- labour market conditions, business environment and ductivity and employment potential: theo- public investment in infrastructure and education. retical perspective Therefore, it is evident that skill development is just one factor necessary for the productivity growth and it Skill development is an important driver to address pov- needs to be an integral part of the development poli- erty reduction by improving employability, productivity cies. The policies should address the levels of develop- and helping sustainable enterprise development and in- ment and need and requirement of various sectors. clusive growth. It facilitates a cycle of high productivity, Besides this the skill policy should focus on improving increased employment opportunities, income growth access, quality and relevance of training for different and development. However, this is just one factor among segments and sectors. The evidence from developed many affecting the productivity whose measurement countries suggests that investment in education and differs for individuals, enterprise and economy. The skills helps economy to move to high growth sectors and increase in productivity could be due to availability of break the low wage, low skill development syndrome. skilled & healthy manpower; technological up gradation and innovative practices; and sound macroeconomic Different countries at different levels of development strategies. The manifestations of improved productivity face different challenges. In the context of developing can be in the form of improvement in real gross domes- economies like the challenge is to meet the skilled tic product (economy), increased profit (enterprises) manpower requirement of the high growing sectors on and higher wages (workers). In this section, we are the one hand through better synergy between employ- looking into the relationship between skill development ers and the training providers, increased investment in and productivity with focus on India. However, to be- the training infrastructure and also to ensure that the gin with it is necessary to understand what constitutes informal economy also have skilled manpower wherein productivity and how it is measured at different levels. the informally trained skills are recognised and certified and that entrepreneurship training is provided for mov- Productivity which explains an input-output relation- ing to formal sector. The workplace training plays an im- ship is a crucial factor whose benefits can be distribut- portant role in productivity enhancement but in the de- ed in a number of different ways such as better wages veloping economies the huge informal economy poses a and working conditions to workforce; increased profits challenge which could be addressed by developing clus- and dividend to shareholders; environmental protec- ters or lead firm taking the initiative which would help tion; and increase in revenue to Governments. This achieving economies of scale in the skills development; helps both the enterprise and country to remain com- development of competencies within and between petitive in the domestic and global market respectively. firms and availability of lead firm facilities. This would The increase in productivity can be attributed to varied make available skilled manpower by the lead firm as reasons such as new technology, new machines, better per its requirement and the small enterprise would im- management practices; investment in plant and equip- prove their productivity. The Government can facilitate ment and technology, occupation safety improvement linkages among various companies and stimulate adop- in the skill level of workers; macro-economic policies,

1 The authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Shrinivas Shirke, former Research Officer of NITI Aayog in preparation of the Tables derived from unit level data of NSSO.

ECONOMY MATTERS 36 FOCUS OF THE MONTH tion of technologies and skill upgrading programmes. Development policy provides for integration of skill de- velopment into the national development polices such The linking of skills and productivity would not only as developing infrastructure, reducing poverty and de- benefit the enterprise and economy but would also cent work agenda. The diagram below explains the re- facilitate different segments of the population particu- lationship between skill development strategy for pro- larly the marginalised sections of the society to reap the ductivity, employment and sustainable development. benefits of the economic growth through skill develop- ment. The lack of access to education and training or It emerges that coordination among various stake- the low quality or relevance of training keeps the vulner- holders, coherence in sectoral, macro and skill policies, able and marginalized sections into the vicious circle of knowledge sharing and effective participation of trade low skills and low productive employment. The National unions and employers along with technology develop- Skill Policy provides a framework to ensure access to ment is central to any development strategy. The par- various target groups to realise their potential for pro- ticipation by all stakeholders would strengthen move ductive work and contribute in economic and social de- towards skilled economy. It would also ensure that velopment. However, different approaches need to be small enterprises get access to training services and adopted which may overlap as groups are not mutually developing their managerial capabilities for growth. It exclusive such as improving agriculture marketing ex- also emerges that while coherence is necessary, it is tension; investing in rural infrastructure; making avail- also necessary (repetition) to ensure gender equality, able quality education; on the job and targeted training upgrade technology, and diversify production struc- for the disabled and identifying the requirement of mi- ture, building up individual competencies and collecting grant workers. The question is how one links the skill /dissemination of information on future requirements development to future challenges so as to address the as also available supply. This would improve availability demand of the growing economies. The National Skill of skilled manpower and reduce the supply mismatch.

