RNI NO: UPENG/2014/62662
ISSN 2455-0426
FEB 2017 VOL. 03 ISSUE 04 `60 PR NO: UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date of Publishing 04-01-2017 Date of Posting 07-01-2017
From Unorganized to Organized
From Policy to Practice
Making Skill Aspirational
Skills for Future
SK
G N I L L I
A I D IN
Manish Kumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, National Skill Development CorWporation (NSDC),
Skill India – A National Priority
An Aspirational Destination for Skilling Domestic Workforce WHEN DOMESTIC CARE WORK GOES ENTREPRENEURIAL… discusses Amod K Kanth, Chairman, Domestic Work Sector Skill Council(DWSSC), Ministry of Skills & Entrepreneurship
AMOD K KANTH 4 I February 2017
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SKILLS FOR GREEN JOBS Dr Praveen Saxena, the Chief Executive Officer of the Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGB), presents a brief on skills needs for new occupations, new skills for greening existing occupations and retraining needs in sectors undergoing structural changes as a result of policy implementation, and introduction of greening technologies and practices.
DR. PRAVEEN SEXENA
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Editor-in-Chief Ajit Sinha Editor Director R. Manjushree Reddy Consulting editor Rajesh Mehta CORPORATE OFFICE Strategy Head Ajay Kumar Corporate Sales & Marketing Siddharth Verma Vice President siddharth@governancetoday.co.in I 9811561645
Interviews
Ketul Acharya Sr Vice President and Group Head. IL&FS Skills Development Corporation Ltd
Skills recognition for domestic workers across borders
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Sales & Marketing (Corp) Vaishali Gupta vaishali@governancetoday.co.in 7840086705 Swati Sharma swati@governancetoday.co.in 7840086706 Aakash Das sales@governancetoday.co.in I Alliance & Partnerships Stuti Bhushan I 9999371606 Guest Writers & Contributors Dr Dharminder Nagar, Nandini Sinha, Dr Rajneesh Chauhan, Dr Saurabh Arora
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Graphic Designer Vikas Kumar Singh Web Developer Mani Dhaka
FACT SHEET
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GOVERNANCE WATCH
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Above & Beyond Skilling Women Training
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Ashok Mehta,President & Business Head (ICT & Skill Development), Educomp Solutions Ltd,
Harpreet Singh Grover, the Co-Founder & CEO, CoCubes
ACCOUNTS Yogesh Chikara
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Volksy to Skill 1 Lakh Blue Collar Workforce by 2020
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Skill development – reaping demographic dividend in India
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6 I February 2017
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Editorial
Let’s Walk-the-Talk! You smile with them. You talk to them. Because the money they are earning today will one day build you a house also. I have learned now to laugh and smile with these rich people… This is not mere an expression. Such individual actions form part of a collective intimate work culture. From the standpoint of developing policies, frameworks, transformative values, emphasis should fall on empowering, rather than protecting. The United Nations Development Programme’sHuman Development Report points out that while India’s working age population increased by 300 million between 1991 and 2013, the economy could employ only 140 million. Now, very large numbers of young people, even when educated and skilled, cannot find decent jobs. By 2050, another 280 million people will enter the jobs market making India the most “job stressed” country in the world.This is fuelingfurther unrest in the country. Several national and global forces are converging to change the landscape for jobs. For all the economic or employability turbulence today, the significance of new economy enterprises should not be underestimated.We need to urgently plan for the future - for making available varied work opportunities as well as for creating relevant skilled workforce. Establishing policies and programs for literacy and skills training of domestic workers is the first and an essential measure towards fostering the profesionalisation of domestic work and enabling the domestic workers to enhance their career prospects both within and outside the domestic sector. A new paradigm is called for today to spur extreme competitiveness of the economy, whilst ensuring that the environment is nourished and large-scale sustainable livelihoods are created – an approach we can call ‘Responsible Competitiveness’. Making societal value creation a core purpose of business spurs innovation that can contribute substantially to enriching economic, environmental and social capital. Converging complexities that are shaping scenarios for jobs require systemic ways to address them. Ministries work within their authority silos, and experts think within their intellectual domains. But, drivers within a system cross these boundaries. Of the major drivers that are shaping the market for jobs, the first is technology. We have seen how new technology driven enterprises are creating new opportunities for work these days, be it in e-commerce or in travel and transport. The second driver of change in employment patterns is the emergence of new forms of enterprises. Then is demand for social security. And the most powerful driver is skills. Progressive industrial countries are concerned with re-skilling their workers for Industry 4.0, whereas India is still trying to catch up to meet the needs of Industry 2.0 and mass production, or even Industry 1.0 like tailoring and others. However, with rapidly changing industry patterns, are we not prepared for Industry 4.0 at the same time! This will require a paradigm shift in policies, practices and innovations for skills development, which has started happening. To the extent, that job-consuming innovation is now “collar blind”. Enterprising social segment is not just a problem solver, but it goes the extra mile of revolutionising the entire picture. An enterprise in the domestic work sector would be nothing less than a revolution that would change the way India treats a domestic worker. An enterprising initiative would challenge the existing systems and would start changes from within. It is setting new standards in the recruitment, training and placement and empowering the domestic worker to take her career upward. It should be about creating a model that would not only be looked upon by the whole world, but also should be helping people to say that “our lives have been touched”. It is time that the collective energies of the nation are harnessed to build such new segments of Indian enterprises of tomorrow. The two-pronged focus should be, on one hand, to attract investments and continue to strengthen our industry clusters, and on the other hand, encourage a new generation of entrepreneurs, venturing into new growth areas that can bring in more employment opportunities and create jobs. It is then that India’s growth story will create much more value in the economy and ensure growth with equity and employment. In that lies the hope for millions of Indians, their collective dreams and aspirations for a better future.
Best regards Ajit Sinha Editor-in-Chief www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 7
COVER STORY
Skill India – A National
Today, the world and India need a skilled workforce. If we have to promote the development of our country then our mission has to be `skill development’ and `Skilled India’. Millions and millions of Indian youth should acquire the skills which could contribute towards making India a modern country. I also want to create a pool of young people who are able to create jobs and the ones who are not capable of creating jobs and do not have the opportunities, they must be in a position to face their counterparts in any corner of the world while keeping their heads high by virtue of their hard work and their dexterity of hands and win the hearts of people around the world through their skills. We want to go for the capacity building of such young people. My brothers and sisters, having taken a resolve to enhance the skill development at a highly rapid pace, I want to accomplish this.
Dr Praveen Saxena CEO Skill Council for Green Jobs 8 I February 2017
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Excerpts from the Independence Day speech of
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi www.governancetoday.co.in
National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015:
Priority T
oday, India is one of the youngest nations in the world with more than 62% of its population inthe working age group (15-59 years), and more than 54% of its total population below 25 yearsof age. Its population pyramid is expected to bulge� across the 15–59 age group over thenext decade. It is further estimated that the average age of the population in India by 2020 willbe 29 years as against 40 years in USA, 46 years in Europe and 47 years in Japan . In fact,during the next 20 years the labour force in the industrialized world is expected to decline by4%, while in India it will increase by 32%. This poses a formidable challenge and a hugeopportunity. To reap this demographic dividend which
is expected to last for next 25 years,India needs to equip its workforce with employable skills and knowledge so that they cancontribute substantively to the economic growth of the country. Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (earlier Department of SkillDevelopment and Entrepreneurship notified in July 2014) has been set up in November 2014 togive fresh impetus to the Skill India agenda and help create an appropriate ecosystem thatfacilitates imparting employable skills to its growing workforce over the next few decades.Apart from meeting its own demand, India has the potential to provide skilled workforce to fillthe expected shortfall in the ageing developed world.
Recognizing the imperative need for skill development, National Skill Development Policy was first announced by the Government of India in 2009. As envisaged, the 2009 policy was revisited this year and the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 has been announced. The primary objective of this policy is to meet the challenge of skilling at scale with speed, standard (quality) and sustainability. It aims to provide an umbrella framework to all skilling activities being carried out within the country, to align them to common standards and link skilling with demand centres. In addition to laying down the objectives and expected outcomes, the policy also identifies the overall institutional framework which will act as a vehicle to reach the expected outcomes. As per the policy, skills development is the shared responsibility of the key stakeholders viz. Government, the entire spectrum of corporate sector, community based organizations, those outstanding, highly qualified and dedicated individuals who have been working in the skilling and entrepreneurship space for many years, industry and trade organizations and other stakeholders. The policy links skills development to improved employability and productivity in paving the way forward for inclusive growth in the country. The skill strategy is complemented by specific efforts to promote entrepreneurship in order to create ample opportunities for the skilled workforce.
The Vision, Mission and objective of the Policy: The Vision, Mission and objective of the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 are: Vision:“To create an ecosystem of empowerment by Skilling
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on a large Scale at Speed with high Standards and to promote a culture of innovation based entrepreneurship which can generate wealth and employment so as to ensure Sustainable livelihoods for all citizens in the country.” Mission The mission is to: • Create a demand for skilling across the country; • Correct and align skilling with required competencies; • Connect the supply of skilled human resources with sectoral demands; • Certify and assess in alignment with global and national standards; and • Catalyse an ecosystem wherein productive and innovative entrepreneurship germinates, sustains and grows leading to creation of a more dynamic entrepreneurial economy and more formal wage employment.
Objectives The core objective of the Policy is to empower the individual, by enabling her/him to realize their full potential through a process of lifelong learning where competencies are accumulated via instruments such as credible certifications, credit accumulation and transfer, etc. As individuals grow, the society and nation also 10 I February 2017
benefit from their productivity and growth. This will involve: i. Make quality vocational training aspirational for both youth and employers whereby youth sees it as a matter of choice and employer acknowledges the productivity linked to skilled workforce by paying the requisite premium. ii. Ensure both vertical and horizontal pathways to skilled workforce for further growth by providing seamless integration of skill training with formal education. iii. Focus on an outcome-based approach towards quality skilling that on one hand results in increased employability and better livelihoods for individuals, and on the other hand translates into improved productivity across primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. iv. Increase the capacity and quality of training infrastructure and trainers to ensure equitable and easy access to every citizen. v. Address human resource needs by aligning supply of skilled workers with sectoral requirements of industry and the country strategic priorities including flagship programmes like Make in India. vi. Establish an IT based information system for
aggregating demand and supply of skilled workforce which can help in matching and connecting supply with demand. vii. Promote national standards in the skilling space through active involvement of employers in setting occupational standards, helping develop curriculum, providing apprenticeship opportunities, participating in assessments, and providing gainful employment to skilled workforce with adequate compensation. viii. Operationalize a well-defined quality assurance framework aligned with global standards to facilitate mobility of labour. ix. Leverage modern technology to ensure scale, access and outreach, in addition to ease of delivering content and monitoring results x. Recognise the value of onthe-job training, by making apprenticeships in actual work environments an integral part of all skill development efforts. xi. Ensure that the skilling needs of the socially and geographically disadvantaged and marginalized groups (like the SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities, differently abled persons etc.) are appropriately taken care of. xii. Promote increased participation www.governancetoday.co.in
The Policy Implementation: Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been created to fulfill the vision of a ‘Skilled India’ where human resource development is the primary focus. MSDE will be responsible for coordination with all concerned for evolving an appropriate skill development framework, removal of disconnect between demand for, and supply of, skilled manpower, skill upgradation, building of new skills, innovative thinking and talents for existing and future jobs. MSDE will also play the lead role in ensuring the implementation of the National Policy for Skill development and Entrepreneurship 2015. Skill development and entrepreneurship are complementary to each other. The key stakeholders include Central Ministries/Departments, State Governments, and industry/ employers. There is a need to ensure alignment of the efforts of all stakeholders in skill and entrepreneurship landscape towards a common goal. While, MSDE will co-ordinate and converge all efforts in this space, the relevant Central Ministries/ Departments, State Governments and industry/employers are expected to fulfil the roles and responsibilities pertaining to their domain. MSDE is responsible for coordination with all concerned for evolving an appropriate skill development framework. The implementation of Policy will be supported by three institutions: National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC),
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The National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been structured as an outcome oriented policy. Given the realities of rapidly changing economic landscape in the country, entrepreneurship opportunities have emerged as an important source of meeting the aspirations of the youth.
and Directorate General of Training (DGT). National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) has been set up as a Society in June 2013. NSDA is focusing on the two verticals of Quality Assurance and policy research in the skills space. It is mainly responsible for Operationalizing and implementation of National Skills Qualification Framework and the National Labour Market Information System. National Skills Research Division is established to serve as the apex division for providing technical and research support. This division is acting as a think tank and a core skill development hub, which will connect implementation of the Mission with academic research and data. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a Public Private Partnership was set up in 2008 as a Section 25 company under Companies Act 1956 with shareholding of GOI 49% and private sector 51%. It is the nodal organization for all private sector initiatives in the short term skilling space. Its mandate primarily include, • Catalyzing the creation of market-based, scalable business by providing funding through a combination of debt, equity and grants • Implementing skills voucher programme
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of women in the workforce through appropriate skilling and gender mainstreaming of training. xiii. Promote commitment and ownership of all stakeholders towards skill development and create an effective coordination mechanism.
