Skill Vibes: Pause..Reflect..

I ndia is building at a historic scale—smart cities, highways, metro systems, logistics hubs, Industrial hubs, airports, renewable energy parks and digital infrastructure, all expanding rapidly. These projects are growth engines, catalyzing sectors like hospitality and tourism, healthcare, manufacturing, renewable energy etc and other supporting essentials. But while we pour concrete, lay tracks, and raise skylines, we must ask: A re we building people relatively at the same scale? India, with all its resources deployed on ground, supported by the National Skill Policies of 2009, 2015 and now with 2025 on the anvil, has not yet been able to achieve its full potential. There are several challenges, which readers are well aware of, however, a few critical ones worth highlighting are, (a) need for a credible Labour Market Information System (LMIS),      (b ) lack of serious Industry connect including industry participation, particularly in the host of Government (both Centr...

India is on the fast track to becoming a developed nation, with a booming economy, rapid urbanization, and ambitious growth targets. However, solid waste management continues to be a dampener. There are of course exceptional islands of excellence worth emulating. Still, inspite of the Swatch Bharat Campaign, mass awareness, adoption of good practices and technology integration remains limited. It is estimated that every day, urban centers in India generate about 150,000 tons of solid waste, with a broad breakup of organic waste 40 to 60%, recyclable 10 to 15%, plastic 8 to12%, inert 5 to 8% and hazardous 2 to 3%, of which only 70-75% is collected, and even less—around 20-25%—is actually treated. This stark gap is not just a challenge of infrastructure or technology but also of skill and will, both at the Govt at all levels and the public at large. While technical "skills" in solid waste management (SWM) remain limited, the "will" to address these gaps comprehensivel...

"Atithi Devo Bhava" was a very powerful tag line used by the Ministry of Tourism. These three words sum up the Indian culture in the way Indian families believe in treating their guests. This campaign played a crucial role in fostering a more welcoming and respectful environment for tourists in India, thereby increasing Intenational tourist arrival by 10 -12 % and domestic tourist by 7 -9 %.  Unfortunately, the impact was short lived and soon forgotten.  We all understand that tourism has the potential to transform the country by stimulating economic growth, enhancing cultural exchange and promoting sustainable development. It not only contributes to the GDP directly by generating revenue from various sector like hospitality, transportation, retail, entertainment etc, it also has a multiplier effect in sector like agriculture and construction.  It is encouraging to see rise in infrastructure spending with focus on good quality roads, airports, and railways. The recent uni...

A n  analysis by a leading business news paper shows that 22.2 per cent of certified candidates were placed under all versions of PMKVY as on March 14, 2023. The overall numbers have seen some variation between phases. Overall, f ewer than one in four candidates certified under a key government skill development scheme have been placed.  There are several reasons to this questionable performance which can be discussed at length some other time, however, one of the most important reasons is the compromised quality of training and assessment. As they say, bad news travels fast, hence the resultant impact on placements.  Perhaps it is time to shift the focus of such schemes from Employment to Employability. While employment is essential for economic stability and growth, it serves as a short-term goal to address immediate needs and measure program success. Employability, on the other hand, goes beyond merely obtaining a job; it involves developing skills, knowledge, and atti...

I t was 2 am in the dead of night when my phone startled me awake. I saw it was a call from the hospital where my mother, aged 91, was undergoing treatment in the ICU. My heart raced as multiple thoughts flooded my mind. The hospital staff urgently asked me to come to the radiology department for an immediate MRI of my mother's brain. Earlier that afternoon, she had a pulmonary procedure under general anaesthesia and hadn't fully recovered yet. On reaching the MRI lab, curious about the emergency, I inquired further. The MRI technician explained that his machine was fully booked, so they created emergencies based on available slots rather than the patient's medical condition. Needless to say, his explanation and attitude rubbed me the wrong way. But knowing my mother's history with a brain stroke eight years ago, I decided to proceed with the MRI despite my reservations. Inside the closed doors of the MRI lab, I could hear the technician raising his voice while my mothe...

The effectiveness of any skill development program heavily depends on the support provided to students throughout their journey.  An integral part of this support is skill counselling, which aims to guide and assist students during the mobilization, admissions, and assessments, including Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Unfortunately, the current state of skill counselling in India leaves much to be desired. There is a significant shortage of dedicated counselling professionals who can provide the necessary guidance and support to students as they navigate the complex skill development landscape. This shortage becomes particularly evident during the mobilization, admission, and placement phases when students require accurate information about courses, career prospects, hiring practices, and the relevance of different programs to their goals.  Some of it can be offset by technology (kiosks, websites), or through print material(brochures, leaflets) but may not be able to rep...

