vision of a skilled India

Sanjeev Dhawan

The world is graying.

One of the few countries that are young is India. It is also the most populous young country.

with a high growth it needs skilled manpower. It also will be a major supplier of skilled manpower to the graying world.

It is estimated that India will need to develop 500 million skilled manpower by 2022 to meet this daunting challenge.

It requires probably the biggest ever training endeavourer in the world history.

Our existing vocational training infrastructure (Presently there are over 4971 ITIs (1869 in Govt. & 3102 in Private Sector) having a total seating capacity of 7.18 lakhs) is capable of producing 3 million skilled manpower a year and has so far produced 30 million skilled people. This underlines the gravity of the situation. The gap is overwhelming. Not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality.

more

Child Labour

Source: The National , September 10^th 2009

PATNA, INDIA // Thirteen-year-old Chunmun Kumari was once the face of Unicef’s campaign against child labour in India. Three years later, however, she is still working up to 14 hours a day. Although it is at a roadside tea stall run by her mother in the capital of impoverished Bihar state, Chunmun’s fate, like tens of millions of other destitute Indian children, illustrates the failure of the state to enforce child labour laws, advocacy groups say.

Chunmun’s mother, Sita Devi, said Unicef and local government officials promised financial assistance and free education to her daughter, but their promises proved hollow. “Initially officials came when her picture appeared on posters across India. They promised help but nothing was given to her, actually, not even any compensation for the picture by Unicef,” she said.

more