In this back drop an attempt has been made to see grated with macro and the sectoral policies to achieve where India stands and how its skill polices can be inte- increase employability.

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tion of farm sector to the GDP to 16 per cent but a very Where does India Stand slow decline in the workforce participation level to 48 per cent resulting in the low level of productivity in the Labour Market agricultural sector. The nature of jobs created is informal As compared to other developed and developing coun- (91 per cent of the workforce) and the status of employ- tries, India has a unique window of opportunity for an- ment is self-employed. Further, there is the high degree other 20-25 years called the “demographic advantage”. of unemployment among the youth due to aspirational If India is able to skill its people with the requisite life skills, mismatch or skill mismatch, declining participation of fe- job skills or entrepreneurial skills in the years to come males in the labour force and an economic environment the demographic advantage can be converted into the wherein jobs are not created commensurate with the dividend wherein those entering labour market or are economic growth. The distribution of the workforce by already in the labour market contribute productively to sector and status of employment shows that in agricul- economic growth both within and outside the country. ture sector where almost 32 per cent is self-employed majority is operating as own-account worker or unpaid But meeting this objective is a daunting task as India helper (Table-1). After agriculture the proportion of faces the challenge of skilling large labour force that those working as self-employed is Trade (7 per cent) and is largely illiterate or below primary and unskilled. The manufacturing (6 per cent). In these two sectors also structural transition from the agricultural to the non-ag- the proportion of workforce working as own account ricultural sector has seen rapid decline in the contribu- workers are more than those working as employers.

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The proportion of those working as casual labour is logistic support, it leads to creation of further wage higher in agriculture (17 per cent) followed by construc- employment and enhancement of their productivity. tion (9 per cent) and manufacturing (2 per cent). On the whole, about 52 per cent of the total workforce Relationship between literacy and pov- was self-employed, of which own-account workers ac- erty reduction counted for 33 per cent and the unpaid helper 18 per The preponderance of self-employment mainly in agri- cent. The proportion of workforce with regular wage or culture is mostly due to their low education and skill lev- salary was just 18 per cent and 30 per cent were casually els stimulated by their poor economic background. The employed. When we talk about productivity it only cov- proportion of population upto the poverty line i.e. the ers those who are in the regular wage or salaried em- extremely poor and poor increased from 21.8 per cent in ployment. The self-employed operating as own account 2004-05 to 25.3 per cent in 2011-12. But the proportion of workers are mostly household enterprises assisted by the marginally poor and the vulnerable decreased from unpaid helpers. In this type of employment the pro- 19.0 per cent to 16.5 per cent and from 36.0 per cent ductivity levels are low, working conditions poor, wage to 30.7 per cent between 2004-05 and 2011-12. On the employment is totally absent. On the other hand if the whole 72.5 per cent of the population fall in the catego- own account workers can be upgraded to becoming ry of poor and vulnerable in 2011-12 as compared to 76.7 an employer by providing skill development and other per cent in 2004-05, a decrease of 4.2 points. (Table-2)

Table-3 shows the distribution of the unorganized work- cline of 2.42 points. This relatively low level of living of the ers across different expenditure class. It may be seen that workforce brings out the quality of employment which 76.28 per cent belong to the poor & vulnerable category calls for a look at their educational and skill qualification. in 2011-12 as compared to 78.70 per cent in 2004-05, a de-