• Driving engagement with industry and businesses • Promoting centers of excellence for training of trainers in coordination with States and SSCs • Initiating and incubating Sector Skills Councils (SSCs)
Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) : an important arm of execution In order to ensure that skill development efforts being made by all stakeholders in the system are in accordance with actual needs of industry, Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) have been set up. SSCs are industry-led and industry-governed bodies, which will help link the requirements of industry with appropriately trained manpower. SSCs are to discharge the following functions: • Identification of skill development needs including preparing a catalogue of types of skills, range and depth of skills to facilitate individuals to choose from them. • Development of a sector skill development plan and maintain skill inventory. • Determining skills/competency standards and qualifications and getting them notified as per National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF). • Standardization of affiliation, accreditation, examination and certification process in accordance with NSQF as deter-
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mined by National Skill Qualification Committee (NSQC). May also conduct skill based assessment and certification for QP /NOS aligned training programmes. • Participation in the setting up of affiliation, accreditation, examination and certification norms for their respective sectors. • Plan and facilitate the execution of Training of Trainers along with NSDC and States. • Promotion of academies of excellence. • Will lay special emphasis on the skilling needs of ST/SC, differently abled and minority populations • SSCs shall ensure that the persons trained and skilled in accordance with the norms laid down by them are assured of employment at decent wages. NSDC has been mandated to set up Sector Skills Councils for the purpose of developing sectorspecific competencies/skills, quality assurance through accreditation of the skills acquired by trainees, curriculum development for the skills training, qualification framework and setting of standards and benchmarks, recruitment and placement of trained and skilled workforce, as well as a data collection, 12 I February 2017
management and provider to the industry. Industry has acknowledged the importance of skills development, nationally as well as globally, vital for the industrial development. The SSCs are required to provide quality and quantity of skilled manpower that is the right fit for the industry and sector, thereby increasing efficiency, innovation and quality. The Sector Skill Council are national level organizations with a government-industry interface and partnership with stakeholders from industry, labor as well as the academia, where the initial funding is by the government and as it grows it becomes selffunded. The Sector Skill Council area separate entity formed as a Society or a Sec 25 Company with a separate Governing Council and CEO and secretariat. Specifically, SSCs complement the vocational institutes and existing education system for an interface with the industry (the sector in specific for which that SSC is set up). Sector Skill Councils are national partnership organizations that bring together all the stakeholders – industry, labor and the academia. A National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) has been set up by Government of India with the objective of encouraging skill
development in the country. A public Trust set up by Government of India is the custodian of the Fund. The Fund acts as a receptacle for all donations, contribution in cash or kind from all Contributors (including Government, multilateral organizations, corporations, etc) for furtherance of the objectives of the Fund. It will serve as the aggregator vehicle for pooling the funds of multilateral agencies, companies, foundations, NGOs and individuals for skilling interventions by leveraging existing infrastructure and resources. The platform will also be subjected to timely audits to ensure that the contributions are used for the intended purpose. To attract funds from industry, companies will be encouraged to spend at least 25% of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds on skill development initiatives directly or through NSDF. Further, industry should earmark at least 2% of its payroll bill (including for contract labour) for skill development initiatives in their respective sectors. These funds can be channelized for skilldevelopment activities either through respective SSCs or through NSDF. All Government schemes across sectors will be encouraged to apportion a certain percentage (10%) of the scheme budget towards skilling of human resources in local regions in the required sector. Skills need to be an integral part of employment and economic growth strategies to spur employability and productivity. Coordination with other national macroeconomic paradigms and growth strategies is therefore critical. For a skills strategy to be successful it should becomplemented by commensurate creation of jobs in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors which will be a key outcome of overall economic growth including entrepreneurship cutting acrossall sectors. www.governancetoday.co.in
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COVER STORY
Scaling & Skilling NSDC Creates Path to Sustainability
Manish Kumar
14 I February 2017
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)iscommitted to promoting high quality skills so that industry and service sector recognizes its value over time and accepts organized employment. Manish Kumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, National Skill Development CorWporation (NSDC), shares his insights on how essential it is to count both inputs or investments and outputs in terms of number of skilled peopleso as to lead togood outcomes, more skilled workforce, sustainable employment, and increase in productivity of the skill sectors. In an interaction with Manjushree Reddy‌ www.governancetoday.co.in
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On the contrary, the training institutes under PMKVY 2 are being selected on the basis of a rigorous quality check which includes mandatory equipment and qualified trainers they must possess, as per criteria listed by respective Sector Skill Councils, before being given the responsibility of skill development training. The emphasis on quality in PMKVY 2 is a learnings acquired from experience of STAR and PMKVY 1 that MSDE has quickly adopted, changing the guidelines for emphasis on quality. Yes, we do count the number of people trained and it is essential to count both inputs (e.g., amount of money being invested) and outputs (e.g., number of people trained) for monitoring a program. However, the concern of MSDE and our own is that these inputs and outputs should lead to
outcomes. In this case, the outcomes are the number of people sustainably employed post training and increase in productivity of the sector to which the skilled people go. PMKVY 2 has created incentive structures for stakeholder to push for post training employment of skilled candidates and the result will be evident in due course. As regards impact on sector productivity, we are in preliminary discussions with IIM, Bangalore, National Institute of Good Governance, New Delhi, and Harvard Business School, USA, to help us in an assessment study.
Currently, the unorganized sector comprises about 93% of the workforce. Can unorganized and organized sector workforce ratio in India be changed for a greater balance? What is the target? The unorganized sector is large in our country because of the asymmetrical power between the employer and those looking for
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Skill training in India today across sectors looks more like a numbers game. How can the outcomes be mapped for ensuring quality?
Our effort would be to deliver PMKVY 2 in a manner that ensures outreach in accordance with industry demand and with quality that receives industry recognition. At least one PMKK is proposed in each District. We are also aiming to work more closely with State Governments to ensure that skill development is in sync with local needs and monitoring of quality is possible
employment. Formal contracts are avoided and, in any case, enforcing the contracts is difficult. The reluctance of an individual to accept unorganized employment terms, operated informally, is of little consequence as the employer always finds enough numbers in the market who are willing to work at his terms. The ratio should show signs of positive change as our economy grows and specializes. Digitized economy, which recent demonetization spurred, will also lead towards greater transparency and
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a greater trend towards organized workforce. There are, of course, other issues such as labor laws reforms and their enforcements which will matter in the long term to make the shift towards organized workforce. But as far as skill is concerned, demand for and industry recognition of highly skilled workers will lead to higher level of organized workforce. We are committed to promoting high quality skills so that industry and service sector recognizes its value over time and accepts organized employment.
The skills imparting institutions associated with different programs today are many. How can they be integrated or aligned in a single platform, so as to bring in sustainability and make it a win win situation for all stakeholders? The National Skill Qualification Framework that is being developed by MSDE, in consultation with other stakeholders, will provide the platform. All jobs, resulting from long term or short-term skill development as also from aca16 I February 2017
demic degrees (which promotes cognitive skills as against vocational degrees that promotes technical, action-based skills), can be appropriately mapped on this framework and upward mobility will become possible for all individuals. It will also make it feasible for a candidate to move from vocational jobs to pursuit of academic degrees, with credits given for time spent on vocational jobs.
What strategies need to be adopted to encourage and include women in the skilling as well as entrepreneurial programs? The encouragement of women in skilling is critical for economic and social development of our country. They are nearly half the country’s workforce but as of now only a fourth of them are active. Active promotion of job roles that women prefer and adequate effort to mobilize women for skill development is important in the short and medium term. In the long term, incentive structure for households and industry is essential for enhancing women labor
force participation.
What are NSDC’s priorities/ agenda in the light of skilling India and the sector skill councils for the next few years? NSDC aims to create skill development infrastructure across the country for short-term skilling, in close partnership with industry. Our effort would be to deliver PMKVY 2 in a manner that ensures outreach in accordance with industry demand and with quality that receives industry recognition. At least one PMKK is proposed in each District. We are also aiming to work more closely with State Governments to ensure that skill development is in sync with local needs and monitoring of quality is possible. It will also help exchange learnings we acquire as the skill development process rolls out and create greater public confidence on the skill development programs. Sector Skill Councils, representing the industry, have a great role to play in ensuring quality and making sure that jobs for which trainings are being provided are relevant to industry needs. www.governancetoday.co.in
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FACT SHEET
The Imbalance
18 I February 2017
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Opportunities for CSR
India Skills Report 2016
20 I February 2017
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India Skills Report 2016
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Domestic Work Sector
22 I February 2017
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INTERVIEW
An Aspirational Destination for Skilling Domestic Workforce WHEN DOMESTIC CARE WORK GOES ENTREPRENEURIAL…
AMOD K KANTH What are the challenges and objectives you had to attend when you started heading the Domestic Worker Sector Skill Council? How has it been evolving?
I will start with the ground situation in domestic work sector. Nearly 13 million workforces enter India’s labour market every year. Every month we get more than a million people. Out of that, only 2-3 per cent workers are formally trained in institutions, in various programs and another 3 per 24 I February 2017
discusses Amod K Kanth, Chairman, Domestic Worker Sector Skill Council (DWSSC), Ministry of Skills & Entrepreneurship cent are informally trained to do their jobs. Till today, we have got only around 5 per cent trained workforces in the domestic work segment. If we compare this with international situations, countries like Germany, Korea and some others have their trained workforce as high as 80 to 85 per cent. Even in China, this is nearly 50 to 60 per cent. Most of the developed and developing countries have their skilled workforce as high as between 40 to 90 per cent, whereas, we are standing at a 5 per cent mark only.
This is one of the biggest drawbacks in India’s developmental process and a serious impediment in India’s industrialization and economic growth. We may be far more developed in certain areas like IT, but in most of the development areas we are far behind the race. One of the reasons very prominently is skilling. Secondly, there are several disconnects. There is huge disconnect between India’s education programs and skilling programs. There is disconnect www.governancetoday.co.in
between India’s skilling programs and industrial and other employability situation. There is disconnect between India’s education, skilling, community, industry, and the people at large. All these disconnects have led to a very peculiar situation in the country. When we started the national level skilling program in 2008, the former Prime Minister, Dr Man Mohan Singh announced about the National Skill Development program for the first time. Subsequently, it was created in 2009. A target was set for 500 million work forces to be trained by 2022. However, even after 8 years, not even 50 million out of the target of 500 million have been trained. With this backdrop, we are now looking at the skilling programs for India with a new vision. In an attempt to organize the whole skills jurisdiction, we have now a functional Ministry of Skills & Entrepreneurship, the National Skill Development Corporation and some 40 sector skill councils including the Domestic Work Sector Skill Council (DWSSC). Sector Skill Council for the Domestic Workers is a recent step. It started with some primitive ideas and efforts few years back, to organized the domestic workers in the country to convert domestic work to a profession. Several organizations got involved in establishing a separate Sector Skill Council for Domestic Workers. The 20 million Domestic Workers in India make a very big constituent; creating a huge employment opportunity and a huge source of livelihood. Such a big sector cannot be overlooked. Thus, initiated the thoughts towards organizing the sector through a separate Sector Skill Council. Ministry of Labour & Employment tried to create the Sector Skill Council and International Labour Organization (ILO) started taking the leadership. My involvement started at that point of time, while representing Prayas. Prayas is a large
organization with 246 centres, 9 states, and 800 employees and has done several programs for Domestic Workers. As part of activities of Prayas, we were running programs for Domestic Workers during 2008-09. Prayas has been a partner of ILO, as well as the Delhi Government, and the Ministry of Labour, for several purposes including training and uplifting the socio-developmental condition of Domestic Workers. That paved path for Prayas to the programs for Domestic Workers which were led by ILO in the beginning of 2015. Prayas, subsequently, became the lead agency and for the first time in India in 2015, an autonomous body called DWSSC was formed. Not only the training providers who have joined us in this mission, but the trade unions, other
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countries like Germany, Korea and some others have their trained workforce as high as 80 to 85 per cent. Even in China, this is nearly 50 to 60 per cent. Most of the developed and developing countries have their skilled workforce as high as between 40 to 90 per cent, whereas, we are standing at a 5 per cent mark
stakeholders, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, all came under the umbrella for creating DWSSC, ultimately for bringing in changes in the livelihood situations, in skilling programs, and other activities relating to Domestic Workers.
How does the Council respond to the needs of the Domestic Workers in giving their dues?
Sector Skill Council is like an extension of Ministry of Entrepreneurship & Skill Development, a body connected to the ministry through NSDC. The purpose of the Council coming into operation is to find out the various dimensions of the sector, at the first place. The council needs to work on the gaps between skilling and the sectors requirements, to survey the labour management situation and skilling gap and to create relevant programs with the help of training providers and different stakeholders for reducing the skill gap.
What are the skill sets that are to be recognized and how have you planned to bring in standardization? Also, what are the industries which can be engaged in? DWSSC is the only Sector Skill Council which has no industry base. But, every household that provides employment to Domestic Workers is like an industry. From that point of view, this is a unique Sector Skill Council, having a different community base and different employment opportunities. Placement agencies in this sector have also played havoc with the system, which have turned out mostly to human traffickers, exploitations, misuse of power. Only trade unions have been protecting the interests of the DW community so far and that is how the trade unions have become the partners of the council now. So, on one hand, the job
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of the council is to protect such rights, and on the other hand, the core work of the council is to create national occupational standards, qualification packages and various job roles connected to the Domestic Workers in India. So far, we have been able to create 4 full time job roles including, house-keeping, housekeeping cum cooking, child care, elderly care. We are trying now to set up pre-natal and post natal care services. The council is all set to start programs in these 4 to 5 service areas. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kaushal Vikash Yojna ( PMKVY)-2 has been launched. DWSSC, in this attempt, has already been associated with 300 training providers across the country. Over 220 training providers got affiliated to us. Meanwhile, Government of India changed its entire policy and systems. Accordingly, SMART- a common portal for all training providers across the country is launched by Government through NSDC. All training providers are supposed to upload their details on SMART and get them registered, following which, a third party assessment is to be made by Quality Council of India (QCI) in order to get accredited. The final accreditation is to be done by the council. The accredited training providers can then take up the relevant course, however, they need to follow and maintain national standards and the national level curriculum created by the council. They also have to undertake the training programs of the trainers. The training centre’ infrastructure, capacity, equipments to be provided in a job role, everything has to be standardized. The conditions have been made a little stringent to ensure quality and success. Earlier, under PMKVY-1, there were 13000 training providers. But now with such stringent standardization attempt, majority of them do not qualify. Under PMKVY-2, there are not even 1000 training 26 I February 2017
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We are trying to identify and locate those kinds of industry, equipment or gadget that can be connected to the domestic work situations. There may be new job roles including gardening or driving, etc. to relate to house hold services. The national Domestic Workers Skill Summit 2017 is being organized to focus upon those stakeholders who have not yet been covered. The summit will provide them the platform. providers who have registered, even after one month time of the announcements.
Awareness and advocacy are the tools. What is your take on this vis-Ă -vis DW sector?
That is where, organizing this particular Domestic Workers Skill Summit 2017 in Fabruary is important. We are trying to identify and locate those kinds of industry, equipment or gadget that can be connected to the domestic work situations. There may be new job roles including gardening or
driving, etc. to relate to house hold services. The national Domestic Workers Skill Summit 2017 is being organized to focus upon those stakeholders who have not yet been covered. The summit will provide them the platform. There are stakeholders like placement agencies, training providers, NGOs, trade unions, government departments, international agencies, and app based services for domestic help among others. All these programs like app based services are futuristic. We have a partner in London, who has created a brilliant app under which they take the services of nearly 3000 domestic workers and they cover about 30000 households. We have similar agencies in India as well. We want this entire program to be aspirational. Because, the biggest challenge for this sector is the mindset of the employers. In a domestic set up, nobody wants these Domestic Workers to be independent. Their level of aspiration is going to curtail their activities. One needs to think about their working hours, their weekly leaves, minimum wages and insurance. For all these, nobody is prepared, since it all go against the interest of employers.