2005-06 were the early years when people were getting re-energized to the idea of skill development. Several platforms were getting created to bring stakeholders together to exchange views and discuss challenges and possible solutions.  It was one of these meetings where an idea was initiated to engage the senior and mid-management of the training system into taking some number of classes in the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to make the training process more efficient. This also had some added advantages where the senior and mid-management could get a first-hand feel of the training institutes and would also keep the staff at the institute more alert. However, the response of one senior representative was alarming, as he stated that he had worked hard to advance in his career and did not want to return to the institute. The mindset and culture within the training system revealed by his statement remain unchanged even now after 18 years.  Nevertheless, there is merit in...

The gap between what the industry needs and what the skill training institutes offer has remained despite the efforts of the eco-system created by the Skill India initiative. There is no let up in the efforts and investments with the view to continuously upgrade and realign to the changing environment. Taking a clue from the NEP 2020, which aims to provide an inclusive, equitable, and quality education system that fosters critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. One approach to achieving the objectives of bridging the skill gap is through the use of design thinking, a human-centered problem-solving methodology that emphasizes empathy, experimentation, and collaboration. In practice, design thinking, which includes critical thinking and problem-solving, can be useful in a variety of contexts, like curriculum design, project-based learning, and teacher/trainer training. For example, in the context of curriculum design, design thinking can be used to develop courses that are re...

The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is a flagship scheme of the Indian Government aimed at providing skill-based training and certification to the youth. Recently, the scheme was in the news when the Finance Minister in the Union Budget speech said “Under PMKVY 4.0, on-job training, industry partnership, and alignment of courses with needs of industry will be emphasised,” The Minister further said. “The scheme will also cover new-age courses for Industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills.” The FM rightfully mentioned strengthening the industry connect and introduction of future skills in PMKVY 4.0, India's latest version of the skills development program. The development and refinement of these niche future technologies is the job of people possessing higher level of education and skills; however, it is the "application" of these skills which falls under the preview of programs like the PMKVY. It is thus pru...

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 proposes the revision and revamping of all aspects of the education structure to create a new system that is aligned with the aspirational goals of the 21st century. The policy mentions that it is critical that children not only learn, but more importantly learn how to learn, thus moving towards less content and more towards critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, how to innovate, adapt and absorb new material. Pedagogy, thus must evolve to become more experiential, holistic, integrated, discovery oriented etc making learning enjoyable. The teacher must be at the centre of the fundamental reforms in the education system.  The implementation of the NEP 2020 it appears will hinge on the most important link in the value chain ie the "Teacher".  The 4 important aspects impacting the teachers directly are shortage  of teachers; their t raining and capacity building; r e-establishing the respect of the teachers as essential membe...

My article published in the Editorial Section of the Skill Reporter online magazine is reproduced below:  It can also be accessed via the link: https://www.skillreporter.com/2022/09/editorial/recognition-prior-learning-rpl-skill-development-expert-inder-gahlaut/ Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Glass half full or half empty RPL by definition and common understanding across the globe is the process of formally recognising a candidate’s previous achievements from a range of activities, towards part of a qualification and not just a skill certification component to enable Indian youth to take on industry relevant skill certification which will help them to secure a better livelihood as described in the skill development’s flagship scheme PMKVY. The Government has laid great emphasis on RPL that is why 72.5% target allocation of PMKVY 3.0 is in favour of RPL, however, corresponding efforts to strengthen the system to deliver this component requires attention. There are guideli...

I n  2021, Edtechs started on a high, garnering $ 6Bn funding. According to some reports, there are 9043 edtech startups in India alone, largely competing for the K12 segment. The party seems to have slowed down in 2022 once the schools opened. The funding dried up,  valuations plunged, and enrolments dropped resulting in mass layoffs (6000 laid off and as per experts, they may lay off another 60,000).  The fundamental question that arises is who was the target audience!! School Management, Teachers, Students, Parents or  ... the answer is not very simple. The internet is full of stories from lack of a viable sustainable business plan; a near non-existent market survey; key target audience ie teachers and students ignored; mindless scaleup; expenditure on non-essentials; lack of understanding of the education sector; value vs valuation, and many more such like issues. Education is a serious business, specially in a country as diverse as India. It is a long haul. More...

  T he Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) are back in news with fresh announcements in the Union Bugget 2022. " Startups will be promoted to facilitate "Drone Shakti" through varied applications and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS). In select ITIs, in all states, the required courses for skilling, will be started." The ITI system ideally, needs to be flexible and nimble footed to adopt to the dynamic needs of the industry to supply skilled manpower in the normal course of functioning, rather then a push from the Union Budget. These institutes (barring a few) are plagued with inefficiency due to shortage of staff specially the Principals (it is not uncommon to find one Principal managing several ITIs, in some cases hundreds of Kms apart), ill equipped trainers, outdated tools and equipment or even shortage of outdated equipment. The silver lining is that at the top level there is willingness to change things for better, hence funds are being pumped regularly int...