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Linkages between skill development, pro- velopment should be aimed at addressing the skill needs ductivity and employment potential of the self-employed as well as the casual employed. To quote Economic Survey 2013-14, “India can increase its Skill development is the focus area of the government long-term trend growth by unleashing the entrepreneur- policy. It is central to accessing employment in the for- ial spirit of millions across the country by strengthening mal sector and enhancing productivity in the informal the economic freedom of the people.” In accordance, economy for reducing poverty and risk of underemploy- the National Policy on Skill Development & Entrepre- ment. The National Policy on Skill Development aims to neurship 2015 emphasises on entrepreneurship devel- train about 104.62 million people afresh and additional opment as the pathway for creating more wage em- 460 million are to be reskilled, up-skilled and skilled by ployment and in turn growth of the economy. The policy 20222. Considering that majority of these labour force has identified following policy strategy for promoting would be self or casual employed, the challenge is to entrepreneurship viz; (i) educate and equip potential how to improve the skill levels of these workforce. and early stage entrepreneurs across India (ii) connect These categories cut across various target groups or entrepreneurs to peers, mentors and incubators (iii) vulnerable sections of the society. The groups are not support entrepreneurs through Entrepreneurship Hubs mutually exclusive and there are overlaps because the (E-Hubs) (iv) catalyse a culture shift to encourage en- workers in the self-employed category are a hetero- trepreneurship (v) encourage entrepreneurship among geneous lot while the casual employed may be inter- the under-represented groups (vi) promote entrepre- mittently employed and in different unskilled works. neurship amongst women (vii) improve ease of doing business (viii) improve access to finance and (ix) foster The lack of access to good education and training social entrepreneurship and grassroots innovations. keeps the vulnerable and the marginalized sections into the vicious circle of low skills; low productive em- Skill development of the self-employed is essential ployment and poverty. The marginalized group which to make the transition from own account workers to includes rural poor, youth, persons with disabilities, employers or entrepreneurs. The success of the major migrant workers and women constitute the high- programmes of the current Government viz; Make in est number of poor. In India 70 per cent of the labour India, , Smart City, Namami Gange, Swachh force reside in rural areas and depend on low produc- Bharat depends on the success of the Skill India Mission tive agricultural activity where there is huge underem- in skilling and reskilling 460 million by 2022. The skill de- ployment leading to low level of productivity. The high velopment programmes to promote entrepreneurship proportion living in poverty among women in India is are also equally important namely-(i) SETU- the Self-Em- due to their concentration in low productivity work. ployment and Talent Utilization scheme which is a Tech- no-Financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme to The skill strategy needs to focus on strategy of skill de- support all aspects of start-up businesses, and other

2 National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015.

ECONOMY MATTERS 40 FOCUS OF THE MONTH self-employment activities, particularly in technology- international experiences to foster a culture of innova- driven areas, (ii) Atal Innovation Mission AIM an inno- tion, R&D in India and (iii) Start Up India to promote vation promotion platform involving academics, entre- bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to preneurs, and researchers drawing upon national and boost entrepreneurship and job creation in the country.

Current and future skill requirements for eracy levels was high among the female workforce (75 India per cent below primary) as compared to the males. The proportion of total workforce with educational qualifi- Nearly 56 per cent of the workforce in 2011-12 had basic cation secondary was just 11.5 per cent while for the fe- education upto primary and the proportion of low lit- male workforce it was still lower at 5.4 per cent. (Table-4)

As regards skill training, 75.8 per cent of the workforce did cent. The proportion of workforce that received training not have any skill training during 2011-12 while the propor- through informal modes was 12.46 per cent. (Table-5) tion of workforce with formal training was only 3.05 per

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From Table-4 and Table-5 the education and vocational With such low skill levels the profile of our enterprise is profile of the workforce throws light on the challenge such that nearly 95 per cent of the units are micro in size that India faces if the labour force consisting of existing engaging less than 5 workers. The challenge therefore and new entrants are to be provided age appropriate lies in expanding the size of the enterprises to beyond 5 skill training which might include skilling, reskilling and in number so that the progression of growth of the en- upskilling. terprises from being a single employer to that of being a partnership or private corporate entity takes place. Unless this transition is in place the productivity levels will not improve and neither will employment. (Table-6)

Some estimates of skill gaps in different mercial difficulties that maybe better addressed through sectors policies other than skill development programmes’3.

