In Bihar recently the trains were burnt as in the exam for Railway Recruitment Board-Non-Technical Popular Categories where there were apparently 354 applicants per post for 7 Lakh Railway posts, the questions were of higher standards . So for each one selected 353 will still be on the roads. And if each gives 5 attempts to get a government job, then 123.5 Crore man-years would have been lost in selecting 7 lakh railway workers. Add other jobs and the number becomes humungous. This huge hidden cost that our country is spending on IDLING makes India’s unemployed and unemployable masses economically unproductive and a huge economic cost apart from vulnerable in view of National stability and security. The latest NFH Survey shows that Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of India has reached 2.0 and so the demographic dividend window is very narrow. QUALITY SKILLING and CERTIFICATION of the existing populace could be an easier way to pull a large number of people out of unemployment and ultimately poverty.
What do these crores of applicants see in a Government Job: JOB SECURITY and HIGH SELF ESTEEM…i.e assured that the salary will come at the end of the month and people will come for favours. Now let us look at those who are in Govt jobs. They treat the entrepreneurs/businessmen who face the Market Risks day in and day out to create wealth and jobs with disdain and instead of honouring them, lower their self esteem. So while on the one hand there is double whammy ( uncertainty & low self esteem ) for the businessman, there is security and high handedness as bounty of the government employee. I recall here the story wherein when a father told his son to throw the money he got in the well, he threw the money that he got from his sister or relatives but protested the day his own hard earned money he was told to throw in the well. I guess something similar is the ground reality of the govt employees. They do not understand how much the common man labours and faces uncertainty to earn his hard-earned money.
The West has used Skill development as the key is to shift from Blue collar to White collar job which people will want to do. For instance, the German way is skill development from class 4 onwards.. then sieve in 8th. By the time the person graduates, he is an expert craftsman… White Collared…and no graduate engineer or bureaucrat can demean him.
Can that be our goal? White collar job has respect, career, demand from all over the world. The Basic ingredient the business asks for is Quality… How do we teach Quality consciousness, quality mind… Perfection… There is Zero compromise on quality in China and the West. Their success formula is “Produce the best else don’t produce”..can we do it in India…Once we train people for white collared job by virtue of being quality conscious, and they will surely be paid well so they will not waste time waiting for government jobs.
We often compromise on every aspect of outcomes. How to create mindsets to give highest value to quality and zero Compromise. Make QUALITY as the gold standard… and things will change forever. We have to create value for skilled labour which takes PRIDE in their QUALITY of WORK…and whom Industry will also respect.
That is where I feel a strong intervention in QUALITY SKILL DEVELOPMENT is absolutely essential as it will give SECURITY as well as SELF ESTEEM… the very ingredients that one looked for in a Government job. How to create people who value their skills and aspire to be White Collar Workers??
Let us look at the following ground realities of current set up:
- The Skill development/ Vocational education etc are usually looked down upon as low priority/ punishment posts in government, way below Directorates of Higher Education and School Education.
- Those who teach the skills, especially in ITI s etc also feel that they are obsolete type and looked down upon ‘C grade’ govt servants. They in turn produce uninspired workers trained on old machines.
- The Govt employees, including those at the cutting edge who deal with the public in the line departments treat the public as pieces of paper at best and not as humans or lives associated with their work. They mostly lower the self esteem of a public person than raise it.
- Also most Government employees, including those at senior levels, have no idea about the relevance of their department vis-a-vis the job market or link between the services their department proposes to offer and the categories of skilled jobs they may end up affecting/influencing/creating by their activities. e.g Electric Vehicles, with so few moving parts and with new ecosystem, will hit thousands
of roadside mechanics, but are we working on that? - Common man hardly goes to the State machinery/ Govt to get solace when in despair. He does not expect that they will understand his pain. I know of a saint who plants and distributes 33 crore floral
sapling every year and since the ground water was saline, applied for subsidized water tank to irrigate his flower seed beds with sweet water. Now the horticulture department says, yes you have an irrigation tank and maybe you do plant floral saplings, but, unless you plant an orchard your subsidy will not be released. - So there is no empathy for the common man who earns his bread by his skill as the persons sitting in the offices deciding their fates do not understand that skill and effort is necessary to earn money.
- Also, it is a fact that not everyone is able to earn well. Most dropped out of academic system as it did not inspire them or due to poverty and apprenticed with someone ( USTAD ji) who taught them over a number of years how to do odd-jobs and make their ends meet. The Ustaad ji also learnt work similarly. If only they were able to get some hard earned Certification that tingles their SELF ESTEEM.
- Low grade skills with low quality outcomes leads to UNDERSELLING and ultimately Poverty and further lowering of self esteem. If SKILLED WELL, then they will not undersell themselves and will respect their own work, and so does the public. A good Skilled worker is always most sought after and is never unemployed.
- Also, there is no system to separate the good WORKMEN from the ordinary or below average. I have been asking people whom I want to hire for their list of past employers, but they don’t have any credentials, or are scared of getting exposed. All they have is an Adhaar card which has no column for Skill sets.
