Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that India has become a favourable destination for investors from all across the world.

Union Minister of State for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports, Sarbananda Sonowal has called upon entrepreneurs and multinational companies to invest in Assam.

Sonowal, who was inaugurating the FICCI’s 7th Global Skills Summit on Wednesday, said that Assam’s handloom and artefact sectors were quite developed and investors could look into these two sectors.

He said the Centre is also working out schemes for development of the sectors within a specific time-frame. He said that labours in the State do not get adequate remuneration.

Referring to the industrial scenario of Assam, he said that because of its geographical location, weak economy and problem of insurgency, unemployment is acute.

He said that the Central government is working on developing the infrastructure within a time-frame and if the private sector chips in, then the problem of unemployment, which is one of the root causes of insurgency, could be resolved.

Sonowal, highlighting the specific needs of North-east, said that the region faces additional challenges, including those of topography and geography. It is essential to focus on inclusive skill development and reaching out to these challenging areas, such as those affected by left-wing extremism in the North-eastern and other hill States.

“I urge my friends from the industry to come forward and work with us to reach out to the youth in these areas. It is only through collective action and consolidated plan from all the stakeholders present here today that we can facilitate access to wage and self-employment opportunities for the working population of these regions and give them hope for a better future. Having first- hand knowledge of one of these areas, I can assure you about the potential of the youth in these areas,” he said.

Minister of State (I/C) Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal has said that his Ministry will welcome and embrace all meaningful skill development efforts with open arms, as skill development is a social transformation tool leading to wealth creation for individuals and through them, for the entire nation.

Inaugurating the Global Skills Summit here today, He called upon the Industry to focus on inclusive skilling and reaching out to areas affected by left-wing extremism, the North-Eastern region and other hill states. He urged the captains of the Industry to come forward and work with the government to reach out to the youth in the challenging areas of the country. He said women constitute a sizable number in the country; however, their participation in the economic growth is limited. Shri Sonowal said, this must change by creating a conducive environment for their participation in the skills development activities.

Shri Sonowal said, the importance of skill development was echoed by the Prime Minister on 15th August when he said “If we have to promote the development of our country, then our mission has to be “skill development” and “skilled India.” The minister said that the best way to achieve this is to converge and synthesize all efforts, which his ministry is set to do. At the same time, we have to excite and engage the youth of the country to participate without inhibitions. This requires delivery of skills to meet the local aspirations, demand and conditions. It is time that we make the youth and the parents aware that developing skills is as important and dignified as securing a degree.

Following the text of the speech:

“I am grateful to FICCI for having given me an opportunity for discussing Skill Development, which is one of the most critical subjects for India today. I am told that the FICCI Global Skills Summit is an annual event and every year the skilling community gathers at FICCI to debate and exchange thoughts and ideas to recharge themselves and translate these ideas to actions on ground. While coming on to the dias, I signed the Skills Pledge, an expression of my commitment to honour skills. I urge everyone to do the same – even those who have signed the pledge earlier need to renew their commitment.

The importance of skill development was echoed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 15th August when he said “If we have to promote the development of our country, then our mission has to be “skill development” and “skilled India.” We also understand that the best way to achieve this is to converge and synthesize all efforts, which my ministry is set to do. At the same time, we have to excite and engage the youth of the country to participate without inhibitions. This requires delivery of skills to meet the local aspirations, demand and conditions. It is time that we make the youth and the parents aware that developing skills is as important and dignified as securing a degree.

We all know that this mammoth task cannot be achieved by the government alone. Industry’s participation is necessary, and I urge FICCI to take the lead in bringing the industry onboard to recognize skills not only through jobs but through preferential employment, increased salaries / wages and creating an atmosphere within their companies for employees to get skilled and upskilled. Industry has to lead by example, and there are many ways that you can contribute. Providing apprenticeship opportunities is one. This will help reduce the disconnect between industry and vocational training centres as well as school education and vocational training, which will ensure that the training is less relevant to industry’s needs. A larger effort is needed to percolate the same feeling in the community, since in our case the unorganized sector offers more employment than the organized sector. Unless the community starts demanding quality work, the importance of skilling will not easily set in.