In analysing the skill gap, there exist two types of low ed- The India Skills report 2015 quotes Dr. Rajendra Kumar ucated labour force entering the labour market due to Pandey4 as saying that India has to achieve the target of their poor economic conditions and remaining unskilled. skilling/upskilling 150 million people by 2022. He further One is the educated labour force who are not able to find explains skill gap as ‘the phrase skill gap refers to rede- jobs matching their qualification due to lack of technical fining the relationship between education, industry and or soft skills. This is the reason for the high rate of edu- business.’ In simple terms a skill gap can be defined as cated unemployment among the youth. To reduce the the difference between the skills needed for a job ver- skill gap among the educated there is the need for bet- sus those skills possessed by a prospective worker5. ter quality education, knowledge of english language, The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship on the job training as well as better job information. has estimated the estimated incremental human re- Aashish Mehta argues that ‘India’s skill gaps rests on source requirement across 24 sectors as 109.73 million weak conceptual foundations. While some industries do by 2022. The Institute of Applied Manpower Research suffer from real skill gaps, others are constrained by com- in their Occasional Paper ‘Estimating Skill Gap on a Re-

2 How serious are India’s manufacturing skill gaps? Column by Aashish Mehta, University of California, 13th October,2015, http://www. ideasforindia.in/article.aspx?article_id=1437

3 President, NIIT University Neemrana

4 A Better Measure of Skills Gaps: Utilizing Act Skill Profile and Data orf Strategic Skill Research

ECONOMY MATTERS 42 FOCUS OF THE MONTH alistic Basis for 2022’ arrive at an incremental skilled The third objective calls for a long-term perspective, manpower requirement of 291 million by 2022. But they anticipating the skills that will be needed in the future point out two major problems for those already in the and engendering a virtuous circle in which more and workforce. First, is the poor quality of those who have better education and training fuels innovation, invest- general education up to secondary level or those having ment, technological change, economic diversification vocational training (including post-secondary level tech- and competitiveness, and thus job growth. nical education), and hence employability. The second problem that employers are known to complain about To achieve the above-mentioned objectives conver- is the mismatch between the skills that are currently gence across policies is essential. Skill development available in the educated or trained labour force on and employment policy should be inter-linked. The full the one hand, and the type of skills that are actually in value of one policy can be realised only if it supports the demand from employers, on the other. This supply-de- objectives of the other policy. For investments in skill mand mismatch and the quality problem will have to be development to yield maximum benefit to workers, en- addressed over the course of the next decade simulta- terprises and for the economy, the country’s capacity neously with a very sharp quantitative expansion in ca- for coordination is most important in three areas: pacity of those to be educated or vocationally trained. • Connecting basic education to technical training, Countries that have succeeded in linking skill devel- technical training to labour market entry, and la- opment to gains in productivity, employment and de- bour market entry to workplace and lifelong learn- velopment have targeted skill development policy ing; towards three main objectives: (i) matching supply to • Ensuring continuous communication between current demand for skills (ii) helping workers and en- employers and training providers so that training terprises adjust to change; and (iii) building and sus- meets the needs and aspirations of workers and taining competencies for future labour market needs6. enterprises; and The first objective is about the relevance and quality of • Integrating skill development policies with other training. Matching the provision of skills with labour mar- policy areas – not only labour market and social ket demand requires labour market information systems protection policies, but also industrial, investment, to generate, analyse and disseminate reliable sectoral trade and technology policies, and regional or local and occupational information, and institutions that con- development policies7. nect employers with training providers. It is also about equality of opportunity in access to education, training, Policies to promote skill development and employment services and employment, in order that the support formalisation of economic activity demand for training from all sectors of society is met. On the education front, the Right to Education Act, The second objective is about easing the movement of 2009 has been introduced which legislates compulsory workers and enterprises from declining or low-produc- education up to the age of 14 years. Thereafter to pre- tivity activities and sectors into expanding and higher vent drop outs the government is promoting the dual productivity activities and sectors. Learning new skills, system of education from Class IX (secondary level) upgrading existing ones and lifelong learning can help onwards. Credit facility is now being made available workers to maintain their employability and enterprises for students who want to pursue vocational education to adapt and remain competitive. after completing Senior Secondary. The National Skill