What are the reform plans at policy level, for the Domestic workforce or the labour market organisations? So far, the trade unions have been the lead people in this sector. And nothing was organised. Secondly, we have been trying to develop a national policy. In Jharkhand, there is already a law in this regard is in force, which is the Placement Agencies and Domestic Workers Regulation Act, 2016. Maharashtra and Chattishgarh also have similar laws. There are some DW Boards as well, which are functional in this area. Recently, ESI (Employee State Insurance) services have been extended to limited areas of Domestic Work. This service is seen in Hyderabad, www.governancetoday.co.in
Delhi, and Ranchi, however, this has a very limited presence so far. So, now there is an effort to have insurance, to have the mechanisms of protection, minimum wages for Domestic Workers and more things are in the process. We are at a threshold now, when the entire DW sector is getting a fillip towards becoming a profession. DWSSC expects to provide this leadership. However, it is a long shot for now, and is going to take time.
How to break the isolation of the community & enable them to be more accessible & come under shared networks & platforms, as conceived by the DWSSC? Mobilising, creating awareness, outreach programs in different communities, trying to access as many stakeholders as possible, going out to Resident Welfare Associations and to other welfare associations, reaching out to other residential areas and conglomerates, causing awareness in media, all these are required to be done in this line.
Do you still see any role for the unions?
There is a strong view that has been ruling so far is that, only the rights of Domestic Workers will be emphasized and not the duties. It is going to be counterproductive. After all, we are in the process of creating better employment. So, a balanced approach is required. For that matter only, the trade unions or the placement agencies could not have led it and the leadership role ultimately falls on a neutral body like DWSSC.
How to bring balance between skills for economic or knowledge development and skills for poverty alleviation? Skills which bring better economy are the requirement of the industry. That is already there and cannot be overlooked. On the other side, when the individuals are skilled, and the change that comes in their lives, adds to their productivity. It adds empowerment to their lives, to their income, to their lifestyle, and brings about a basic change in their personality
and lifestyle. So, actually, it is one in the same. Only there are two ways to look at. It should be a connected situation in the end.
How do you see the work in future? Is there any plan towards having international engagements or cooperation in this line?
Sushma Swaraj, the minister for External Affairs, Government of India is very keen on strengthening this sector. This is her wish that the Indian women, Indian skilled caretakers, child care providers, cooks, etc should occupy the international space, which is presently dominated by Philippinos and others. Even adding the new skill area like pre-natal and postnatal care is a suggestion that has come from the Minister. we are certainly looking for International opportunities. In fact, we held a program, in which, we had two British partners who came here and trained our domestic workers for their placement in the UK. Prayas too has developed an international centre in Ranchi.
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GOVERNANCE WATCH
National MSME Policy to be formulated for the First Time in India Dr. Prabhat Kumar, former Cabinet Secretary and Chairman One Member Committee for formulating National MSME Policy today presented its report to Shri Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The One Member Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Prabhat Kumar was constituted by the Ministry of MSME on 31.12.2015 to help in formulating National MSME Policy. The country does not have an MSME policy till date.
Rural Roads Target well within reach- Ministry of Rural Development Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY), a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development will achieve the annual targeted length of 48,812 kilometers of rural roads by 31st March, 2017. As on 27.01.2017, a total of 32,963kms. has been completed which is 67.53% of the annual target.This translates to 111 kms. of roads getting constructed every day. From April to August, 2016 PMGSY had achieved an average per day construction of 139 kms. per day and therefore by 31st March, 2017 it will achieve the annual targeted length of 48,812 kms. Another major achievement has been the focus of using “green� technologies and non-conventional materials (waste plastic, cold mix, geo-textiles, fly ash, copper and iron slag etc.) in construction of PMGSY roads because these are locally available, low cost, non-polluting, labour friendly and fast construction technologies / materials. In the first 14 years of PMGSY (from 2000 to 2014), only 806.93 kms.of roads were constructed using these technologies / materials. In the last 2 years (2014-2016), 2,634.02 kms. of PMGSY roads have been constructed using these technologies /materials. In the present year (2016-17) till date (27.01.2017), 3,000 kms.have been constructed using these technologies / materials.
Ministry of Railways Signs Joint Venture Agreement with the Govt. of Jharkhand A Joint Venture Agreement was signed between Ministry of Railways and Government of Jharkhand for developing railway infrastructure in the State. Government of Jharkhand has initially identified 3 projects viz., Namkum - Kandra, Giridih - Parasnath-Madhuban, Tori - Chatra Rail Line covering a length of 222 km at a cost of Rs. 2150 Crore for taking up through the proposed JV Company after establishing their viability, bankability and financial closure. Governments of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat have already signed JV agreement with Ministry of Railways. Government of Jharkhand with 51% equity is the 9th State which had agreed to form a Joint Venture Company with the Ministry of Railways. 28 I February 2017
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Water level of 91 major Reservoirs of the Country goes down by Two Per cent The World’s largest and unique biometrics based identification programme with a real time online authentication infrastructure – the Aadhaar has been recognized in the recent UN Report on World Social Situation, 2016 as a developmental tool with “tremendous potential to foster inclusion by giving all people, including the poorest and most marginalized, an official identity” and a wonderful “critical step in enabling fairer access of the people to government benefits and services”, thereby enhancing social and economic distributive justice leaving no one behind. “Aadhaar generation has crossed the 111+ crore mark. It’s a great achievement towards inclusion of everyone into national development fabric. It has come a long way in less than six and a half years of its journey from being a unique identification programme to transform itself into a critical development tool of public–centric good governance and targeted delivery of services/benefits/subsidies Aadhaar generation as on 31stMay 2014 was 63.22 crore with a per day enrolment/update trend of about 3-4 lakh which remained around 5-6 lakh per day till October 2016.However, since demonetization the Aadhaar enrolment and update requests are in the range of 7-8 lakhs per day.
App named ‘SEZ India’ launched by Commerce Ministry A Mobile app named “SEZ India” has been launched by the Commerce Secretary on 06.1.2017. SEZ Division, Department of Commerce under its broader e-Governance initiative i.e. SEZ Online System, has developed mobile app for Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Commerce Secretary launched the app and mentioned that the App would help the SEZ Units and Developers to find information easily and track their transactions on SEZ Online System. Now the SEZ Developers & Units can file all their transactions digitally through SEZ Online system and track the status on the go through the SEZ India mobile app. The app is available on Android Platform for use by SEZ Developers, Units, officials and others.
Demonetization resulted in decline in Terror Funding, Hawala Trade, Human Trafficking, says Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Union Law, Justice and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said the government’s November 8 decision of demonetization had resulted in sharp decline in terror funding, hawala trade, supari killings and human trafficking, particularly of young girls as sex slaves, mainly from Nepal and the North East. Indicating that the government would not hesitate to take steps to widen the tax base, he said that development was not possible without enlarging the tax kitty. ``There is only about Rs. Five lakh crore in the kitty of Finance Minister ArunJaitley for development and it needs to grow,’’ he said. www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 29
GOVERNANCE WATCH
IIMs to be declared as Institutions of National Importance The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Indian Institute of Management(IIM) Bill, 2017, under which the IIMswould be declared as Institutions of National Importance which will enable them togrant degrees to their students.
Following are the salient features of the Bill:
i. IIMs can grant degrees to their students ii. The Bill provides for complete autonomy to the Institutions, combined with adequate accountability. iii. Management of these Institutions would be Board driven, with the Chairperson and Director of an Institution which will be selected by the Board. iv. A greater participation of experts and alumni in the Board is amongst otherimportant features of the Bill. v. Provision has also been made for inclusion of women and members from Scheduled Castes/Tribes in the Board. vi. The Bill also provides for periodic review of the performance of Institutions by independent agencies, and placing the results of the same on public domain. vii. The Annual Report of the Institutions will be placed in the Parliament and CAG will be auditing their accounts. viii. There is also a provision of Coordination Forum of IIMs as an advisory body.
Swachh Andhra: Ministry takes stock The Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri ParameswaranIyer, made a one day visit to Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh, to assess the progress of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) in the State. The State Government apprised that a few districts in the State are on their way to becoming open defecation free (ODF) within the next few months. The District Collectors shared many good practices such as emphasis on ODF achievement rather than focus only on individual toilets, creation of district brands (such as Atmagaurav in Nellore), deployment of Nigrani Committees in villages, engagement of natural leaders, involvement of students, involvement of SHGs etc. It was discussed that a mechanism may be put in place for strengthening grass root level motivators and engaging communities more closely. An eye also has to be kept on technology of toilets. The CEO of SERP (Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty) also participated in the discussions and shared views on how women SHGs can be involved more closely with Swachh Bharat.
India’s largest bank teams up with the nation’s largest Warship INS Vikramaditya, the largest warship and latest aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, has a strength of over 1500 personnel. A versatile national capability and a full-fledged township by herself, the ship has a new acquisition – an ATM machine installed onboard by the nation’s largest bank and banking network, the State Bank of India. The facilities offered by the State Bank of India to the ship include cash withdrawals, generation of mini-statements, access to bank balance details and change of PIN numbers. In the near future, the facility will be upgraded to a recycler machine with a cash deposit facility. Additionally, facilities like cash transfer, Card-to-Card transfer, Credit Card payment, mobile number registration and updation would also be available. 30 I February 2017
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Month-long awareness drive on fuel conservation Saksham 2017 The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said that the draft norms on fuel efficiency for heavy duty vehicles will be released on 1st April, 2017. The Minister made the announcement during his address at the Saksham 2017, month long awareness drive on fuel conservation, at Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi. The BS IV fuel will be available across the country from April, 2017 and that the Ministry is already planning and working on bringing in BS VI fuel by 2020.He added there are more than 15 Cr two wheelers and more than 3 Cr three wheelers currently on roads in India. By turning off vehicle engine at red light stops of traffic signal, about 2 % of fuel can be saved which translates to INR 14000 Cr of saving for the country.
India Signs Financing Agreement with World Bank for US$ 48 Million for “Nagaland Health Project” A financing agreement for IDA credit of US$ 48 million (equivalent) for the ‘Nagaland Health Project’ was signed with the World Bank. The Objectives of the project are to improve health services and increase their utilisation by communities in targeted locations in Nagaland. Communities in targeted locations will benefit from project activities at the community and health facility levels while the population of the state as a whole will benefit from improvements in higher-level facilities as well as system-wide investments. The project will directly benefit about 600,000 people. It will support and complement existing systems and mechanisms involving communities under the National Health Mission.
Health Ministry to launch screening and control program for five noncommunicable diseases Non-Communicable diseases (NCDs) which are Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) such as heart attacks and stroke, Diabetes, Chronic Respiratory Diseases (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases and Asthma) and Cancer inter alia account for over 60% of all mortality in India. Of these, nearly 55% are premature mortality. This imposes a financial and social cost on families and the country. According to the World Economic Forum, India stands to lose $ 4.58 trillion (Rs 311.94 trillion between 2012 and 2030 due to non-communicable diseases. As part of the National Health Mission, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is launching population based prevention, screening and control programme for five common non-communicable diseases, namely Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cancers of oral cavity, breast and cervix. In the first phase, the population based screening component will be rolled out in 100 districts in 32 states and UTs with about 1000 sub-centres undertaking screening before March 31st of this year. www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 31
GLOBAL FOOTPRINT
SKILLS RECOGNITION FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS ACROSS BORDERS
D
omestic work is an increasingly diverse sector with a varied and globalized workforce that is often viewed as unskilled. The similarity between paid domestic work and the unpaid work performed by women in their own homes has led to the undervaluation of domestic work and is generally reflected in the low wages earned. The overall integration of women in the labour market has shifted the burden of care onto other women from poorer countries or to historically disadvantaged groups – such as minority ethnic groups, indigenous peoples, low-caste and low-income groups – willing to accept lower wages. Instead of re-evaluating
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the household division of labour and changing public policies, this transfer system reinforces the view that domestic work is women’s work. This brief shows how skills development programmes for domestic workers play an important role in reinforcing the view among workers and employers that domestic work is real work, improving working conditions, employers’ satisfaction, and empowering domestic workers, including Migrant Domestic Workers (MDW). A number of skills and vocational training programmes have been developed to prepare women and men for the tasks and functions that are expected of them in the domestic work
sector. These were set upby government institutions, trade unions, recruitment and placement agencies, and private educational and training institutions in countries of origin, transit and destination. Unsurprisingly, these programmes face a number of challenges. Domestic work is becoming increasingly complex. The growing share of the world’s population aged over 65 means a spike in the number of people needing longterm care. As a result, outpatient care in homes is overtaking traditional hospital care. This in turn is leading to task-shifts, with nurses taking the role of doctors, and migrant domestic workers taking the role of unregulated nurses. This dynamic should be better recognized in pre-departure skills development programmes and on arrival, anticipating the need for domestic work in the broader context of the care economy. The ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), defines domestic work broadly as “work performed in or for a household or households”. This work may include tasks such as cleaning the house, cooking, washing and ironing clothes, www.governancetoday.co.in
caring for the children, the elderly and/or the sick in the family, gardening, guarding the house, driving for the family, even taking care of household pets.
Domestic work is undervalued and underpaid: Mutually reinforcing assumptions
DOMESTIC WORK IS ASSOCIATED WITH WOMEN’S (UNPAID) WORK
Challenges • Programmes do not recognize variations in the level and specialization that make up the domestic work sector. In fact, domestic workers are typically asked to juggle tasks with limited levels of complexity, such as ironing and cooking, together with more complex work such as taking care of the sick, the elderly and the disabled. • Programmes typically address only the technical/ vocational dimension of domestic work, such as (learning how to operate household appliances and using detergents. However domestic work is largely relational and ILO research shows that transversal skills (communication, organizational capacity, predisposition towards work) are more in demand by employers than vocational skills. Transversal skills are rarely factored into skills’ building programmes and when they are, usually avoid the labour dimension such as learning to negotiate working and living terms and conditions with employers. • Programmes generally lack a womanworker empowerment perspective. Employers prefer obedient and docile workers who are willing to accept multifunctional work arrangements and respond to their requests at all times of the day. • Programmes are not linked to effective labour matching in countries of origin, and destination. Skills mismatch leads to “care drain” in countries of origin and to “deskilling” in countries of destination. Both of these reduce the development potential of migrants and
DOMESTIC WORK IS PERCEIVED AS UNSKILLED WORK
DOMESTIC WORK IS TRADITIONALLY PERFORMED BY WOMEN FROM DISADVANTAGED GROUPS
Recognizing the expanding portfolio of MDWs: linking wage increases to skills level and complexity their countries of origin and destination. • Programmes do not address information asymmetries between employers and workers in countries of origin and destination which often results in frustrations and could ultimately transform into labour disputes. • The growth in the intra-regional migration of domestic workers, especially in Asia, Latin America and Africa, is not matched by regional standards to recognize the skills of men and women in this sector, and to promote their “upskilling”, most importantly on returning to their countries of origin.
