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by Rajen Kumar

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Apr 2012

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Interviews

Skill Development is Priority Area and Infrastructure is Primary Need -Dr. H.P. Kumar

SME WORLD Bureau
Mar 2010

With continuous technological developments and emergence of the knowledge based approaches in all the industry verticals, the necessity of skilled manpower has become crucial. And the government too is immensely engaged in the skill development process to tackle the skilled manpower crunch. But what is ground reality? Have Government and its institutions been able to prove their credibility and relevance or such organizations have eventually been reduced to mere white elephants eating out into the exchequer? We tried to find out with the Dr. H.P. Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and a veteran of the cause of small industries.

Dr. Kumar too agrees with the importance of the institutions like NSIC and Industrial Training Institutes often called as ITIs. But some institutions like ITIs appear to have lost their luster and the objective. Institutes like ITIs have been rendered worthless and bloodless due to blatant neglect.

ITIs inching towards end

There have been questions raised on their existence. With the passing of time, their objective to train the youths and to generate a breed of skilled manpower seems blurred. The government has failed to infuse new blood in ITIs which continue to work with timed-out and obsolete practices, radiional approach to the training methods, insufficient infrastructure, outdated syllabus and training, lack of professional guidance, etc.

Dr. Kumar who has an in-depth knowledge of the problems of the small entrepreneurs says, “ITIs are dieing out now. They have lost their importance. Many issues have now originated. They need to be updated with the latest market requirements. We have to train the youths keeping in mind the industry requirement. Many initiatives can be taken to restructure such institutions. “We should have infrastructure equipped with latest tool and equipments for the skill development as per the industry demand.”

“While on the other hand NSIC is providing lots of support to MSMEs in different dimensions like skill developments, finance, marketing assistances, technology upgradation, etc. The government has recently established the National Skill Development Corporation under the Ministry of Finance with the objective to train the youths to meet the industry demands with the cooperation of private sector,” says Dr. Kumar.

As per the contemporary trends, many industries seem reluctant to employ manpower trained in these old institutions. They prefer to employ the manpower trained in private institutions or in big institutions where they have latest training programmes, equipments, infrastructure and professional trainings, etc. as per the industry requirements. “Can we force the private sector to employ the manpower trained in these traditional institutions?" questions Dr. Kumar.

“It is heartening that the Government has a planning to rope in private sector to adopt the ITIs. But it will take time. The Government has targetted to train the 500 million people by 2020 under skill development programme.”

Political Tool

But is not there every possibility that this program may also become another political bone like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NAREGA)?

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