6 A Skilled Workforce for Strong Sustainable and Balanced Growth- A G 20 Training Stategy, ILO, November 2010.

7 ibid

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Qualification Framework has been introduced to facili- programme based social security schemes the nature of tate the smooth transition from general education to coverage is based on voluntary participation. vocational education and vice versa at all levels from Under legislation based social security schemes there 2014 onwards. is the Employees’ Provident Fund, Employees’ Deposit For the labour force already in market with lack of edu- Linked Insurance Scheme, Employees’ Pension scheme, cation and any training, Recognition of Prior Learning Employees’ Health Scheme under ESIC. All these be- introduced in 2014 to get accreditation for the skills ing contributory schemes employees and employers they already possess based on which they can go for in the micro & small sector seem to evade them. The up-skilling or re-skilling. The amendment to the Ap- programme schemes open to the general population prentices Act 1961 encourages even the micro and small include IGNOPs, , Pradhan Mantri entrepreneurs to engage apprentices which would im- Suraksha Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti prove the availability of skilled manpower. Bima Yojana, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana etc. But their coverage is not cent percent due to lack of aware- Under the National Skill Development Mission intro- ness, disinterest or illiteracy. The National Health Mis- duced in 2014, the skill training of the heterogeneous sion (Rural & Urban), Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog labour force consisting of youth, women, school drop Yojana, Integrated Child Development Scheme, Rajiv outs, disabled, minorities, tribal groups is mandated. Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girl The details of the major skill development schemes for etc. are schemes open to the general population for various target groups are listed in the Annexure. betterment of their health and nutrition.

Since employment opportunities are limited and not India has the Minimum Wages Act 1948 in implemen- everyone would get the jobs, the MUDRA scheme intro- tation immediately after independence. Right now it duced in 2015-16 Budget would help in entrepreneurship is not uniformly applicable to all occupations but only development through availability of refinance facilities to certain occupations where there are 1000 or more which would enable the MSME units access to cheap workers in a State. The low skilled informal jobs done credit. Besides there is the NABARD which provides re- as own account workers are not covered by minimum finance facilities to the cooperative lending institutions wages right now. Through the Mahatma Gandhi Nation- which provide credit to the farmers. al Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, the issue of distress employment in rural areas has been addressed To bring in financial inclusion the Pradhan Mantri Jan to a large extent. Dhan Yojana introduced in 2015 to facilitate opening of accounts by all citizens with zero balance. The Govern- The above analysis indicates that skill ecosystem has ment cash transfers would be made through these ac- been created and polices are put in place for linkages counts, which would check on leakage at various levels and achieving high employment potential. But for this of implementation. Besides holding the account also strategy to work something more needs to be done to gives the benefits of accident insurance and life insur- plug the gaps. ance. What more needs to be done? The launch of DIGITAL India would make information technology available even in the rural inaccessible areas 1. Improving the Education level of the Labour Force: which in turn would facilitate in providing business ser- vices such as availability of markets, cheap raw materi- The current labour market data as given in Table 4 als, skilled labour through services such as email, SMS, clearly indicates the low level of education of labour Facebook, whats up etc., force wherein about 80 per cent has education upto secondary with about 29 per cent as illiterates. The uni- The social protection floor as per definition does not versalisation of elementary education has improved the exist in India. But at any time there are schemes open enrolment and the retention up to the upper primary to the entire population covering both the formal and level. However, there is sharp dropout after that. There informal sector. Though there are legislation based and is need to universalize the secondary education so that