The Government has been facilitating the setting up of sector skills councils, to bridge the employer, the training providers and the educational system. The sector skills councils can play a very important role, but that is only if you as members of the industry engage with them. The basic function of the Sector Skills Council is to present the view points and needs of the sector that it represents, and its effectiveness in being able to do so will depend on how well it is interacting with its members. This is a two-way responsibility – while the Sector Skills Council need to reach out to individual units in the sector, each such unit also needs to make its view known to the council. In this context the theme of the Global Skills Summit: “India’s Skill Eco-system: from Design to Action” is appropriate. The action has begun.

Women constitute a sizable number in our country; however, their participation in the economic growth is limited. This must change by creating a conducive environment for their participation in the skills development activities. I am happy to note that this important issue is set to be discussed in the summit.

Moreover, the magnitude of the task ahead is so great that only an outcomes-based approach with scope for mobility, both vertical and horizontal within and between general and vocational streams will get us close to the objective of skilling the youth. Consequently, the National Skills Qualification Framework, a competency based framework has been notified which would make the youth break all inhibitions regarding vocational education. Such an approach would also mean that the millions of people in our country, who have mastered various crafts and trades through the traditional mode of the guru-shishya parampara, or who have become adept through sheer experience, could also become certified as long as they are able to perform to the outcome standards. This recognition of prior learning would itself empower millions of our workers through formal recognition of their skills.

Another dimension is the fact that 70% of this population of our country falls in rural and tribal India. To properly equip these millions of youth with the skill sets needed for them to be part of the modern work force, integration of skill development and the formal education system is necessary. This requires a collective effort by government, as well as by the private sector. The need of the hour is to synergize the efforts and resources to provide a feasible platform for vocational education and skill development. The ideal way forward will be to seek both national and international partnerships that will strengthen the process of quality and inclusivity. In this context, I would like to apprise you all that for the smooth implementation of the various skill development schemes of the government, we are rationalizing the various schemes of the government to achieve greater degree of convergence and harmonization. I assure you that we have also taken the regional differences in terms of geography into consideration and very soon we all will adopt a regionally balanced skill development approach which would be more fruitful.

It is important, through both macro and micro policies to create a Pull Factor which attracts and also enforces the people to get skilled to get into employment or self-employment. One such example could be to include a minimum percentage of certified skilled work forces in the tendering process of every manpower intensive project and increase the minimum percentage every year by a reasonable margin based on the life of the project. At a local level, the industry could enforce it by ensuring that their ancillary services like drivers, housekeeping, security etc. are certified skilled. Of course, besides ensuring that the people at the shop floor are certified skilled. Another important pull factor that needs to be addressed is the issue of minimum wages. These need to be re-looked and aligned to the levels defined in the National Skills Qualification Framework.

I understand that every year, this Summit is attended by delegations from foreign countries and we attempt to learn from each other. This year, I am told that we have representation from the United Nations, as well as from UK, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand, Canada, Pakistan and other parts of Europe. I am sure that this Summit will be mutually rewarding experience. I hope we will see concrete outcomes from this summit.

I cannot conclude without highlighting the specific needs of those regions of our country that face additional challenges, including those of topography and geography. It is essential to focus on inclusive skilling and reaching out to these challenging areas, such as those affected by left-wing extremism and the North-Eastern and other hill states. I urge my friends from the industry to come forward and work with us to reach out to the youth in these areas. It is only through collective action and consolidated plan from all the stakeholders present here today that we can facilitate access to wage and self-employment opportunities for the working population of these regions and give them hope for a better future. Having first- hand knowledge of one of these areas, I can assure you about the potential of the youth in these areas.

I take this opportunity to state that my Ministry and I will welcome and embrace all meaningful skill development efforts with open arms, as we see skill development as a social transformation tool leading to wealth creation for individuals and through them, for the entire nation. I wish you all a meaningful two days here and look forward to the receiving a summary of the actionable agenda”.

Minister of State for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge), today emphasized the need to re-visit the Minimum Wages Act to align wages to the levels defined in the National Skills Qualification Framework.

"Work must also commence on developing models for recognition of prior learning and developing a well-integrated credit framework for the country," Sarbananda Sonowal, the minister, said while inaugurating FICCI's 7th Global Skills Summit 2014 on the theme 'India's Skill Ecosystem: From Design to Action'.

