SKILL INDIA: Lessons from disappointing past experience

Ananda Mohan Kar

The Indian economy is growing but jobs are not being generated. The population of the unemployed is rising. All are worried.

In this context, the Modi government has come out with a mission: Skill India.

It is true that machine is replacing humans in manufacturing. On the other hand, the investors are scared to initiate new project. The old labour laws are also discouraging new investment, as suggested by the supporters of the market economy. In addition to that, new industries with new jobs will not come up unless infrastructure for industry is developed. If these issues are not addressed, neither the skilled nor the unskilled people will get job.

But having said that, there is no reason to undermine the importance of skill. Scarcity of skilled people will not bring investment in any economy. Concerns have been expressed from more than one quarter that the majority of the engineers coming out of the Indian engineering colleges are not employable. The situation is not different in other disciplines as well. There is a fear that the large population of youth would turn out to be a huge burden on the nation, instead of becoming an asset.

Therefore, the programme of Skill India is a welcome step. The huge money that the Government of India has allotted in this scheme proves the serious intention of the people in power.

But the experience of the B.Ed course, and the Orientation Programme and the Refreshers Course suggest that there is a need to be cautious. These training programmes for the skill development of the teachers are going on for decades. The first one is for the school teachers and the other two are for those who teach in the colleges and in the Universities. I have found, from my interaction with the participants of such courses, very few of them are satisfied with what is on offer. They feel, most of the presentations made by the resource persons have little relevance with the task they are supposed to perform. That apart, they have heavy workload like large number of lectures to be delivered along with the pressure to evaluate large number of answer scripts in most of the understaffed institutions. Such situation prevents application of innovative teaching techniques. But still they are compelled to go for such courses to fulfill the condition of next promotion.

There is another angle as far as the B.Ed course is concerned. Many people get admitted to the course as it is essential to become teachers. But in the end, inadequate vacancies for the teaching posts force many to take up jobs other than teaching. But the private B.Ed colleges have appeared in many places and they are making lots of money.  

Similarly, a large number of young men and women, who aspire to get government jobs, pay huge amount of fees to the coaching centres for the preparation of the competitive exams. But very few of the candidated achieve the desired success.

Therefore, so far, we find wastage of time, of money and of energy in the name of skill development.

In the last one year, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly claimed that the reduction of wastage is one of the major achievements of his government. The government would do better to make necessary changes in these programmes after consulting the stakeholders.

That apart, the people of the country have some responsibilities. There is an urgent need to change the mindset of the people. The Indians require giving up their obsession for the piece of papers – the certificates. Instead, they must understand the importance of learning. If that does not happen, the skill development programme would lose its objective, in spite of best intention of the government.

Let us hope that the precious public money is not wasted.

FAT TAX AND DIABETES: Better option available

Ananda Mohan Kar

 On the Second International Yoga Day, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, gave a call to tackle diabetes. Next month, the Left Front Government in the Sothern Indian State of Kerala imposed ‘Fat Tax’ on the food items that cause obesity and diabetes. The move aimed at reducing the consumption of cold drink and junk food.
Unfortunately, diabetes has emerged as an ‘epidemic’ and urgent measures are needed. But the step taken in Kerala is too little and too late.
 The media has already raised questions regarding the choice of the items. Only the ‘western’ foods have been mentioned. The ‘Indian’ foods, which contain high calorie and excessive fat, are not been touched. So, there is a possibility for a debate on the ‘imposition of nationalism from above.’ However, that is unlikely to happen as the idea of ‘fat tax’ has come from the ‘secular left’ and so the ‘intellectuals’ are expected to remain silent this time.
 But the other challenges are more serious. The monitoring of the market is definitely a tough task to carry out. That apart, the income of the rich, and that of the middleclass, has gone up substantially in the last decade. Therefore, some percentage increase in the price may not bring down the sale of those condemned commodities. Only a change in the food habit is the answer to the problem.
But the cultural change is difficult to bring in, particularly in the era of liberal market economy. Here, the producers are not only to sell whatever they like (except those that are prohibited by law) but are also free to advertise their products.
 So, the Governments in India, both at the Centre as well as at the States, must chalk out new strategy. The Government cannot violate the principles of economy, nor can it interfere in the public choice. But keeping in mind the larger interest, it can bring changes in its own sphere. There are large number of canteens and footstalls in the government office premises across the country. Stop the sale of such food items in those shops. The restriction can be extended the stalls located in the state run railway stations and bus terminuses and to all the educational institutions that receive government fund. At the time of evaluating the Universities and the Colleges, the issue of healthy food should be looked into.
 However, before taking such step, the items to be banned should be objectively identified by the well known specialists in this subject. Otherwise, all the good moves would be lost in the debate over ‘political motive.’

A BENGALI NOVEL ON CALCUTTA GREEKS

Alexander Eshechilen Kolkatay (Alexander Came to Calcutta) is a detective fiction of a different kind. This is perhaps the first fictional work on the Greeks of Calcutta. There was a small but rich Greek community in the city during the British colonial rule. Though the Greeks lived in Calcutta for more than two centuries, very few Indians have any idea about this diaspora. Apart from focusing on the history of the Calcutta Greeks, the novel touches upon several burning issues like land acquisition for industry, sustainable development, commercialization of sports etc. This is my first Bengali novel and I have published it in my blog Humble Sociologist. Please read, comment and share if you like.

SOCIOLOGY AND LITERATURE

Hi, I am a sociologist by profession but creative writing is my passion. This blog is an effort to present my writings in front of the people across the world. The idea is not just to entertain but also to raise several issues that often do not attract adequate attention. For this blog, I have planned to publish long stories, or the novels, part by part. After the publication of the last chapter, I would go through the suggestions of the readers and I would try to accommodate them as much as possible. Thereafter, the entire novel would be uploaded once again as a pdf file or in the form of an ebook. So, your opinion is very important. Your comments will help to enrich the fiction as well as initiate valuable discussion on various important questions that we face.

A Bengali Novel on Calcutta Greeks

NAGAJATI: First Bengali Book on the Nagas

My maternal grand father, Dr. Surendra Nath Majumdar (1884 – 1976) was a LMS and he was a physician by profession. He was in Assam Medical Service and was posted in Nagaland as Assistant Surgeon for three years from March 1913 to December 1915. During this stay in the Naga Hills, Dr. Majumdar travelled different parts of that North East Frontier region and he came to contact with different prominent people belonging to various sections of the Naga community. Then he could gather lots of information about the Nagas – their social structure, kinship, customs, culture, economic condition etc. He wrote some papers on these issues during his leisure time and they were published in some reputed journals like “Probasi” (Bengali), “Sourav” (Bengali), Sreebhumi (Bengali), “Modern Review”, “Man in India” (Vol. IV, No. 1-2-1924). In the year 1925, he published a book, in English, on the Nagas. Almost fifty years later, in 1973, Dr. Majumdar published a Bengali book named “Nagajati”. In this book, he takes pride to be the first ‘Indian (Bengali)’ to produce a book on the Nagas. His efforts to document the social life of this tribe was lauded by many eminent people. They include G.H. Hutton; Professor N. K. Bose, Commissioner of Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Retd.), Surajit Sinha, President, Anthropological Survey of India etc.

VRINDABAN, 1988

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 I visited Mathura,Vrindaban and the surrounding areas, with my parents and elder sister, in November 1988.I made those sketches at that time.

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