ECONOMY MATTERS 44 FOCUS OF THE MONTH young boys and girls are prepared for working produc- labour markets for better informed choices and career tively in agriculture or to access alternative employ- guidance. ment opportunities. The school dropouts needs to be provided the second chance to acquire basic numeracy In the rural setting efforts are made through MGNERGA and literacy skills to move them out of low paid un- to coordinate training provision with priorities set for skilled work in the informal economy. There are exam- rural development and to promote such non -farm ru- ples in India such as Pratham which initiated the Second ral activities which help in generating rural income and Chance programme in 2011 to give dropout students, manage distress arising out of the seasonal fluctuations especially girls, a chance to complete their Secondary in the agricultural sector. Also the improved production School education and acquire the skills necessary for practices using new technologies, alternative crops, la- employment. It is a 15 month programme that targets bour intensive crops can have positive income and em- young girls and women between the age of 16-25 years ployment effect in the small land holdings. who have dropped out of school and helps them pass The provision of safe transportation, female instruc- their Secondary School Examination. Apart from that it tors, child care facilities, market and finance would en- also aims to raise awareness about educating girls and courage women participation. Last but not the least the women so that they can break the regressive barriers of skill needs to be made apparitional by engaging with lo- caste and religion. This would not only remove the bar- cal bodies/NDGO and using all kinds of media. riers that girls face in going to schools but would also improve the employability of women. 3. Coordination among Various Stakeholders

2. Improving access to quality training for employ- Today there is disconnect among various stakehold- ment opportunities ers leading to skill mismatch. Though efforts are made through Sector Skill councils to address the gaps, but There is need to improve the access of quality and still there is a long way to go. The coordination be- relevant training by all including marginalised section tween Ministries and Agencies responsible for policy particularly in the rural areas to raise productivity and design and implementation in the areas for education income and also to link opportunities for better liveli- and skills development would help in equipping young hood and employment. In the India context this is very women and men with the skills required by emerging important as the large pool of the demographic advan- industries and jobs and help in adjustments during pe- tage resides in the rural areas. This may require increase riods of change. This would achieve not only the objec- in the training capacities for relevant and high-quality tive of policy coherence but also address issues of skill skills, and also require responding to rapidly changing gaps, boost productivity, improve employment growth skills needs; upgrading informal apprenticeship sys- etc. However, this also requires good macro-economic tems i.e Apprenticeship Proatsahan Yojana so as to de- policies that support employment opportunities. In the liver skills and knowledge for value added activities and Indian case, the programmes like , Digital more advanced technologies. The Recognition of Prior India, Housing for All and Swatch Bharat together with Learning needs to be speeded up for the effective and favourable polices for infrastructural development, efficient matching of workers’ skills with skills required lower interest rates would offer huge employment op- in the jobs to reduce the skill gap. This way equal oppor- portunities supported by National Skill Mission. tunities can be created both for women and men to ac- cess relevant /quality education, vocational training and 4. Strengthening Skill Delivery Framework workplace learning, and to productive and decent work So that they can realize their potential and contribute Most training is implemented at the State level. How- to economic and social development and maintain not ever, the implementation varies across States with only their employability but also sustainability of enter- many demographically advantageous States facing not prises. However, improving access also necessitates only shortage of physical infrastructure but also quality creating system to collect and communicate reliable training. The State Skill Development Missions (SSDMs) and up to date information on skills needs in current in the States should evolve into a coordinating body to

