Lack of workforce with employable skills is a major challenge for industries

- A picture of continuing pessimism in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

The Standing Committee of the Parliament has expressed its displeasure with the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana scheme despite giving a new look to it as issues like poor placement and indifference in utilization of funds for the scheme continue. The scheme is being implemented by the National Skill Development Corporation and is currently the third phase of the scheme. Under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana-3, only seven and a half percent or about 30,500 candidates have got jobs out of approximately four lakh certified candidates till June 30. Out of the Rs 686 crore released for the scheme, only 43 per cent or Rs 295 crore has been used, the report submitted by the committee to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha stated with displeasure. The Committee noted that even after imparting skills, the level of placement of candidates is very low, due to which the original objective of bringing the scheme is not being achieved. Not only this, the committee also regretted that despite the release of sufficient amount of funds, it could not be utilized.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana-3 was launched in January last year. Scheme-3 was announced with the aim of providing training to the youth in accordance with the current job market and meeting the market demand. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana-3, states have also been entrusted with the responsibility of providing skills among the youth. However, the report notes that states are not able to play their role equally due to issues including limited availability of teachers required to provide training, limited availability of placement partners due to less industrialization.

Compared to countries like America, Europe, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the number of unemployed youth in India is more. The number of working youth in India has been declining for the past few years. According to World Bank statistics, more than fifty percent of youth in the 15 to 24 age group in North America are employed. While in India this level is 23 percent. It is 39 percent in Pakistan and 35 percent in Bangladesh. Sri Lanka is slightly ahead of India with a level of 24 percent. The economic reforms started in the country since the 1990s have not provided employment opportunities among the youth. One of the reasons behind this is that with the economic reforms, new technology and machinery started arriving in the country, which required a more skilled workforce to operate. Another report has noted that among the 15 to 24-year-old workforce entering the job market in the country, 15 to 17-year-old youths do not have enough skills in a particular field. 15 to 17 year old youth can do most of the work of reading and writing. Keeping this fact in mind, there is an urgent need to diversify the vocational training of the country. There is currently a high demand for manpower in software, pharma and financial services sectors in the country. But due to lack of specific training placements cannot be done in this field, due to which the number of unemployed is increasing.

It was announced by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to provide employment to ten lakh people in the next 15 months. After reviewing the condition of human resources of all ministries and government departments, the PMO has instructed to provide employment to one million people in the next one and a half years. It has been urged to complete this target by the end of December 2023.

Automation is being widely adopted by industries but no exact figures are made available by the government on how many employees are required to be skilled for it. How can the government figure out where and how much to invest in skilling in the absence of accurate statistics? Such questions are also being asked from many levels. The threat of automation to employment has been mentioned in various reports, but the exact amount is seldom known. There are varying estimates of the impact of automation on employment, but the data coming in is alarming.

Emphasis is being placed on the skilling required for automation but the vocational training provided at the higher education level is not commensurate with the time or the demand of the country's industries. Automation has permeated most of the components of the information technology service sector. There does not appear to be clear guidelines coming out at the government level as to what kind of jobs are being lost and created due to automation or artificial intelligence and what kind of education and skilling is required for them. The government has talked about providing 10 lakh jobs, but there is still no clear light on who these jobs are and what kind of skilling is required for them. If the new form of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana scheme is to be successful, the government will have to demand employees with skilling as required so that the qualified youth can be assured of getting employment along with certificates.