MY SUGGESTIONS to boost JOB SECURITY and SELF ESTEEM of SKILLED WORKERS:
- Certification CAMPAIGN for WORKERS in VARIOUS TRADES For Creating the finest standards we need Certification? While the Organized sector is able to organize Training and Certification, the UNORGANIZED SECTOR WORKERS should be motivated to see VALUE ADDITION and incentivised for Certification. Employment Exchanges and GIG EMPLOYERS like URBAN CLAP should have a category for CERTIFIED SKILLED WORKERS and even the existing Artisans can be roped in through RPL to certify each artisan for quality, for perfection. Employment exchanges be mandated to promote CERTIFIED Workers prominently and AREA BASED MAPPING Of AVAILABLE CERTIFIED WORKERS be made so that rather than standing in the LABOUR MANDIES, they get access to online Labour Mandies from where people can hire them with assured skill sets.
- RATING SYSTEM for SKILLED WORKERS by their beneficiaries. Publicly accessible low-cost Software should be designed so that Skilled workers can be rated by their beneficiaries online. For all the workers available in the field, we should give each skilled person a low cost ADHAAR LINKED web link (like LINKEDIN) where he /she can ask those who he/she has worked with to RATE THEM and even upload CREDENTIALS. Those who are good will get good ratings, and maybe will command a premium and get a better price for their services. Ratings will lead to better earnings and also motivate the person to do a better job and improve his/her market value. NSDC or STATE LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT MISSIONS can give that CREDIBLE RATING SERVICE for the SKILLED PERSONS. It will also lead to healthy competition and some inspiration for people new in the line. With time people will get odd jobs/daily work based on REFERRALS and maybe even employers like URBAN CLAP will start preferring higher rated persons. These ratings should be dated and at least last 5 years ratings be shown to public.
- TRAINING VOCATIONAL SKILLS to LINE EMPLOYEES in GOVERNMENT Departments
This is essential so that they start understanding the skills of their client public and not treat them as semi-literates. Each person working on a particular seat should have done a course pertaining to his/her field of work in order to continue to get his salary within six months of getting charge if that seat. Those who say that they already know their fields can qualify through RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning), which can be tested ONLINE and must earn an NSQF SKILL certificate. For instance, each person working in Animal Husbandry should be skilled: The Animal Attendant in Dairy Farming, Piggery officer in Pig Farming, Sheep Development Officer in Sheep/ Goat Farming, the Fishery Officer in Fish Farming/Aquaculture, The Horticulture Officer in Specific Horticulture, the APIARY officer in BEE KEEPING, The CHILD DEVELOPMENT & Planning Officer , the ICDS Supervisor and Anganwadi Worker in CHILD CARE, ASHA workers in Maternal Care, The Soil Testing or the Fertilizer Testing helper must be a SKILLED FARMER, The Horticulture Development Assistant must be skilled Horticulturist of at least one crop and must get extra honours/credit for knowing many crops, the Social Welfare Person must be Qualified Manager in Hospitality as per NSQF etc. etc. Learning this kind of Skill Development will also be a great leveller within the departments and increase focus of the employees apart from generating empathy amongst them towards their clientale. Even the clerks and Multitask workers must be compelled to practice and clear at least one course that leads to LIVELIHOOD Generation for the public so that when public looks up to them, they should not only be able to tell/counsel people to choose a profitable Skill line and earn money rather than spend years in wasted attempts to get a government job. They will then give DUE RESPECT to boost SELF ESTEEM of Skilled Workers/Businessmen. A directory of all Stakeholders of each department and Skillsets where we can train the staff to promote jobs needs to be made like Wikipedia. The applicants should necessarily be rated extra on these CERTIFIED SKILL SETS as well at the time of their Govt recruitment even for a Multi Task Staff. - DUAL CERTIFICATION by all Vocational colleges
It is well known that most people attend GNM/ANM course only in the hope of a Government job that never comes. Same applies to DEd (Diploma in Special Education) and Veterinary & Livestock Development Assistant (VLDA) course. Why not, during the course itself train the person and certify him/her as GDA( General Duty Assistant) or Home Health Aide ( along with GNM/ANM). Or as Dairy farmer and Entrepreneur or Dairy Farm manager along with VLDA Or as Assistant Physiotherapist/ Caregiver for the Disabled along with D.Ed. This will make the students/aspirants look forward for NON-Govt jobs as well and those who do get in the Govt jobs would be more empathetic towards their counterparts who will then be actual workers in the field. This will lead to continuous learning rather than IDLING and also make a PLAN B available to the aspirants if they fail to get the coveted Govt job. Ultimately it will improve the aspirational level, employability and self esteem of skilled workers in the Job market and life in General. - RATING of GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES for JOB CREATION/ RAISING SELF ESTEEM of WORKERS:
Ultimate aim of Government is to create jobs for the economy to prosper. Each Govt. employee should be rated in their ACR for the number of persons he/she counselled and Skilled Workers he/she could create who got employment/self employment. The Metrics for this could be difficult for some departments, but at least the focus will shift to Skill Development and JOBS CREATION rather than pushing the files. They would also understand the real hurdles on the path of job creation and running a business and hopefully be more empathetic towards ENTERPRENEURS/MSMEs. - RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS ON QUALITY:
SHOWCASING QUALITY work done by SKILLED PERSONS: we should launch visual albums and You tube Channels on good quality work done by skilled workers in various fields and how Poor Quality is not cheaper and leads to higher costs in the long run. Mostly it is the customer who also seeks poor quality or CHALTA HAI attitude and unless we push up the DEMAND SIDE, SUPPLY of QUALITY SERVICES will not happen. So well documented pictorial representations of what quality means, in each field, task and service must be highlighted, be it cleaning utensils or making a desk or a pillar in a building…It should be in local languages and people availing services would be able to understand what to look for in quality while availing the services. For instance, even the best of kitchen slab is no good if its slope is not towards the sink, or the best tiles in the bathroom are of no use if they don’t help draining the water easily, or best electrical fittings are of no use if EARTHING is not proper. - EXPORTING SKILLED MANPOWER:
To increase the general skill sets and Quality, we should focus on exporting Skilled manpower and deploy as TRAINERS at least some FOREIGN RETURNED SKILLED WORKERS so that they can instil quality and raise self-esteem and aspirational level of our workers. - CREATING SOCIAL SECURITY :
One of the biggest reasons for insecurity is during ill health and the worker class suffers most from addiction and substance abuse which ultimately leads to Lower Self esteem and also Insecurity for self and the family. So while we must emphasize on Skill development, it should be our endeavour to link quality and longevity to lack of substance abuse. I think as apart of SOFT SKILLS we should teach the workers how to avoid /get out of substance abuse, invest in some social security and thus focus on Self-esteem and Quality. It would not be a bad idea to give 0.5% extra interest lifetime in Provident Fund or some extra E.S.I benefit to a NSQF SKILLED WORKER. We can create a separate queue/Priority Service at ESI hospitals/METRO STATIONS/BUS STOPS for SKILLED WORKERS. Just that thought itself of being special will lead to self esteem and inspire people to go for Quality upgradation rather than stay unskilled. - Including CAREGIVING of ELDERLY and DIVYANG under MGNREGA.
Research shows that in order to give Long Term Care to bedridden Elderly and Divyangs, their caregiving should be allowed as a legitimate activity under MGNREGS by counting Care by a Trained Caregiver of Four Bedridden Elderly or Four Bedridden Divyangs (DEPENDANT as per ADLs, Activity of Daily Living measuring scale, and whose children are away working elsewhere or are CHILDLESS) AS A MANDATE and removing the 100 days limit of employment allowed to a person in an year for NSQF ‘TRAINED, CERTIFIED’ CAREGIVERS. Estimates say that India currently needs 50 lakh Trained caregivers for the Elderly and another 50 Lakh for the Divyangs. This activity has to be included in the schedule of MGNREGA Scheme by amending the Schedule attached to the Act. It will empower India to use its demographic dividend and become a huge supplier of Caregivers to the whole world ( just as it did for IT sector) and will improve quality of care and give social security to the Elderly and Divyangs. It is often argued that under MGNREGS funds are for Asset creation so where is the Asset being created in this instance when an Elderly or Divyang is cared for ? The answer is that the person who would have to leave his/her job and family to care for that particular Elderly or Divyang would certainly be creating some National Asset at the other end. Such persons, when they are well off, would not leave back their dependent parents /Divyangs in the village back home. If they are not well off, let them have the peace of mind that TRAINED, CERTIFIED CARE is being given back home, if only for 2 hours daily. If they have the resources they will employ these Trained male/ female caregivers for extra hours.
Ultimately if we succeed in this, then India, given its great weather and sunshine round the year, can well become the CARE CAPITAL of the WORLD and INDIANS can be the CAREGIVERS to the WORLD. Finally when India gets really old, these Trained Caregivers will promote empathy and give a push to Care for elderly which by then would have become a respectable and acceptable profession. - Training SOFT SKILLS to Cutting edge Govt Employees/Political Executive All Government Employees (especially those at the cutting edge), as a part of their INDUCTION TRAINING be SPECIFICALLY TRAINED to RESPECT Entrepreneurs and Self Employed persons and rating by client public of Government officials must be taken up on a large scale. Adverse rating given by a SKILLED WORKER to a Govt employee should be treated as their 360 degree evaluation and built in their ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW. Then Govt employees will start treating these SKILLED WORKERS with Grace and respects which will change the ethos of Skill development in India.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the author Dr. Sunil Kumar Gulati, Retd. Special Chief Secretary, Haryana. The matter and intent of this article has not been edited by skillreporter.com. SkillReporter shall not be responsible for any damage if caused to any person/ organization directly or indirectly.