Challenges Skills: “Skills are defined as the ability to carry out the tasks and duties of a given job. On the labour market, they are the main asset of an individual and their value can be measured by the ability to find and retain work and by the level of earnings.” (ILO 2006). There are two dimensions to skills: i. skill level as a function of the complexity and range of the
tasks and duties a worker can perform; and ii. skill specialization: defined by the field of knowledge required, the tools and machinery used, the materials worked on or with, as well as the kinds of goods and services produced (ILO 2014). Skills recognition: “Acknowledgment of an individual’s skills and qualifications by employers, education/ training institutions and national authorities” (ILO 2006). Considering the complex tasks and responsibilities assumed by many domestic workers, the ILO’s Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR), has questioned the classification of domestic work as “unskilled” work”. One way of overcoming this bias is to link wage percentage increases – above the minimum wage – to education and skill categories. Some countries such as Argentina, have addressed this issue by setting minimum rates for five categories of domestic work with qualified household workers benefiting from rates above the level of the general national
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minimum. In Italy the number of categories of domestic work has been increased from three to eight. An ILO study in India pointed to the importance of domestic workers’ organizations in linking skills to bargaining for better wages as otherwise employers are not willing to pay higher wages in return for better skills.
Developing and recognizing the vocational and transversal skills of DWs
Employers are increasingly seeking workers who possess a mix of transversal and vocational or technical skills. For example, employers look for domestic workers who can clean the house, use various household appliances, manage budgets, take care of the elderly, children and persons with disabilities without close supervision. These specialized skills and know-how needed to perform specific duties or tasks are known as vocational skills. Transversal skills are core employability skills and reflect a person’s ability to learn, communicate well, engage in constructive and healthy teamwork dynamics and demonstrate creativity and problem-solving aptitudes. In the case of 34 I February 2017
domestic work, these skills entail inspiring trust, possessing good communication skills, and speaking a language that is understood by the employer. Attitudinal skills are a subset of transversal skills. They describe a worker’s attitude towards work, such as initiative, confidence, willingness, perseverance, determination etc. For domestic workers, these include flexibility (time and functional flexibility) in responding to employers’ demands. Transversal skills are rarely certified or formally recognized in domestic workers’ professionalization programmes. Skills training programmes often only capture the technical/ vocational dimension of domestic work, such as learning how to operate household appliances. Today however, transversal skills (communication, organizational capacity, predisposition towards work) are more in demand by employers than vocational skills. This is not surprising considering how domestic work is a largely relational function. Proficiency in a common language is a key transversal skill valued by employers. Language is the basis for any communication between worker and employer,
but also a significant decision point when considering the educational development that their children could derive from interacting with the worker. Polish employers, for example, avoid hiring Ukrainian women to care for their children, due to the “bad accent problem” that can influence a child’s language development at a critical age. The opposite occurs in Jordan where employers prefer Filipina workers who have “superior English language skills”. Trustworthiness is another transversal skill that is sought by employers, particularly those who have young children. Trustworthiness is a subjective quality, a relational attribute, and is often used by employers to mean that the worker is “hardworking”, “honest”, and “reliable”. Overall, employers’ narratives suggest a general need for attitudinal skills reflective of the largely affective dimension of domestic work. These sought after skills are generally not recognized or certified. Caring labour is a relational occupation requiring the worker to attend to the emotional as well as physical care of the beneficiary. However, the “familiar” and sometimes intimate dimension of www.governancetoday.co.in
domestic work can also cripple a worker’s ability to bargain for higher wages and better working conditions. Domestic workers with caring responsibilities often have difficulty commodifying their emotions towards the employer and his/her children and bargaining for better wages. Unless the importance of these affective, relational, and nonvocational skills, is acknowledged and taken into consideration by career development programmes, they will continue to constitute a deadweight loss in any valuation of domestic work.
Argentina’s vocational training for (migrant) domestic workers Argentina’s vocational training for domestic workers is an innovative practice that reflects occupational profiles making up the sector, as well as the vocational and attitudinal skills of workers. In Argentina, qualified household workers (five categories are specified) are entitled to wage increases above the general minimum wage. In 2006, the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MTEySS) embarked on a series of vocational training programmes to formalize and professionalize the domestic work sector for both nationals domestic workers and MDWs. Since then, more than 19,000 domestic workers have participated in vocational trainings through local government, NGOs and domestic worker unionaffiliated training schools, including the UPACP-OSPAC. Course participants have emphasized the importance of the training for those employed in the
sector, explaining how they had become more organized in their workload management and in their performance as a result of their participation in the course. Moreover, participants were more confident of their ability to find opportunities for up-skilling. The objective is for participants to acquire a combination of transversal and vocational skills as well as knowledge about their rights and the benefits of joining a union. The manuals used in the vocational programme were developed with the assistance of the European-Union funded Global Action Programme on Migrant Domestic Workers and Their Families This experience is important not only because it operationalizes the vocational (instrumental dimension) and transversal (emotional dimension) skills of domestic work, but also because it emphasizes validating skills, and upskilling rather than qualification recognition alone. Employers prefer workers certain attitudinal skills – who are willing to accept multifunctional work arrangements – over specialization. In fact, overspecialization is seen as undesirable. MDWs respond to needs that frequently extend beyond the reach of the household, like supporting employers in running their private enterprises (shops or restaurants). The preference for domestic workers who will accept multifunctional work arrangements is tied to another preference (not skills-related) for live-in arrangements. Live-in arrangements ensure the worker’s on-call availability. Employers of
live-in domestic workers and those who hire live-out domestic workers typically have distinct household characteristics and needs. The top reason quoted by employers for employing live-in domestic workers was due to the presence of household members requiring 24-hour care. Safety concerns were also mentioned as a top reason for not considering a live-out worker. This tendency is reinforced by orientation programmes that build the subservience of workers. Instead of addressing migrants’ rights, pre-departure orientation programmes “attempt to regulate women’s dispositions at work…as well as regulate their sexuality” by emphasizing “traits of self-sacrifice, hard-work, and religiosity.”
A preference for “mouldable workers” “Generally, they prefer them [MDWs] with no experience. In this case, she will be raw material… You can teach them your own way, in cleaning, in dealing with the children. You know, each country has its own way of living. If the domestic worker has served in other countries, she will give us trouble here… - Recruitment agency manager in Jordan. “The ones that have experience, they want you to behave according to their wishes, instead of behaving according to yours.” - MDW employer (female) in Jordan.
Improving skills matching in countries of origin and destination
The lack of coherence between employment and labour migration
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policies can result in inefficiencies in the labour market. This is exacerbated by the absence of workers’ and employers’ organizations, for example in making effective use of labour market information systems, and planning and improving education, vocational training and lifelong learning to ensure skills for employability. Care drain, the deskilling of migrant women through their integration in the domestic work sector, and the absence of regional competency frameworks for domestic workers are evidence of labour market deficiencies that reduce the development potential of migrants, and of countries of origin and destination.
Live-in vs. Live-out: Flexibility as a valued attitudinal skill “The foreigner comes far to look for employment, she doesn’t really have a home in South Africa. You’ll get ladies who come here and they’ve got teaching qualifications, and they come here and they’ll happily be a nanny because they see it as their earning an income that they can send home to their kids. We just find that they’re more service oriented. They acknowledge that they’re being paid for a service and they’re happy to deliver that service. They are very open, they are easy to communicate with. They never complain”. - Placement agency in South Africa “The salary of someone who works by the hour is more expensive. But, in this case, you don’t have to pay [recruitment] fees upfront, and you don’t have to pay for the residency and work permit. So, [hiring a live-in or a freelancer] ends up costing the same at the end...it has nothing to do with cost. I cannot rely on [a free-lance MDW] who may or may not show up... the free-lancer works for different families, and she is not fully committed to me”. - Employer in Lebanon
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Preventing care drain in countries of origin Despite the significance of remittance earnings to countries of origin, there is growing concern about the potentially negative impact of migration on the country’s human capital development, generating a “brain drain”, a “care drain” and a “mismatch between skills and local jobs.” DOLE data show that five out of the six first occupation categories of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) deployed in 2010-2014 are on the domestic hard-to-fill lists for the decade 2010-2020; nursing professionals, care workers and cleaners, and caregivers are among these. To prevent a care drain from poor to rich countries in the nursing sector, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed a global code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel in 2010. A similar code could be considered for the domestic work sector.
Preventing the deskilling of women migrants Skilled and highly-skilled women migrants often end up in occupations that are not commensurate with their qualifications and experience, resulting in their “deskilling” or “brain waste”. Deskilling is prevalent among migrant women in the domestic sector and can be the source of a loss of self-confidence that can negatively impact their career choices and career advancement. Almost 18 percent of Ukrainian women domestic workers in Poland, for example, have a Masters’ degree while 25.3 per cent have a Bachelor’s degree. Zimbabwean women migrants in South Africa are also more likely to be working in “lowskilled” and lowpaying jobs in the agricultural, security, hospitality, DW sectors and as hawkers, while the majority have completed secondary and tertiary education. In 2015, Uganda concluded an agreement to place up to a million college-level women and men
in Saudi households to perform functions as diverse as cleaning, caring for children, gardening and acting as security guards.
Developing and recognizing MDW skills across borders Given the diversity of MDW backgrounds and skill sets, it is also not uncommon for poor women from rural areas, with very limited exposure to modern household amenities, to be overwhelmed on arriving to their place of employment. It may also be difficult for migrant workers who do participate in orientation and skills programmes to see their skills recognized both in destination countries, where their skills may not be certified, and upon returning to their home countries, where there are little chances for the acknowledgement of their newly acquired skills. This situation generates “missed opportunities in capitalizing on the wealth of new learning and skills the workers bring back,” impacting negatively on the countries’ “capacity to build a skilled and qualified workforce” Pre-departure orientation programmes MDW orientations provide a taste of the work and life experience that prospective workers can expect at destination. If designed well, they can build a solid foundation for the empowerment and protection of MDWs across their journey. The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Cambodia – four countries with the common goal of increasing migrant deployment levels – have different approaches to managing pre-departure programmes. Programmes in the Philippines and Sri Lanka are public-private partnerships, and in Nepal and Cambodia they are run exclusively by recruitment agencies. The depth and breadth of predeparture programmes also vary across countries, ranging from one to twenty-one days of training. The effectiveness of predeparture programmes is often www.governancetoday.co.in
challenged on the basis of their management structure, design, and geographical reach. The interests of recruitment agencies, which are often in the drivers’ seat of these programmes, are irreconcilable with the interests of migrant workers and as a result are less about upholding the rights of migrant domestic workers than they are about teaching workers to be acquiescent in their engagement with employers. Moreover, coordination between government agencies at different levels is lacking,which results in gaps and overlaps in multistakeholder training programmes. The programmes are often generic in design and their outreach is limited to urban centres, highlighting the need for context, and task-adaptive (care, cleaning, cooking etc.) trainings with wider outreach.
Civil society organizations also leverage skills programmes as capacity and livelihoods strategy for refugees who often find occupational niching in the domestic work sector. The Refuge Egypt, for example, began in 1987 when two teachers from All Saint’s Cathedral began a small outreach crafts project with refugees in Cairo. In the years since, the programme has expanded to cover a training and placement service for refugees in the domestic work sector. Refugee Egypt runs an intensive two-week cleaning course and an orientation class. Almost refugees graduate every month. A certificate is delivered to each participant. More established programmes include Argentina’s training for household workers (see above) and Italy’s regional training programme for family caregivers.
At destination: Civil Society Skills Training
Stages of the proposed skills recognition process for return migrants
At destination, MDWs benefit from sporadic exposure to civil society-run skills programmes. Civil societyrun skills projects operate as a “social space” for the women to come together to meet their compatriots in similar employment.”
Assemble the portfolio of evidence upon return Map to RMCS and national competency standards Finalize portfolio with support of an advisor Assemble the portfolio of evidence upon return Assess the portfolio and
verify decision Recognize the new skills of returned migrant workers
Facilitating the intra-regional mobility of domestic workers Eighty per cent of intraregional migration flows are cross-border. The migration of domestic workers across the Indonesia-Malaysia, Ukraine-Poland, Zimbabwe-South Africa, and Argentina-Paraguay corridor is a case in point. Within Asia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has put in place Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) to facilitate intra-regional mobility by guiding the skills assessment and recognition of several professional categories.While intraregional mobility for “unskilled” workers is much higher than for skilled occupations, MRAs for domestic workers are hard to establish given the difficulty of demonstrating equivalencies.
Promoting the upward mobility of returning domestic workers At destination, migrant workers acquire new skills and competencies, including languages, workplace skills, and even entrepreneurial skills.
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The integration of returning migrants and the recognition of their work experience is important to increase their prospect for employment, while avoiding deskilling, or employment in the national domestic work sector where wages are low and labour and social protection lacking. Support services are also important to aid migrants in their employment search when they return to their home countries. To help countries make the most of the skills of returning migrants, the International Labour Organization has drafted guidelines for skills recognition of returning migrants. The guidelines are for use by government agencies in countries of origin and destination, national agencies responsible for skills’ recognition, local agencies and non-governmental organizations, national employers and workers’ organizations and private employment services.30
Proposed skills recognition process for return migrants Examples of how national authorities are managing the skills’ development and reintegration of return migrants include the experience of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in the Philippines, and Sri Lanka’s Bureau of Foreign Employment. In the Philippines, TESDA manages the assessment and certification of competencies of Filipino Overseas Workers, maintains a database to link the experience and competencies of returning migrants to prospective employers, and provides support services through the Permanent Returning Overseas Filipino Workers Network (PeRSON). The country’s National Labour Migration Policy (NLMP) in Sri Lanka called on the State to facilitate the return and reintegration of migrant workers by creating opportunities for “skill transfer, productive employment, and conflict-free social integration”. 38 I February 2017
The main focus of the policy is on “low skilled” workers, especially women domestic workers who have limited capacity, knowledge and access to information and services. The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) is entrusted with providing services to prospective in-service and returnee migrants and their family members. SLBFE facilitates regular entrepreneurship training, assistance for re-employment and bridging skill gaps, and recognition of skills through “Recognition of Prior Learning” and certification.
