Uttar Pradesh
Biz@India
November-December 2016
The 21st Century has set a different performance portfolio for the countries with a focus on improvisation of skill-centric technologies and expansion of eco-supportive growth matrix for sustainable and inclusive skill development.
The State of Uttar Pradesh appreciated the above trends earlier than others and notified its Skill Development Policy way ahead in the year 2013 which later became the progenitor of the U.P. Skill Development Mission.
UPSDM has been established as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the aegis of the Departments of Vocational Education and Skill Development with effect from 13-09-2013.
The mandate of the UPSDM is to affect agglomeration of skill development programmes and synergise other appropriate structures that aim as enhancing employment opportunities for new entrants to the labour force within the target age-group of 14-35 years by arranging employable training courses for them.
Thrust on creating a pool of skilled manpower that may comply with requirements of the ultimate users viz the industry, trade, service and other similar activities of secondary and tertiary sectors was visible in the 11th five year plan document itself, when such an approach was considered imperative to support employment expansion initiatives precipitated as a result of economic growth, including, in particular, the shift of surplus labour from agriculture to non-agriculture sector. The 12th five year plan (year 2012-2017) not only followed but consolidated the commitment of the 11th five year plan.
The gamut of activities, approaches and objectives An overviewof the UPSDM apart from implementing and monitoring the Government of India or State sponsored Skill Development programmes, also centres around the following:
i. To assess Skill-deficit sectors in the State and meet those gaps by adopting region-specific strategies.
ii. To orchestrate public and private sectors in a framework of collaborative action.
iii. To re-position existing public sector infrastructure ITIs, Polytechnics and other Central or State owned training centres to smoothen transition into PPP mode.
iv. To establish a trainee’s placement and tracking system for effective evaluation and future policy planning.
v. To ensure accreditation and evaluation of training programmes and improvise performance measurement methodologies, rate institutions/training partners on standardized outcomes, percentage of post course placement of trainees, their wage differentials, retaining period, dropout ratio etc.
vi. To improvise on third party independent evaluation of the quality of training courses.
vii. to work on integrating soft skills training module with the core training syllabi to give training content an added orientation of personality development.
UPSDM: Realising the Dream
• Provides employable skills
to them through various training programmes.
• Serves the largest employable cross section of population in terms of age bracket which includes youth of 14-35 age group.
• Arranges training in trades of their choice, offers more than 600 courses to choose from.
• Incorporates provision of residential training facility to those who stay in remote area.
• Efforts to provide training at reasonable distance but at the same time residential facility for those who want training with a specific TP, course or centre.
• Mandates compulsory training in soft skills in order to enhance their employability
• Ensures employment both wage and self through Training Partners’ commitment.
• Provides post placement support to employed youth.
• Tracks the post placement status of the trainees for 1 year for their sustainability
Moving Beyond the Visible: Strategies for Tomorrow
Present incubates the future and today gives birth to tomorrow all these are the truths of cosmic science but equally hold substance in human life also. Nostalgia with the past casts its dark shadows on the present and morbid interpretation of present day events mars the future. Conversely, if lessons of the past and learning of the present are enjoined upon and morphed into a futuristic and pragmatic vision, not only a better but brighter tomorrow is a definite hold. However, the edifice of future requires to be built on stone hard experiences and, therefore, the existing challenges and concerns are to be taken into account before contemplating any strategy for the future. Some facts and findings with respect to the country and the State of U.P. are as follows:
(i) India with 121.01 crores population (as per 2011 census) is next only to China and UP with 19.96 crores (as per 2011 census) is the most populous State in the country.
(ii) India has more than 800 million people in the employable age group, the State’s share being 150 million in the above. India is on the way to be having the largest no. of employable people by the year 2022.
(iii) As per the HDI (Human Development Index) India ranks 100th out of 124 countries. Similarity it ranks 76 out of 143 countries in the Global Innovation Index 2014.