  S kill Universities, as a concept included in the National Skills Policy 2015 has become fashionable in the Indian Skills ecosystem. A number of such Universities have already come up and many more are in the process of setting up. At the top level, the development of Human Resource is divided between MSDE and MHRD, which must converge to  become one big HRD Ministry with two major verticals of Education and Skills under one Cabinet Minister. The recent portfolio allocation of appointing one Cabinet Minister for both the Ministries was a positive move, hopefully next step should be to merge the two.  At the next level, the UGC will have to make special provisions for these Skills Universities to optimise their functioning. An example to support the points is the guidelines for hiring of trainers, which must be at least in as much detail as for hiring of the Assistant Professors and above. These Universities may aim to enhance the social aspiration of the potential stude...

Perception is commonly understood as the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted and Reality is referred to  the state of things as they actually exist. Perception easily becomes reality or rather subsume reality and has the potential to typecast an individual, group, community or even a nation. It certainly does not imply that perceptions are without any basis. These are based on individual or collective experiences.  Some years back in Berlin, while trying to adjust to time zone, in the middle of the night, infact it was past mid night, gazing outside from the hotel windows I saw a man walking down the street and wanting to cross the other side.  He waited for the pedestrian light to turn green before crossing an empty road. Next night I saw him again. Seeing this reality it confirmed my perception about the German's self discipline.  In another setting in a different city in Germany,  listening to some eminent Germans of their...

S mart Cities is a wonderful mission. To make it sustainable, it has been argued to extend the project to make cities liveable, which makes sense. One look at the websites of the 100 selected Smart Cities shows a lot of work is in progress, some bit executed, appears more for visibility with low impact, easy to execute projects, however, more serious work is in planning / tendering phase. The question that arises is who will plan and execute these smart / liveable city projects? Will the dependence continue on the expertise of existing people who have been responsible for messing up the city planning!! There are 79 indicators (57 core and 22 supporting) listed by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India as “Liveability Standards in Cities” to generate the liveability index and rate cities. The list is very comprehensive. Each of these indicators, whether it is water management or pollution control or transport / traffic management, toilets, or energy, or crime control...

  T he ‘Kaushalacharya Samadar 2020’ was organised  on the 10th September to celebrate & honour 91 trainers & gurus across 5 categories & 21 subcategories who have made an incredible difference in the entire skill ecosystem. A great way to honour the trainers of the skill ecosystem based on their hard work and dedication. Such events do raise the respect and self esteem of the trainers.  However, the point to ponder is whether the impact of such one off events is lasting? Or is there something else that needs to be done simultaneously for a  continuous and longer impact? A detailed analysis is required to find a meaningful solution.  There is no one solution that will motivate the trainers and at the same time make the profession more respectable and desirable. Training of trainers is beyond doubt most critical. There are several examples to prove that largely the trainers are technically no better than the trainees themselves. The MSDE, NSDC and SSC...

T he Skilling Ecosystem continues to struggle to develop desired competencies for their trainers & trainees the lack of  which results in unreasonable failure rates and low placement percentages. The data made public by NSDC recently shows failure rates are more in the manufacturing sector as compared to the service sector job roles. Stakeholder at all levels are making positive contribution, however we still keep missing the goal by a big margin.  What are the possible reasons? There is no one specific reason but a host of them cutting across the "Skills Value Chain". Their combined effect keeps us away from the fundamental goal of enhancing Competencies. To discuss a few: a)  Setting up an ITI / Skill development center without linking it to the local and regional labour market survey, leading to a mismatch of demand and supply in the local area. Many times the focus is on choosing job roles with minimum investment disregarding the actual local requirements.  b...

T he ultimate beneficiary of the minimum wages is the workforce segmented into "unskilled, semi-skilled,  skilled and highly-skilled". Hence, ideally, the wage matrix must encourage the potential worker to up skill / re skill so be able to earn a higher wage to improve his / her quality of life.  Do minimum wages backed by the Code on Wages Act 2019, which has replaced the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Payment of Wages Act, 1936; Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 really encourage skills development? Or there is a room for further improvement!! Just as a matter of interest, the minimum wages are calculated based on a complex matrix basis of a family of four members ie husband, wife, and two children below the age of 14 years. The husband is taken as 1 unit, wife as 0.8  and children as 0.6 each. Thus taking a family as 03 consumption units. There have been some suggestions lately to include parents also. The wage takes into account several parameters ...