Recommendations • Skills’ programmes should strike the right balance between leveraging and recognizing existing skills, on the one hand, and skilling, on the other. Leveraging existing skills will reinforce workers’ and employers’ recognition of the professional value of the work performed by women in households broadly. • Skills development programmes must account for the increasingly varied nature of the domestic work sector, both in terms of the skill sets represented, training and experience, and the qualities that employers are seeking. • Transversal skills, core employability skills reflecting ability to learn, effectively communicate and problem-solve, should be recognized and certified through professionalization programmes. Failure to recognize these competencies contributes to the under valuation of domestic work overall with implications for employee wages and the quality of care administered to employers. • Skills’ programmes should be grounded in fundamental principles and rights at work, rather than teaching docility, and receive the support of public institutions or the social partners to ensure
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•
•
•
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compliance with rights-based curricula. In that regard, developing participatory and learner-centred predeparture trainings, prioritizing MDW rights and developing more specific curricula for destination countries should be considered. The classification of domestic work as “unskilled work” does not reflect the complexity of the sector today. To address this, wage percentage increases above the minimum wage should be tied to education and skill categories. Effective labour matching must be undertaken to prevent “Care drain” and the “deskilling” of migrant women, which effectively reduce the development potential of migrants, and of countries of origin and destination. Recognizing the gendered nature of the sector, women trainers and post-training support with a gender-sensitive curriculum should be offered. Additionally, coordination with consular services, government agencies, and placement agencies in countries of destination on training and orientation programmes could be considered to help support the integration of migrant workers in the society and labour market of host societies. Until MRAs are recognized and reflected in the national legal systems, bilateral agreements between governments remain the “most reliable infrastructure for cross-border skills development in the short term”. Governments should provide plans for reintegrating MDWs into larger plans of social cohesion that recognize these workers’ abilities upon return. Country-sponsored programmes should centre on skill transferability and productive employment to avoid MDWs deskilling. Used from ILO(International Labour Organisation) Research Series, written by Marie-Jose Tayah www.governancetoday.co.in
www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 39
GREEN GOVERNANCE
SKILLS FOR GREEN JOBS
I
Dr Praveen Saxena
ndia has been keen to attempt to work towards a low carbon emission pathway while simultaneously endeavouring to meet all the developmental challenges. The Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) is taking forward the Prime Minister’s vision of a sustainable lifestyle and climate justice to protect the poor and vulnerable from adverse impacts of climate change. India’s INDC centres around its policies and programmes on promotion of
40 I February 2017
A green job is one that helps bring about and maintain a transition to environmentally sustainable forms of production and consumption. The green jobs help to protect ecosystems by reducing energy, materials, and water consumption through high efficiency strategies. Dr Praveen Saxena, the Chief Executive Officer of the Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGB), further presents a brief on skills needs for new occupations, new skills for greening existing occupations and retraining needs in sectors undergoing structural changes as a result of policy implementation, and introduction of greening technologies and practices. clean energy, especially renewable energy, enhancement of energy efficiency, development of less carbon intensive and resilient urban centres, promotion of waste to wealth, safe, smart and sustainable green transportation network, abatement of pollution and India’s efforts to enhance carbon sink through creation of forest and tree cover. India, at COP 21 in Paris, declared a voluntary goal of reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33–35%, over 2005
levels by 2030. India has adopted several ambitious measures for clean and renewable energy, energy efficiency in various sectors of industries, achieving lower emission intensity in the automobile and transport sector, non-fossil based electricity generation and building sector based on energy conservation. Thrust on Renewable Energy, Promotion of Clean Energy, Enhancing Energy Efficiency, Developing Climate resilient Urban Centres and Sustainable green www.governancetoday.co.in
transport network are some of the measures for achieving this goal. It is recognised in the INDC that Renewable energy sources are a strategic national resource. Harnessing these sources will put India on the path to a cleaner environment, energy independence and, a stronger economy. The renewable energy technologies contribute to better air quality, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, curb global warming, add jobs to the economy and, protect environmental values. India’s share of non-fossil fuel in the total installed capacity is projected to change from 30% in2015 to about 40% by 2030. On normative terms the CO emission abatement achieved from the renewable power installed capacity was 84.92million tons CO eq. / year. The renewable power target of 175 GW by 2022 will result in abatement of 326.22 million tons of CO eq./ year. India is one of the few countries where forest and tree cover has increased in recent years and the total forest and tree cover amounts to 24% of the geographical area of the country. Over the past two decades progressive national forestry legislations and policies of India have transformed India’s forests into a net sink of CO2. With its focus on sustainable forest management, aforestation and regulating diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose, India plans to increase its carbon sinks. The Indian INDC brings a huge responsibility on the country and equally big opportunity for green business and poses skilled man
Total Installed Capacity Renewable 15% Nuclear 2% Hydro 14%
Thermal 69% Thermal
Hydro
power requirement. India has a Total Installed Capacity of 309,581 MW (309 GW) which includes 214,003 MW from Thermal, 43,133 MW from Hydro, 5,780 MW from Nuclear and 46,665 MW from various renewable energy sources. The 46,665 MW Installed Capacity from renewable energy includes 28,419 MW from wind energy, 8,875 MW from solar energy, 4,325 MW from small hydro and 5,046 MW from biomass and waste to energy. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has made a plan to ramp up this capacity to 175,000 MW by 2022. In this direction, major efforts are being made to increase solar energy installations under the National Solar Mission.
Nuclear
Renewable
At present, renewable energy contribution in the total power sector is about 14.83%. This is likely to go up to about 40% by 2022. This can only be achieved by setting up large sized projects based on renewable energy, mainly, solar energy and wind energy. The Government is envisaging a capacity of 100 GW from Solar and 60 GW from Wind. Accordingly, the upcoming skilled manpower needs to be trained to address these targets. The growth of installed capacity from Renewable Energy in India over the last 15 years is depicted as follows:
Skill Council for Green Jobs Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development are
Solar Power 19% Biomass Cogeneration and W2E 11% Small Hydro 9%
Wind Power 61%
www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 41
SECTORS COVERD Green Construction
1. Solar PV 2. Solar Thermal
9. Green Construction {a} Green Buildings {b} Green Campuses
3. Wind
4. Small Hydro
11. Carbon Sinks {a} Afforestation {b} Sustainable forestry Management
Green Transportation
5. Biomass Power / Cogen / CHP 6. Energy Storage 7. Biofules, Biogas, Pellets/ Briquettes
the most upcoming fields for meeting future energy requirements and mitigation of climate change. Considering its national importance, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has created Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ). The Skill Council is working in the domain of capacity building for green businesses and cutting edge climate friendly technologies. SCGJ has been incorporated as a Society with effect from 1st October, 2015, which is being managed by industry-led Governing Council. It is promoted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Confederation of Indian Industry. SCGJ will act as a bridge between the Government of India and industry for implementing programmes for Skills Development, correlated to Industry needs and also aligned to best International practices. Accordingly, the Skill Council for Green Jobs has been mandated to address skill requirements in the
Waste Managment
13. Soild Waste Management {a} Municipal {b} Manure & Agri Residus
Water Management 10. Green Transportation {a} Electric Vehicles {b} Bio fules Vehicles {c} Bio-CNG Vehicles
8. Clean Cook Stoves
42 I February 2017
Carbon Sinks
14. Electronics Waste Management 12. Water Management {a} Treatment:
Energy recovery + RE-Use Sewage/Industry Effluents
{b} Conservation:
Water Harvesting, Check Dams, Micro-irriation
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The SCGJ scope covers the entire gamut of “Green Businesses”, such as, Renewable Energy, Green Construction, Green Transport, Solid Waste Management, Water Management, Wastewater Management, e-Waste Management and Carbon Sinks.
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Renewable Energy
following sub-sectors: It is estimated that India has the fourth largest number of renewable energy jobs globally. IRENA calculates that India employs 4,16,000 people through direct and indirect employment in the Renewable Energy Sector. The Skill council for Green Jobs activities is linked to Skill India Mission, National Solar Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission and Make in India initiative of Government of India. Strategy of SCGJ – Strengthening Industry Connect Skill Council for Green Jobs is closely working with industries in its sector. A detailed exercise has been undertaken to develop Occupational Maps in each subsector and Skill Gap Analysis. Consultations have been made with over 300 industries in different sectors to understand their current requirement and future business plans. Based on the Occupational Maps, SCGJ is now preparing various National www.governancetoday.co.in
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Sub sectors
Renewable Energy
Wind Power Solar Photovoltaics Solar Thermal Small Hydro Power Biomass/ Cogen/CHP Clean Cook Stoves Biofuels, Biogas, Pellets and Briquettes Green Buildings Green Construction Green Campuses Electric Vehicles Green Transportation Bio-fuels Vehicles Bio-CNG Vehicles Afforestation Carbon Sinks Sustainable Forestry Management Solid Waste Management Municipal Manure and Agro-residue Treatment (Energy Recovery + Re-use): Sewage/Food industry Effluent Water Management Conservation: Water Harvesting, Check Dams, Micro-irrigation E-Waste Management Occupational Standards and Qualifications Pack for imparting systematic training in almost all sub-sectors. The Skill Council is participating in various workshops, seminars and exhibitions to understand manpower
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Sector
As per the recent studies of Skill Gap and possible jobs to be created in this sector, it is indicated that about 1.5 million jobs would be created by 2022 in the Renewable Energy sector alone. Considering the requirement of all National Missions and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), there would be about 15 million Jobs created by 2030 in Green Businesses.
requirement of industry. Skill Council for Green Jobs is positioning its strategy to directly cater to manpower required in project areas through identifying project locations and training the manpower in and around project areas.
www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 43
EMPOWERING WOMEN
Above & Beyond Skilling Women Training
T
he aim of skill development, particularly in case of women, is not merely to prepare them for jobs, but also to improve the performance of women workers by enhancing the quality of work in which they are engaged. It is argues that the empowerment practice has to go beyond its focus on women to gender. A focus on gender would imply as emphasis on advocacy rather on simple focus on basic needs. The concept of gender also analyses the power relations and enforces the idea of developing capabilities rather than simply skills. From strategy for women empowerment to enhance their efficiency and economy and ensuring equality, Governance Today discusses the many facets of Women Training with
Upma Bhatia, Director- Women Training under Directorate General of Employment & Training, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India 44 I February 2017
What are the objectives of women vocational training programs?
Women constitute about 48% of the total population of the country. But, in employment market, out of the 397 million employed population in 19992000, women are only about 123 million.Even of this, only about 5 million women are in organized sector while remaining 118 million are in un-organized sector. Realizing that the process of social development has to take into account the needs, interests and viewpoints of both men & women alike; and looking at the situation of women, gender inequalities and inequities that existed, special gender specific programmes were formulated and organized to mainstream women into economic activities. The women’s vocational training programs at Ministry of Labour & Employment, Directorate General of Training (DGT) was designed and launched in 1977. This division was established for the social development as well as economic growth of women through vocational education. Our objective is to provide semi-skilled and skilled women talent to the industry. Here, at the DGT we are into planning, designing, and executing various policies for vocational training exclusively for women. We try and identify new skill areas for women, where women have a natural flare for, and where women would be interested in. www.governancetoday.co.in
Women Training to focus on: • planning, designing, executing and pursuing long-term policies for vocational training of women in areas having high employability; thereby increasing women’s participation in economic & social development of the country; • drawing plans and schemes for promoting participation of women in vocational & apprenticeship training • identification of vocational skill training areas; • co-ordination of the women’s vocational training in the country; • sensitising social environment through publicity campaigns;
How does training and skilling get institutionalized for women? Vocational training facilities are being offered to women through a network of national as well as regional institutes spread across the country. We have got about 17 institutes all over India. From the head quarter, we do the coordination of women vocational training in the country. Vocational training facilities to women are also being provided by the State Governments through a network of Women Industrial Training Institutes and Women Wings in general ITIs. We do regular training programs, at 2 levels. One is basic skill training, which is equivalent to what is being given by the ITIs. This is called craftsman training skill. All of these courses are recognized by NCVT. The other level is advanced and is called
craftsman instructor training skill.
What are the skill sets and training areas identified by the Women Training division? Which are in demand? Vocational Training is being provided in diverse fields, including Electronics Mechanic, Secretarial Practice, Architectural Draughtsmanship, Hair & Skin Care, Computer Operator and Programming Assistant, Dress Making, Catering & Hospitality, Interior Decoration and Designing, etc. Out of those, trainings on apparel and fashion technology are greatly in demand. The other trade is beauty and wellness, which is favourite with women learners.
How do you ensure good certification, quality and standards in the training programs? Quality and standards have been set and being taken care under NCVT. For all our training courses, the curriculum is set, qualification norms are set, and even power norms are also set. For example, what kind of machine has to be used, power level that should be available at the training place, etc have been called out. Also, area norms are set, which clarifies about how much space should be provided for any particular training.
The skills and training programs have almost become a number game to showcase the impact. What is your take?
Our training programs are very different and are very far from the number game. Women Training was established in 1977 and the DGT is here for last 60 years. We have been doing regular, full time and long term courses. So this cannot survive basing on the number game only. What I believe is, if we are talking about skills, it cannot be about those run of the mill kind of courses. Skills means the person is actually having perfection; she has expertise in that field, which comes with many more practices. It is all about quality ultimately. Yet, in terms of numbers, there is a target attached to each subject. Number of seats is sanctioned and the admissions are done reciprocally. The teacher and trainee ratio is 1:16 or 1:20. We are also introducing new courses, instituting new centres. In last two years we have been sanctioned 8 new training centres where there were no such training centres before. Earlier, there were 11 institutes. By next academic year, we may start 2 more institutes also.