(iv) Both India and the Uttar Pradesh have very low quantum of Skilled manpower comparing with South Korea, Japan and Germany that have skilled manpower as high as 98%, 80% and 75% respectively, India and the State of U.P. are struggling to attain a double digit percentage against their population.
(v) Every year 13 million youth are entering in the job market; India is capable of turning only 4.3 million of them absorbable in the industry.
(vi) The State of U.P. has a substantial number of artisans with inherited skills, which are unaccounted and unrecognized, chickankari of Lucknow, carpets of Bhadohi and Mirzapur, Brasswares of Mooradabad, Silk work of Varanasi, perfumery of Kannauj etc. are a few examples to cite. The land of ‘Taj’ is certainly not a skill deficit State but it needs to discover its potential, christen it and sharper it to marketable mode.
New economic order has both its message and mandate. Its ripples reach to every corner of the World in seconds. It has transcended the geographical boundaries of the nations and done away with the nationalist embargos. More and more it is assuming skill based character and dispensing with commodity based character.
Professionalism, competence, skill richness and attitudinal adaptability are the traits which industrial scenario across the world is putting a premium on.
The five stars of growth are determined by 5 Es of education, employment, employability, economy and environment.
The strategies of the UPSDM for the next years are worked out after considering all the imminent cleavages and constraints vis-à-vis the State’s initiatives, potential and leverages. A few of them are explained as below:
(a) The Government of Uttar Pradesh has recently created a NRI department to establish a dialogue with those Indians who are natives of Uttar Pradesh and are now settled abroad. This department has got license of overseas recruitment agency. The UPSDM is working in coordination with the NRI department to identify overseas employment opportunities and organisedcustomised training programs as per the need and specification for employers abroad. A joint delegation recently organised a road show in Dubai to assess demand of skilled labour and skill sets required by the employers.
(b) The UPSDM stipulates to increase the number of exposure visits to its trainees to the centres/ places of excellence in India and abroad. An exposure visit cum training program has been sponsored by the Government of Uttar Pradesh for the trainees of perfumery sector at ISPICA, Versailles and Grasse Institute of Perfumery Grasse, France. More such visits are proposed for the trainees of other trades at State-of-Art centres in future.
(c) The UPSDM has added more than 300 courses very recently in its portmanteau of course options and now 634 courses are available for the trainees to acquire the requisite skills in the trades of their interest. It is anticipated that with this expanded canvas of course availability, the innovative options for employment would also augment to a formidable extent.
(d) There is an urgent need of identification of skills and their certification for village and local artisans. The theme is that unsung warriors are no less brave than acknowledged heroes. UPSDM would strive for appreciation of their skills through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Once it happens artisans would be capable of creating high value product for the market. The UPSDM has already started working to train artisans for learning skills required to produce high value luxury craft marketable to brand like Hermes and Chanel.
(e) Virtual training and virtual teaching have moved further to accommodate the concepts of virtual interviews and virtual selections. It has become possible through mobile based applications. The UPSDM in addition to arranging placement of trainees through placement agencies has signed a MoU with MERA HUNAR which organizes virtual interviews trough a mobile application for marketing the employable skills of the trainees. However, being a recent initiation, the results are to be crystallized.
(f) The Skill India concept has a start-up dimension also. Being an entrepreneur is more satisfying then toiling for wages. The UPSDM now has an option of assisting 50% of the trainees to take up their own business. The UPSDM aims to help these trainees by creating an enabling environment through Bank support and organizational back up to settle them and become job providers for others.
(g) The UPSDM has roped in additional number of training partners to meet the training requirement of the State. With the augmented strength of training partners, it targets to train more than 500 thousands youth in the FY 2016- 17 to bridge the void between unmet demand of the industry and the adequately trained skilled and compliant employable human resource. Echoes of industry resonate in the endeavours of UPSDM and the latter would strive to skill up the State and tune and tone up the trainees through wholesome and holistic approaches and facilitative framework of policy dispensation.