45 NOV-DEC 2015 FOCUS OF THE MONTH harmonize the skilling efforts across line departments/ with the government are limited, there is urgent need private agencies/voluntary organizations etc., and also to incentivise industry to be to either set up training in- ensure that funds received under various programmes stitutions in PPP mode in industry clusters to facilitate are optimally utilised. The common norms for course availability of trained manpower for big and MSME cost durations etc as announced at the central level units or to adopt existing government ITIs and Poly- needs to be adopted by the States and State-specific technics. The industry may also be encouraged to pro- guidelines for skill development programmes should be vide their work benches for training their staff as teach- made accordingly. er. The teachers and students can be given exposure on Further for effective outreach and access by different the shop floor. Industry can also enter into flexi MOUs segments of the population it is necessary to have de- based on sector, trade or institutions and offer work centralized implementation at State, district and block benches for practical training. Further the local industry level and also to ensure effective coordination and mon- can be actively involved for curriculum development, itoring of skill development initiatives. The existing pat- provision of equipments, training of trainers, opening tern of DRDA to coordinate skill efforts at district level incubation centres particularly in the rural areas. may be considered for adoption for effective coordina- 7. Availability of financial resources and systemic tion and interaction with local self-government, civil reforms society, training provider, industry and other stakehold- The scale of the problem is too big requiring huge re- ers. Given that State conditions and requirements vary, sources. The need of the hour is to consolidate resourc- it is necessary to determine sectoral priorities at State es at all levels and create a national training fund to be level based on sectoral assessment and the formula- accessed by all but operated by Ministry of skill devel- tion of appropriate policies to enhance the qualitative opment on priority basis. The funds could be bilateral/ and quantitative skill availability for the sector based multilateral donations, CSR funds, welfare funds etc. To- on conduct of regular skill surveys. The inter-linkage of gether with finances it is also necessary to speed up im- the SSDMs with the industry, training providers, Sector plementation of National Skill Qualification Framework; Skill Councils, NSDA should be maintained at the policy Putting in place robust Labour Market information Sys- formulation and implementation level. The Sector Skill tem for effective dynamic interventions and creation a Councils should to assist the States to align training pro- pool of trainers assessors for quality and reliable out- gram with NSQF. If required a working group could be come based training. constituted with SSCs representatives in this regard. To conclude for skill development to be a driver of pro- 5 Focus on Outcome and determining key ductivity requires improvement in quality, relevance performance indicators and accessibility of training by all the sections of popu- Today focus is on number metrics with minimal or no lation particularly marginalised and poor with poor edu- tracking of the students trained and placed. The Union cation level. The key question that requires immediate Government initiatives in strengthening the National answers are how to measurer contribution of skill devel- Career Guidance Centre at the district and block level opment to productivity and employment growth; what and integrating it with the Labour Market Information policies support enterprise development; what is the System would facilitate in tracking the youth receiving role of various stakeholders; skill mapping for a country skill training who may work either as wage employed of India size on local levels and how to strengthen the or self employed. The success stories can be shared coordination between different institutions for better through LMIS/National Career Service Centres so that results. There is need for robust data base on different it provides a medium for the youth to explore the pos- parameters such as wages in the farm and non -farm sibilities of its up-scaling/replication. sector, data for computing GVA for informal economy as defined by the National Commission for Unorganised 6. Strengthening Private sector participation Sector Enterprises. Given that target to be achieved is huge and resources (Views expressed are personal and not of the institution they represent)

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References

1. Committee of Donar Agencies for Small Enterprise 7. NITI Aayog 2015 -Report of the Sub-Group of Chief Development 2001 Business Development services Ministers on Skill Development, for small enterprises: Guiding principles for donor interventions. 8. NSSO Various Rounds on Employment and Unem- ployment Survey 2. Decent Work Agenda in Poverty Reduction Strat- egy Papers: Recent developments, Committee on 9. Report on Consumption Expenditure by NSSO. Employment and Social Policy, Governing Body 10. Rural Development through skill development 300th Session Geneva, 2007 “Skills for Rural Development Policy briefs, ILO 3. Galihardi, R 2004, Statistics on Investment in Train- 11. Sustaining Productivity and competitiveness as a ing, Skills Working Paper No.18 Geneva(ILO) foundation for Decent Work, Asian Employment 4. Global Employment Trends for Youth, Forum: Growth , Employment and Decent Work,

5. Henry,C2008 Improving Skills Development in Ru- 12. Training for employment: Social inclusion, produc- ral Communities, Employment Sector Working Pa- tivity and youth Employment , ILO 2000 per 13. Human Resource Recommendation No 195 6. International Labour Organisation 2008 “Skills for 14. National Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Improved Productivity, Employment Growth and Development Policy India 2015 Development”,

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