Do these training programs look at sustainability through generating employability? We have established a placement cell, with most of the institutes, which looks after the placement of the trainees. We take care of placements through campus selection as well. Besides, industries which are connected and who are in need of women talent, also contact us as and when the need arises.
www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 45
INTERVIEW
Linking K Learning to Employability IL&FS Skills for Business of Living & Entrepreneurship
Ketul Acharya 46 I February 2017
etul Acharya is currently leading IL&FS Skills Development Corporation Ltd (www.ilfsskills.com) as the Senior Vice President and Group Head. IL&FS Skills delivers intensive programmes to create gainful employment opportunities for youth and is a leading social infrastructure organization, which addresses the three grand challenges of Education, Employability and Employment through its pan India interventions. IL&FS Skills offers industry specific training across 23 sectors in manufacturing, service, engineering, and construction, healthcare and IT/ ITES through its network of 300+ institute of Skills on a hub and spoke model and have impacted 1.6 million people till date. The work done by IL&FS Skills is widely recognized as one of the global best practice by Mckinsey. Ketul Acharya in interaction with Manjushree Reddy‌ www.governancetoday.co.in
Given the fact that a large number of India’s working population is unskilled, there is a real danger of this huge but untrained workforce becoming a demographic drag. While about 13 million youngsters join the workforce in India every year, some reports suggest that less than one out of four MBAs, one out of five engineers and one out of ten graduates are employable. The wide disconnect between industry and academia continues to spin out less than trained employees for jobs. It is evident that India faces a huge shortage of skilled workers at present with large number of people lacking adequate vocational skills. However, amidst this thick cloud of daunting challenge there is a silver lining. India’s demographic dividend has been a global talking point for quite some time. Two-third of India’s population is under the national average age of 26 (versus 37 in China and 45 in the US and Western Europe). By 2025, we would be one of the most populous nations with a headcount of 1.4 billion, bulging across the 15-64 age bracket. As a
result, India’s potential workforce is on track to increase to 1 billion by 2020. With Ministry for Skill Development& Entrepreneurship, Government of India and the political leadership outlining skills as a key growth area, it is evident that skill development is a high focus area. IL&FS Skills Development Corporation Ltd (IL&FS Skills) is a joint initiative of IL&FS Education & Technology Services Ltd & National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC). We believe that skill development is an imperative for developing individual capacity that contributes towards the economic growth of the individual and the country. We have taken a lead in meeting this challenge through well-structured skill development programmes in a wide array of sectors with our wide network of institutes across India. We offer multifaceted skill development programmes that are industry endorsed, technology driven, standardised and employment oriented keeping the learner at the centre of design and delivery. We link unemployed youth from 18 to 35 years to employment through our placement linked training programmes in high growth sectors like manufacturing, engineering, services, healthcare IT/ITeS etc. We also train those already in jobs to upskill them
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We have trained more than 1.6 million youth (6 lakh under placement linked skill development programme and balance under skill upgradation/ other trainings) and placed 80% of 6 lakh youth in various industries. We offer training programmes in 23 sectors covering 85+ job roles blended with value added modules including soft skills, English and IT.
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What are IL&FS’s priorities in the light of the skill development needs and programs of the country?Give an overview of the IL&FS’ skill development programs and initiatives?
www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 47
entrepreneurs have to resort to utilize their personal savings and several of the thriving nonbanking financial institutions, including chit funds, money lenders, etc. While some initiatives have started to develop entrepreneurship skills in the country,there is furthera need to develop an ecosystem for enabling and sustaining entrepreneurship concentrating on various elements involved such as training, access to finance, forward and backward linkages (region/ sector specific) and handholding of operations. for career growth. We have also trained staff delivering citizen services like police officials, Government officials on Good Governance and children in schools and colleges with short term vocational skills programs under National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). Additionally, we offer training to trainers on domain, andragogy and life skills as part of our programme called Mastery. We operate on a hub and spoke model with a network of 300+ institutes across the country under the brand IL&FS Institute of Skills. We have trained more than 1.6 million youth (6 lakh under placement linked skill development programme and balance under skill upgradation/ other trainings) and placed 80% of 6 lakh youth in various industries. We offer training programmes in 23 sectors covering 85+ job roles blended with value added modules including soft skills, English and IT. Our strengths in designing and delivering training programmes through multi-media content, linking learning to employability, vast geographical presence in Indian and international markets, makesIL&FS Skills one of the largest skills training company.
What according to you are the top few things that India needs urgently to develop entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship in India is 48 I February 2017
a less desirable career choice when comparedto BRIC and factor-driven economies (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2014). Recognising that entrepreneurship is vital to a competitive knowledge based economy should impel us to remove barriers to entry for new MSMEs. It will impel us to distil the elements of a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem so that they become the cornerstones of policy, programmes, funding and human development. Our post-school education system and culture remains largely preoccupied with producing graduates who will seek jobs. To become more entrepreneurial, universities must include curriculum to encourage entrepreneurship as a career option. For budding entrepreneurs, overcoming the uncertainty attached to the success of an enterprise and challenges in market linkages, etc. requiresholistic training. The impact of such interventions can only be measured in the long term once the enterprise becomes sustainable. Therefore,skills for self-employment/entrepreneurship requires a different approach, which can have measurable outputs. Another enabler to sustain entrepreneurship is easy availability of credit support for smaller business activities. In absence of such credit support, potential
How well do you think is the industry geared up for the skill development mission of the country considering that they too will benefit out of it? With formation of 36+ Sector Skills Councils (SSC) under the aegis of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India, the industry is gearing up to support the skill development mission of the country. The SSCs are represented by respective sectors industry players,who defines the need for skilled manpower in their respective sectors and also define the skills required for the identified job role/s. The curriculum for the training is prepared as per this requirement by SSCs and the assessment of the trainee post training is also conducted by SSCs mapped to the requirement of the industry. Thus work in direction of bridging the gap between industry requirement and availability of skilled manpower has already begun. This needs to be however takento next level, whereby industry starts recruiting only a skilled and certified candidate and/or pays premium to a skilled candidate.
Why is it so that vocational and skills training interests only a few Indian companies? What are the industry concerns in this regard? Is industry adequately incentivised to boost skill www.governancetoday.co.in
development? The movement for offering short term skill development programmes has just begun. While number of companies are supporting such programmes as part of their CSR, not many companies have entered into skilling as potential business offering primarily due to evolving eco-system and absence of any proven model. With the evolution of skills ecosystem, lot of questions are being slowly answered and concerns related to viability/feasibility of running skills operations are being addressed. The new initiative of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India for setting up of skill development institutes across all the districts in the form of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs) is likely to provide the requisite boost and encourage many new players in the skills eco-system. While the Government of India is making various efforts to promote the skill development model through various schemes like PMKVY, DDUGKY, Learn & Earn, ISDS etc, lot of efforts are required to make skilling aspirational and encourage youth to take benefit of such schemes.
Tell us about the IL&FS focus on skilling the unorganized sector. How can entrepreneurship be encouraged is such sectors?
Rural Entrepreneurship), which has been jointly developed with Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) for entrepreneurs The programme focusses on skills in fund management, social entrepreneurship, networking and business communications. The training is structured in a way to equip the entrepreneurs for need identification, project preparation, technical knowhow and presentation skills Entrepreneurship can be encouraged in identified sectors with a focused and holistic approach. Case in point; Tripura Bamboo Mission is an initiative of Government of Tripura for integrated development of bamboo based industries in the state. The Mission’s objectives of scaling up turnover of bamboo sector and simultaneously increasing livelihood opportunities for artisans are sought to be achieved through cluster and skill development approach. We as implementing partner of Tripura Bamboo Mission took upvarious initiatives related to skill development, new technology interventions, designing new products, setting up of common facility centres, establishing credit & market linkages and creating an institutional structure by building community owned organisations for artisans. This has resulted in five times increase in the turnover of the bamboo sector in Tripura
and over 45,000 artisans and farmers have been trained and supported to take up various valueadded enterprises in the bamboo sector
IL&FS has been contributing immensely in making skill education inclusive. What are the initiatives available for women talents in order to bring in equity? Our strong commitment towards taking skills and livelihood opportunities to every corner of India has helped us set up touch points in some of the most difficult geographies, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts, remote areas and backward regions. We are one of the first private sector institutions to launch skills programmes in these geographies and are operating in 88 districts of the LWE affected states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. We also operate in 22 districts of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and have impacted more than 30000 youth in J&K through our skill development initiatives 49% of our successful trainees are women, largely from the backward regions of the country. Many of them are first time entrants into the formal work set up and have evolved from being unskilled helpers to operators and supervisors. The successful inclusion of women
In addition to our focus on placement linked skill development programmes, we have been working onlivelihood initiatives with rural entrepreneurs (largely women) to organize them for livelihood generation in sectors such as textiles, handloom and handicrafts, bamboo etc. The livelihood initiatives focus is not only on skilling the individual/ group, but also to handhold in the process of establishing technology, credit & market linkages. We have also developed a programme called I-CARE (IL&FS Certification for Advancement in www.governancetoday.co.in February 2017 I 49
into the world of work through the decent jobs and safe working conditions has also benefitted the families and helped improve their overall attitude towards skills. We are also working on setting up Women Specific Skill Development Institutes in identified locations
India also has some other unique talent pools in other notso-tapped areas like educated disabled. What should be done in such areas to increase employability by India Inc? Government of India through its various initiativesunder the Skill India mission has played an instrumental role in supporting youth especially from Bottom of Pyramid groups, school drop outs, 8th or 10th pass by sponsoring their training programmes. Many of them are also first time entrants into formal education and work. The initiatives under the Skill India mission has contributed towards the empowerment of these trainees from being unskilled workers to operators and supervisors of future. Corporates have also contributed through inclusive employment and CSR initiatives by playing a remarkable role in linking young people from distinct backgrounds into the world of work. Lot more however needs to be done. A large percentage of differently abled personsoften remain excluded from mainstream employment due to limited training, challenges in mobility and employer perception. In order to create an inclusive Skill India Mission, it is crucial for such a youth to be provided access to certificate as well as job, which leads to a life with dignity. With youth engagement and improving competitiveness of industry at the core, skill programmes for different learner groups including differently abled personshave to be designed and implemented. These programmes should address the primary challenge of skilling i.e. inclusion in mainstream education or vocational training due to lack 50 I February 2017
of infrastructure and facilities, absence of dedicated trainers to train people, course material which may be difficult to access for persons with such needs and most importantly negligible employment opportunities in mainstream employment. There are several shining examples of employers who have encouraged the recruitment of the differently abled in frontline/ shop floor. However, given the number of people who need skills for employment, efforts need be further enhanced. The initiatives under the Skill India Mission and formation of Sector Skills Councils focusing fordifferently abled persons are likely to provide the requisite boost in this directly.
What kind of initiatives/ collaborations with different stakeholders do you think can further enhance the way forward? The community being the largest and the most influential stakeholder in the skill development eco-system should realize the benefits that the society would reap in the long run if skill development is accepted both conceptually and practically by the youth of India. The only way that we can avoid the demographic dividend from becoming a demographic drag is if we can provide our youth gainful employment either within the country or outside the country leading to empowerment of the economy. Influencers in the community from Pradhan in a Panchayat to the Principal of a school need to encourage vocational skills. This message should percolate down to the grass-root level for it to become a success. Youth, being an important pillar of the nation building exercise of skill development, should be willing to enroll into a vocational training as a career option. Also, they should educate their peers and spread the message to contribute to the movement.
It is imperative for schools and universities to integrate vocational courses with their curriculum to familiarize students with the practical aspects of various skill development courses enabling them to make an informed career choice. There is a need for skill development training providers to reach out to unemployed youth across geographies. Also, realizing the need to reinforce quality in each step of the skills value chain from entry gate assessments to a training, content to placements and post-placement tracking The industry plays a pivotal role in boosting the skill development mission as an employer, a knowledge partner, a sponsor. In addition to this the industry can also play an active role in encouraging vocational training by providing opportunities for on-jobtraining, guest lectures, industry visits, projects and assignments etc.
What are your plans ahead? Our goal is to impact 4 million youth by 2022 across the country. While the current focus is largely on skilling school dropouts with employment opportunities in India, we are working on Skills for overseas placement to contribute in the mission of making India the skill capital of the world. We also believe that entrepreneurship is key to India’s growth and hence have formed a focused group within the organization to work on identifying the opportunities in this space. In addition, we truly believe that growth of the country can also be contributed by enhancement of productivity / efficiency of the existing workers and hence would be working on large scale programmes on Recognition of Prior Learning. We are also focusing on creating programmes leading to employment / entrepreneurship opportunities for graduate/post graduate by creating specialised academies offering advanced courses across sectors that integrate knowledge and skills. www.governancetoday.co.in
INTERVIEW
Volksy to Skill 1 Lakh Blue Collar Workforce by 2020
Gp Capt M Venudhar Reddy Who are the beneficiaries of Volksy’s programs? Any individual between the age of 18 to 36, with educational qualification of Class V and above and performs the tasks of housekeeping, Cooking, Elderly Care and Child care duties in any domestic environment for a fee is a domestic worker. A domestic worker may work on a full-time or part-time basis and may be employed by a single household or by multiple employers. May reside in the household of the employer (livein) or may live in his or her own residence (live-out).
How does Volksy Technologies respond to the needs of Domestic Workers? Volksy helps in breaking the conventional image of Domestic Servant to a General Housekeeper and also makes them understand the changing expectations of an employer. Volksy undertakes training programs of varying durations from 10 Days to 3
‘Volksy Technologies believe in the philosophy of giving back to the Society. It is a privilege to be part of the nation building mission through skilling. World over, there is shortage of trained housekeeping Specialists, where-in Volksy would step in to fill the gaps and create meaningful employment to the under-privileged within India and abroad’. Gp Capt M Venudhar Reddy, the COO, Volksy Technologies Private Limited, shares more on this …
Months depending upon the existing skill level of the candidates. During training the candidates are provided a good understanding of the activities one has to perform in a household environment. Instructions and practice on safety precautions, Dos and Don’ts, Hygiene, professional Cleaning methods and cleaning agents, imparted to help them perform in contemporary homes to the expectations of the employers. They are taught the best practices through videos and on job training. The candidates are exposed to life skills and basics of English and usage of technology in their day to day lives. They are provided hands on experience on all the equipment and gadgets available in a contemporary home to cope with the technology and expectations of the employer. This exposure helps them gain confidence and perform in all
situations.
How do you contribute towards implementing Domestic Workers’ rights laws or policies? Domestic Workers Sector is still an informal and unorganised sector in India, hence there is a lack of correct data on the number of existing domestic workers, yet various reports of government and private agencies range this number from 7.5 million to 20 million. This sector is ordinarily dominated by women with greater than 90% of share even as most of them are untrained. The most important job roles protected under this sector are – General Housekeeper, Cook, Ayah (Child Caretaker) and Elderly Caretaker. To provide the safe and better employment opportunities with improved working conditions, the Government of India is creating a National Policy for Domestic
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Apart from skilling, is there any effort to provide Domestic Workers other accesses including social security, healthcare, etc.? Volkksy Technologies makes all out efforts to improve the social security and status of Domestic Workers. Following are a few examples of facilities provided • Employee accident insurance • Educational Schemes for Children • Skill up gradation of workers • Funeral Assistance • Medical Checkups • ESI & PF etc
Is training enough to make a Domestic Worker a good care Giver? “Training by itself is not enough. That said, Getting trained is a great starting point. Due to our emphasis on “On the job training”, our students are better equipped to perform the job better.” Though the attitude and temperament are the most important qualities of a DW, Training plays a major role in fitting the individual into the job 52 I February 2017
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Training helps in breaking the conventional image of a general Housekeeper and also makes them understand the changing expectations in a domestic environment
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Workers. Considering the importance and growth of this sector nationally and the world over, the Volksy technologies is determined to train I lac workers by 2025. The chairman of Volksy, Murali Bukkapatnam is also one of the founder members of the DWSSC. Volksy technologies runs, a number of training programs in collaboration with the Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council, NSDC, State and Central Governments across the nation to train and certify the domestic workers. The proposed policies in ‘National Policy for Domestic Workers’ like working hours, minimum wages, bonded labour , paid offs, compulsory paid leave and maternity leave are implemented and followed by Volksy for its employees.
role and to meet the expectations of an employer. Training helps in breaking the conventional image of a General Housekeeper and also makes them understand the changing expectations in a domestic environment. The training not only helps in a good understanding of the activities one has to perform in the household environment but also arms the Domestic Workers with better life skills, personal management and behavioural skills, Handling emergencies, handling technology or new generation equipment, etc., which makes them more eligible for a faster career growth and better employment opportunities, even abroad. Training will give the individual edge over untrained and experienced Domestic Workers.
What are some of the unique problems facing undocumented DWs? How does Volksy play unique to attend that? Domestic workers provide essential services that enable others to work outside their homes. Thus domestic workers help keep labour markets and economies working around the globe. Most, though not all,
domestic workers are women. The vast majority are from the poorer sections of society. Domestic workers work in the homes of others for pay, providing a range of services: they sweep and clean; wash clothes and dishes; shop and cook; care for children, the elderly, and the disabled; they provide gardening, driving, and security services. Some live on the premises of their employer. Others work part time, often for multiple employers. Women are concentrated in cleaning and care services, while men tend to have the better paying jobs as gardeners, drivers, or security guards. 85% are migrant workers from rural areas who require necessary training and exposure for earning livelihoods. They fall prey to agents and middle men and get exploited. Volksy in this respect eliminates the middlemen and mobilises these people directly from the rural areas or migration catchments and help them settle and earn a decent living. The Domestic workers are not always covered under labour laws and social protection policies/schemes. Even where they are covered by laws, they may not be covered in practice. Implementation and enforcement is weak or non-existent and the private households or individuals who employ domestic workers may not pay. Few domestic workers have labour contracts or social protection and women in domestic work tend to be in a worse position than men. Many domestic workers do not know what benefits and protections they should get. Migrant workers face particular challenges leaving them with little legal protection, especially if they are undocumented or have been trafficked. The major issues and exploitation faced by this group of DWs are • Wage rates are low - Volksy providesminimum wages as per www.governancetoday.co.in
Lack of education, Lack of skills, lack of policies at place, lack of organized data and lack of enough players; with all these missing links, how have you aligned technology in the whole skilling aspect of Domestic Workers?
Due to the resistance to getting organized and poor accountability the DW sector has the fewest players in the industry. The lower literacy levels and poor background of the candidates makes the effort all the more challenging. Though the government is formalizing a ‘National Policy for Domestic Workers’ like working hours, minimum wages, bonded labour, paid leaves, compulsory paid leave
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Our aim is to be a key organization in bringing changes in the lives of under-privileged households by leveraging technology. The utilisation of technology starts from mobilisation of the candidates through our home developed app, with two levels of data verification with UIDAI and mobile number. The training content is digitised to remove language or any trainer barriers.
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authorised working hours. • The work is often strenuous, hazardous, and workers rarely have effective recourse to improve substandard conditions. – As an organization we maintain policies and work ethics between employer and employee. • Low pay is a systemic problem in the domestic work industry. – To ensure higher retention rate the wages are higher than the minimum wages. Domestic workers rarely receive employment benefits. a. Statutory compliance with payroll from their primary employer. Volksy provides after six months of continuous employment. b. Workers do not have health insurance.-Volksy provides Regular, Complete health checkup. c. Working long hours without breaks. As per policy between volksy and employer – every employer needs to a give break of 30 minutes after every 3 hours). d. Decent working conditions, leave, paid holidays, protection against harassment, etc as part of agreement with the employer.
and maternity leave, it is extremely difficult to implement with every household. The only solution is to leverage technology and bring on board the DWs, formulate a tracking mechanism of monitoring implementation. Volksy is primarily a technology company. Our aim is to be a key organization in bringing changes in the lives of under-privileged households by leveraging technology. The utilisation of technology starts from mobilisation of the candidates through our home developed app, with two levels
of data verification with UIDAI and mobile number. The training content is digitised to remove language / trainer barriers. The other technological achievements in the offing are »» Create a platform for Placement Agencies in India »» Innovative IT based solutions to track employability of trained youths »» Fully functional Application for Mobilization / Customer side »» Platform / Device friendly application, integrated with Top CRM and Cloud Communication Platform »» Using ‘Moodle’ to build Satellite Classrooms by leveraging Technology, seamless High Quality Training with least effort on Trainers
Have you measured the impact of use of technology in DW sector skilling? The key skills in DW Sector skilling is to represent capabilities that have, traditionally, been integrated as ‘normal’ expectations within curricula at operational and management levels, and a specific focus on the development of these skills, without main curriculum delivery objectives, may be questionable in the context of this sector. However, DW’ sector skilling Training continues to report employer demands for improved generic skills as a priority. The impact of technology may not be directly measurable during DW skilling but translates into effective communication, showing initiative, delivering customer service and demonstrating a willingness to learn due to ease of access.
What are the milestones set by Volksy technologies in this direction, so far? How do you wish to see the next few years? »» Skilling of 1 lac blue collared work force by 2020. »» Volksy as “The Skilling Company” pan-India
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INTERVIEW
From Schools to Skills Educomp Solutions Aligning with the Skill Ecosystem
Educomp Solutions, one of the forerunners and the largest player in the organised education services has its presence across the entire education lifecycle, be it digital content, ICT, pre-school, K12, school chains, teacher professional development, higher education, or online and other supplemental education services and solutions. A market leader in each of these areas, Educomp, now sees yet another metamorphosis with its new vision and Ashok Mehta step forward in skilling India, by challenging and augmenting all knowledge delivery ‘Join the Ecosystem, mechanisms.
Be a Part & Drive it’
Ashok Mehta,President & Business Head (ICT & Skill Development), Educomp Solutions Ltd, discusses this
new business vertical with a social bent of mind as the future growth driver.
How has Educomp been contributing to the Education & Training sectors?
Founded in 1994, Educomp is India’s largest education company with its presence in the entire eco system of education. From School to Skills, Educomp has over the years reached out to 30 Million learner and educators and 65000 schools. Educomp works with India’s largest K12 digital content library with over 20000 rich 3D multimedia content that reaches out to over 6 million students . We also run over 350 pre-schools, 45 Brick and Mortar K12 schools, , 63
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Test Prep Centers, and over 70 Vocational training centres and over 5.5 million users of our online learning properties. Educomp smartclass is our teacher-led educational content solution that dramatically improves learning outcomes in Private Schools. The smartclass Class Transformation System and the smartclass Digital Teaching System are the biggest and most innovative initiatives in the space of digital classroom content and digital classroom hardware respectively. For government schools EduReach has partnered with 14 state governments, implementing www.governancetoday.co.in
large scale public-privatepartnership projects, taking IT education and IT enabled learning to the remotest of schools across the nation. As part of this program, the Company sets up Computer Labs in Government Schools, provides Multimedia Content in regional language, testing and certification in computer education, full time assistants as well as teacher training, monitoring and supervision. Educomp serves in kindergarten space through Little Millennium, most sought after chains of pre-schools. Our chains of Schools under the brands of The Millennium Schools, Takshila Schools and Universal Academy Schools straddle across top tier cities, middle tier cities and semiurban areas respectively. We also have our International Schools and have a portfolio of iconic brands for co-branded schools. Our JRE Group of Institutions deliver AICTE approved postgraduate and undergraduate programs in Management and Engineering.
Tell us about the skill side of Educomp’s journey. Back in 2009, Educomp has set up its vocational entity called Educomp Vocational Education Private Limited. Subsequently this got rechristened as IndiaCan, with 50% investment from
Pearson group. The business spanned for four years, till 2013, when Educomp, as a strategic move recreated the vocational institutions within Educomp Group when we made an exit from the JV. We re-entered the vocational space in 2014, only to take it ahead through affiliations with various agencies such as NSDC, NSDA, FICCI and over 10 Sector Skill Councils, for successful implementation of flagship government projects like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD)’s Aajeevika program, which is now known DDU-GKY (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana). Educomp has been spearheading a number of training programs under various government schemes. We have been associated with two states, Odisha and Telengana for DDUGKY and hope to add more and more states as we move forward. Besides, we are also tied up with a number of state agencies, like Rajasthan Skill and Livelihoods Development Corporation (RSLDC) in Rajasthan, Bihar Urban Development Authority, MEPMA in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana. Initially we thought of taking up training programs only, as that is what we have been doing
ever since. We have trained 3 crore people on the usages of computers in last 16-17 years. However, our strength lies in implementing large scale training programs and driving the training with a speed, and effectiveness at and great efficacy level. These elements are the most desirable ones in most schemes. Our strength also lies in managing and mobilizing a number of trainers in any part of the country and then driving the training At some point in time We have had a pool of trainers to the extent of 10000. Looking at all these strengths, we decided to come out of our confinement with computer trainings only and went ahead in collaborating with different Sector Skill Councils, including Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council, for implementation of PMKVY and other government initiatives. During 2016-17, we are eyeing to run 19 courses in 10 Sector Skill Councils including Domestic Sector Skill Council. Considering the plethora of government schemes and government interest, we are hoping that we will do some progress in terms of numbers. Currently we are ready with 70 training centres located at different parts of the country. In addition, we are also trying to create some of our own flagship centres. Hopefully, by 2017-18, we will be ready with our own multiskilling centres forlocated strategically in the country
Will these Educomp owned enterprises be aligned with the vision of Skill Universities?
In certain ways yes as the training being conducted by Educomp team is using the curriculum mapped to Nation Skill
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You have set a target of training one lakh people in next one year. What are your plans and preparations to meet this mark? Educomp has aligned its skill programs with the Skill India initiatives of Government of India. Creating capacity all across the country will not be a big challenge for Educomp. We are operational through our own training businesses and technology deployments in schools in almost 600 districts in the country. We have some 70 Training Centres s, each with a capacity of more than 5000 sq ft space ehich translates into a capacity of running 3-4 courses simultaneously from from same location. We have the advantages of scale l and the speed. With such strength, we are being moderate in projecting our target of skilling 1 lakh people by next year, through programs like PMKVY and DDU-GKY. 56 I February 2017
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We at Educomp have been constantly skilling people on the use of technology particularly in the area of IT/ ITeS. Now, along with various Sector Skill Councils, we have taken up the mission to train and empower people across various sectors including Retail, Automotive, BFSI, constructions, Life science, hospitality, security and domestic worker sectors. We are poised to relentlessly train 100000 people in next 1 year across these sectors. The training will be conducted pan India as we move forward.
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Qualification Framework [NSQF] and there I can say that the capacities being created will stay aligned with idea of skill Universitiy. But we have to go a long way and at this stage I can only hope that the way the momemntum of Skill India is, we all have to carve out programmes that meet both short term and long term objectives. Both Industry and academia have to come closer to mitigate the existing gaps. At Educomp we have taken up skilling part of the projects aimed at enabling employability for those at bottom of pyramid. As we go forward we m Training programs currently being implemented under PMKVY and other schemes are required for better value addition in lives of learners. For example, there should be more branding, more respect for the course and better recognition to the trainings by the government. There should be clear mandate on the trainings. Automatically, quality training will become a mandate and will then be translated to better behavior in the workplace, equipped with better soft skills in the employees.
We at Educomp are passionate and are aware of the circumstantial changes and challenges that keep coming up. So we will go systematically to deliver what we are saying. We aim to set up 100 centres before 31st March 2017 and which will have capacity to train 1,20,000 people.
What prompted for the shift in focus towards skilling unorganized sector?
With our honourable Prime Minister ‘s clarion call of Skill India , subsequently formation of Ministery of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and reformation of PMKVY scheme for more effective implementation and higher visbility, we at Educomp are really excited about implementing the programme successfully. All we need is the mandate from the govt to continuously carry out the training through our centres and contribute to Skill India initiative in the best possible way by Educomp.
Having said that, Government has created such kind of motivation and conducive environment in the current time, for companies to look towards it. It is not merely a social responsibility, but also making a business sense if someone genuinely wants to implement the programme .. I would personally vouch for taking up such challenges, as it offers the motivation to do the numbers and to do the project with credible outcome. Socially you are contributing to the society, economically contributing to building skilled work force and commercially you are still adding to your bottomline of business. So its win win game for all stake holders. The youth of the contry is gaining out of the scheme. The Rural urban divide will gradually mitigate with skill India getting successful. The ecosystem is getting better and better, as the time passes, and that is where the whole excitement comes. There is a sense of fulfillment when we talk about our computer www.governancetoday.co.in
trainings in remotely located Tripura, Assam, in tribal locations of Chhattisgarh where lakhs of children of remotely located areas have been given first time exposure to computers and there are numerous success stories of these children doing so well with the computer. We have trained 20000 people on use of computers, through the tribal hostels set up by the government of Chhattisgarh. We have trained more than 6 lakh students in the age group of 14-18 years in Uttar Pradesh. We have trained more than 0ne lakh students in Bihar. We have worked in 17 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat; trained 17.6 million students who go to government schools and represent the underprivileged segment in most cases. So, it is all about joining the ecosystem, being part of it, and then driving it
What are the domains and skill sectors Educomp looks at this point?
We at Educomp have been constantly skilling people on the use of technology particularly in the area of IT/ ITeS. Now, along with various Sector Skill Councils, we have taken up the mission to train and empower people across various sectors including Retail, Automotive, BFSI, constructions, Life science, hospitality, security and domestic worker sectors. We are poised to relentlessly train 100000 people in next 1 year across these sectors. The training will be conducted pan India as we move forward.
Do the industries need to be incentivized further? In my view more than incentivizing the undustry, the eco system need to be maintaioned. NSDC It needs to make the process robust so as to cut down on process time for transferring funds into the account of a TP who invests in training . There is already and huge gap and demand and supply hence the demand side
of people and supply side of TP’s and skilled youth need a common platform to come to. In that context yes. Lot more needs to be done and for which SSC’s can have an important role. Not that it’s not in their vision but lot more needs to be done to assure employability of trainees. Besides However, there are some loose ends which we can still highlight in the larger interest of the beneficiaries in the unorganized sector. For example, in domestic sector, ensuring about employment seems not practical. In construction sector ,We have done training for 6 batches in Odisha. There is no single candidate who is unemployed today. But, 60 to 70 of those trainees joined and then moved out of the organization due to wage issues. During DDU-GKY trainings it was revealed that these candidates can actually earn handsome on their own, and the amount would be much more than the salary they would get. So there should be some other yardsticks which may be fixed to asses employability for certain training domains or job roles as mentioned earlier. There are some skills sectors where providing employment to the person will remain a challenge. Alternative plans may be worked out, may be by giving an employment certificate or a defined funds flow
to the person’s account for certain period
What are the expectations from the government?
In my view once Training Partners are identified, they should be given mandate for next 3 years or so and hence one can create a whole business plan. Sporadic number allocation leads to quationing viability of the training programme. The TP’s could be assessd for all the pre-requistes and subsequently a nadate be given for a 3 year period. Of course one can put parameters and milestones for review and chuck out those non performers. In other words Training targets should not be linked to monthly or quarterly rotation arrangements, as this brings a lot of uncertainty for the training partners. Last year training partners were asked to set up some Kaushal Kendras. Any business organization would be keen to set up Kaushal Kendras and do the trainings, provided, there are assurance of long term continuity, with designated milestones to cover. From Educomp side, I can say that we are absolutely poised to and committed to take up these tasks, but a greater confidence needs to be inculcated in the whole ecosystem.
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INTERVIEW
One-Stop-Shop for Assessment Solutions In the path of making social acceptance for job skills
Harpreet Singh Grover
60 I February 2017
Started almost a decade ago by Harpreet Singh Grover and Vibhore Goyal, CoCubes has well created a mark in the hiring and assessment ecosystem. The CoCubes’ business,which has prominent verticalsof corporate, college and vocational assessments, has conducted over two million assessments for 600 clients across 350 cities. Harpreet Singh Grover, the Co-Founder & CEO, CoCubes shares more about his assessment and skilling India plans, how equipped is his company to create assessments that directly tie in with current and future employability with greater returns‌ www.governancetoday.co.in
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Give us an overview of CoCubesbusiness and its contribution in skilling India.
We at Educomp have been constantly skilling people on the use of technology particularly in the area of IT/ ITeS. Now, along with various Sector Skill Councils, we have taken up the mission to train and empower people across various sectors including Retail, Automotive, BFSI, constructions, Life science, hospitality, security and domestic worker sectors. We are poised to relentlessly train 100000 people in next 1 year across these sectors. The training will be conducted pan India as we move forward.
As a hiring and assessment company, the foremost strategy is to connect employers with candidates. When we started, we observed, it wasabout making the connection alone and we thought that is important. Subsequently, in 2011 we realized that connection Alone does not help. What matters ultimately is to figure out what competency the company would need to hire people and what competency people need to have. Talking about the assessment practices, online assessments are the common practice. We bought a technology assessment company and started doing assessments online. That was a very big change for us. A greater responsibility came, as we need to measure the skills properly, we need to measure for a particular job in lines of what skill is required, and we also need to be able to back both of them. We do skill measurements for 600 corporates pan India, including the largest IT companies, automobile companies, for all of whom, CoCubes hires candidates. Hiring, followed by a strong skill assessment practice of CoCubes helps setting a benchmark for the skills. Then as the third step, in the last 2 and half years, we are associated with the government initiatives and Skill Indiato develop online and physical vocational skills. Not only we, or the industry, but even as part of the entire Skill India movement, the government also believes that it is not about any degree. Rather it is about whether onepossesses the right skill or not. For a plumber it is not important for us to know what course he has done, rather, important is whether or how skillfully he knows his plumbing job. In a country like Indiawhere the skilling percentage is only 1-2%, which is far behind the marks of other countries who are at 40-45% mark, it is all the more important to focus on the right
skills. That is where CoCubes stand today,doing skill assessments, hiring for jobs and working with the government schemes and initiatives while working withSector Skill Councils.
How do you set benchmarks?
CoCubes takes care of benchmarking for all skill assessments. At what skill level can a person be marked as good enough to take up the job! For this, we need to measure the skills during assessments.The company then looks atthe skill level and how much the person is able to perform with that. This benchmarking is for the organized sector. Coming to the unorganized sector, for last two and half years we are the assessment partners of different Sector Skill Councils. Here, Government has decided the framework to assess the skill abilities. Within that framework, we measure the skill level the person possesses in order to get certified. And we measure that skill level.
So there is a shift in focus to the unorgnised sector now? Definitely. It was absent till before some 3-4 years. Setting up a Skill development Ministry in skilling in itself is a big step forward in this direction. We went down the path of making social acceptance for different job roles, justifying why should one have a certificate on plumbing, or in tourism or in other sectors.
What changes has it brought in the assessment patterns of CoCubes while shifting focus from orgnised to unorganized sector? The problem is, in unorganized sector there is no employer. It is only an individual who has to do all the needful. So, if the government does not make the intervention here, for example, for a plumber to undergo a professional training, then who else? The whole skills programs
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are now driven by the government initiatives and investments. And we do the necessary assessments of skill sets. Earlier, even if we would have thought of assessing a plumber, there would have no buyers. Now, we can do a plumbing assessment and there is somebody who is willing to pay for it. We would like to do skill assessment for at least a million people over next three years. Recently we are acquired by Aon Hewitt, which has a big focus on working with government through Make in India and Skill India. This will put us in a bigger role in both the organized as well as in the unorganized sector.
What are the domains you have taken up currently for skill assessments?
We assess on plumbing, IT &ITes, tourism, hospitality, retail, telecom and some more sectors.
Tell us about the Aon Hewitt acquisition? How does that bring value to your business?
Aon Hewitt is the largest HR consulting company, which helps organisations make better hiring decisions and improve performance by predicting the success of their potential employees. CoCubes, connects 62 I February 2017
academic institutions and corporates using assessments, creating a seamless hiring ecosystem. Aon is orienting its business focus in India to become faster in this space. While they have very India focus at this moment, but they were not doing any specific or vocational assessments. So we are doing the specific sector skill assessments for them. And the assessments are quite all round, covering all aspects of skills, attitudes, behavior, etc,. starting from blue collar to ceo levels. Our goal is to do global learning and apply these to Indian ecosystem so as to measure skills correctly.
What are the industry concerns in the skill training or assessment sector?
Govtjas put enough incentives in place. Secotr skill councils are proactively attending industry concerns. While it had a slow start but it will pick up soon. Through RPL the trainee gets benefit once certified as well as the industry also gets the benefit. For the unorganized sector, there are two parts- one is we become accountable under through CSR, the pther part of is entrepreneurship development. For exaplme, the plumber needs to see himself as an entrepreneur.
You have a lot many academic and institutional collaborations. What is your take on looking at formalizing assessment practices by integrating assessment in all skill education level? Smarter engineering colleges are running good courses, with adequate assessment practices. Integration of assessment is a must in all skill education. If we are unable to measure the skill levels before and after acquiring the skills, the entire effort becomes meaningless. So formalizing assessment is absolutely necessary. Outcome mapping is vital. People who come forward for skilling should take responsibility for measuring the skills ultimately. Government cannot create jobs, which we must understand. So, it is trying to create a system which enables further creation of jobs. Now the government needs to look at creating the environment so that more jobs are created through entrepreneurship, and the existing enterprises can grow on a fast pace. Not only skills and jobs, government also needs to look at value creation, so that the jobs they get are recognized and well accepted. www.governancetoday.co.in
INTERVIEW
Skill development – reaping demographic dividend in India B-ABLE’s experience in implementing mission Skill India
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he opportunity
By 2020, India, with median population age of 29, is positioned to be youngest country in the world. This young population has put India on position of great advantage by providing large economically active young population. This also means the existence of a large set of economically active young consumers. The demand provides enough opportunities for trained workforce to provide services, produce goods and add value for consumption. Additionally, large portion of economically active youth now has substantial disposable income to provide thrust to all sectors of economy. As more and more young population is being added to the workforce, it is pertinent that the ecosystem provides them with necessary skills to enable them work and earn livelihood. Every
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B-ABLE as an organization has contributed by training more than 125 thousand candidates, in 190 different job roles, across 17 sectors. It has footprints in 28 states in India.
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earning individual supports family needs, generates demand and opportunities and thus provides boost to quality of life in the entire ecosystem including basic needs like health and education. In absence of employable skills, entire cycle of development is missed. The loss to economy, in such case, is exponential.
Realizing the opportunity B-ABLE was set up in year 2009 as skill building institute that generates lifelong employability. It’s an entity of BASIX Social Enterprise Group (set up in year 1996), which is engaged in livelihood promotions. Through its entities, the Group caters to various aspects of livelihood like training, finance, market linkage, institution building, and business development. Having a lineage that dates back to the time when NSDC (National Skill Development Mission) was being conceptualized and by being first training partner of NSDC, B-ABLE can claim to be a pioneer in mission skill development. The organization has witnessed the evolution of industry to its current form. In its growth path the organization has worked on different implementation models for skill development. The journey of skill 64 I February 2017
development is being realized by hundreds of Training Companies, working across India and adding value to the mission in their unique way. These organizations are often specializing in various delivery models available for the sector. Like, while one Institute may focus on creating micro-enterprises, other may focus on training for absorption in industries. Similarly, there are institutes that would design courses based industry feedback, while there are others who train to create new markets itself. The spectrum of work for skill building institutes like B-ABLE is quite large and diverse. Spread of demand is across geographies and is witnessed in all spheres of work. Action could be seen in all sectors. To name a few are, agriculture, health, automotive, construction, apparel, beauty, and handicraft. The demand, in quite unsatiated manner, is being experienced by both manufacturing and service sector. The diversity of required action has to be complement by
quantum of growth, especially when, India is poised to be 3rd largest economy, by 2030, after United States and China. Matching the length (diversity of training requirements), breadth (across geographies) and depth (scale, i.e. number of required human resource) of “Mission Skill India”, is a task of galactic scale and microscopic detail. B-ABLE as an organization has contributed by training more than 125 thousand candidates, in 190 different job roles, across 17 sectors. It has footprints in 28 states in India.
Evolution Formal education, which comprises of schools, colleges, professional institutes and supported by other specialized training Institutes, has been serving as backbone of training and professional needs of India. Existing education model, systems and infrastructure has served the nation well by providing formal learning. On other hand, it may be said that the system is not www.governancetoday.co.in
Implementation
well equipped to cater to needs of vocational training leading to employability. Formal education is widespread; however, its utility as provider of livelihood is being questioned, which has led to incorporation of vocational training into school education. Efforts are now being made to institutionalize vocational training into schools and colleges. This is meant to enable students earn a skill set that may bring in employability. Additionally, it must be recognized that even schools are not accessible to a large population due to financial and social constraints. This makes it essential that infrastructure is developed to impart skill training to the population which is not catered by formal schools and colleges. This additional infrastructure is expected to fulfil gaps present in education at school / college level. This additional infrastructure is being developed that specials in skill development. While BASIX group has been working in the field of livelihood promotion since year 1996 and B-ABLE as its entity for skill development has been working since year 2009, the ecosystem that is required to reap benefits of demographic dividend in India is still at its early stage. The organization is addressing the requirement by partnering
with various states for vocational training through schools. Here students are trained in vocational courses from 8th standard onwards. Apart from regular education students get options of vocational skill development that may provide them employability. The vocation might be chosen for graduation as well, thereby, providing continuity and relevance to the learning. At the same time, the organization conducts skill training through specialized courses. These courses are short term, usually 2-4 months, and would cater training leading to wage employment, with an exception of agriculture sector where it is more likely to add to self-employment. Among specialized courses, B-ABLE specializes in training for building micro-enterprises. While classroom training duration still could be 2-4 months, but these would require hand holding for longer duration, usually more than 6 months. The training ought to have elements of soft skills and business skills development. While training for skill development is of utmost importance, it is also pertinent for sectors to provide necessary recognition of already earned skills. This is done through RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) scheme under PMKVY (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna).
The magnitude of demand and supply requires all stake holders work in tandem. Skill development Institutes are primary implementers of the mission while MSDE (Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship) with NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) creates the ecosystem at National Level for them to operate. Similar structures are also present at state level for building appropriate environment for skill development. Trainees are at the centre of whole set of efforts where corporates generate demand and Training Companies fulfil the requirement by identifying and training right candidates.
Direction Work in development sector can be allocated into organized and unorganized sector. Most of rural workforce and substantial part of urban workforce is still in unorganized sector that comprises of more than 90%. This also adds to more than 60% of National Income. Despite this, unorganized sector remains secondary target of efforts in skill building. Most schemes and policies are focussed towards organized sectors. While this helps in easier allocation of resources, a large part of skill youth remains deprived of skill training. B-ABLE has experienced that unorganized sector is still at large in need of focussed attention and recognition. It may be emphasised here that human resource engaged in unorganized sector often experience lack of regulations available for them. Unregulated salary and lack of employee benefits are prevalent in unorganized sector. Therefore, it is even more critical that attention is provided to the sector. However, as it seems now, to become all pervasive and more relevant the efforts in skill building still requires shifting focus to the unorganized sector. Nikhil Chandra, Head (NEC & Business Development), B-ABLE.
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