The Minister said that it was important, through both macro and micro policies to create a pull factor which attracts and also enforces the people to get skilled to get into employment or self-employment.

In Focus

"One such example could be to include a minimum percentage of certified skilled work force in the tendering process of every manpower intensive project and increase the minimum percentage every year by a reasonable margin based on the life of the project", he said, adding that at the local level, the industry could enforce it by ensuring that their ancillary services like drivers, housekeeping and security and people at the shop floor are certified skilled.

Sonowal said that for skilling India it was imperative to excite and engage the youth of the country to participate without inhibitions along with meeting the local aspirations, demand and conditions.

The Minister later released the FICCI-KPMG knowledge paper on 'India's Skill Ecosystem: From Design to Action' and the FICCI-NSDC-IFFCO Foundation report on Skills Development Centre.

Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Senior Vice President, FICCI, pointed out that to achieve the PM's vision developing skills for employability rather than certificates, "The fundamental requirement is creating an ecosystem which assigns dignity to vocational education. This would go a long way in addressing the 'aspirational mismatch' that majority of our students go through. Unlike the old times where a degree alone guaranteed job security, in this new generation 'employability' is the key for securing jobs. A massive campaign is thus required to ensure that our youth, especially women take up vocational education and technical training as a career choice and not a chance."

RCM Reddy, MD & CEO, IL&FS Education and Skills and Chairman, FICCI Skill Development Forum, underlined the need for convergence of skill development efforts in the country and stated that the challenge was to make the Sector Skills Councils standards acceptable to industry.

The FICCI-KPMG paper points out that for the creation of a skill ecosystem, it would be extremely important to have the government's commitment for labour laws reforms and revisiting minimum wages act keeping NSQF as base for fixing wages and periodic revision taking inflation into account and having effective enforcement.

The FICCI-NSDC-IFFCO report sets out process guideline for setting up skill development centre. The guidelines, prepared in the light of real time experiences witnessed by researchers, incorporate best practices in skill development across the globe.

Government today appealed the industry to focus on inclusive skilling of youths in Left-Wing extremism affected areas and North Eastern states.

"It is essential to focus on inclusive skilling and reaching out to the challenging areas such as those affected by left-wing extremism and the North-Eastern and other hill states.

"I urge my friends from the industry to come forward and work with us to reach out to the youth in these areas," Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Sarbananda Sonowal, said after inaugurating the Global Skills Summit at FICCI here.

He also urged the industry to take the lead in recognising skills not only through jobs but through preferential employment, increased salaries and creating an atmosphere within their companies for employees to get "skilled and upskilled".

"It is only through collective action and consolidated plan from all the stakeholders that we can facilitate access to wage and self-employment opportunities for the working population of these regions and give them hope for a better future.

"Having first-hand knowledge of one of these areas, I can assure you about the potential of the youth in these areas," Sonowal said.

Urging the industry to lead by example and elaborating on ways in which it can contribute, the minister said that providing apprenticeship opportunities, was one of the ways which will help reduce the disconnect between industry and vocational training centres as well as school education and vocational training.

"My Ministry welcomes and embraces all meaningful skill development efforts with open arms as we see skill development as a social transformation tool leading to wealth creation for individuals and through them for the entire nation," he said.

He rued the fact that despite women constituting a sizable number in the country, their participation in the economic growth is limited.

"This must change by creating a conducive environment for their participation in the skills development activities," he said.

"I assure you that we have also taken the regional differences in terms of geography into consideration and very soon we all will adopt a regionally balanced skill development approach which would be more fruitful," he added.

Stating that 70 per cent of the country's population falls in rural and tribal India, Sonowal said that to properly equip these youth with the skill sets needed for them to be part of the modern work force, integration of skill development and the formal education system is necessary.

He said that it would require collective effort by government and private sector and the need of the hour is to synergies the efforts and resources to provide a feasible platform for vocational education and skill development.

"The ideal way forward will be to seek both national and international partnerships that will strengthen the process of quality and inclusivity," he said.

Sonowal said that National Skills Qualification Framework - a competency based framework - has been notified which would make the youth break all inhibitions regarding vocational education.

"Such an approach would also mean that the millions of people in our country, who have mastered various crafts and trades through the traditional mode of the guru-shishya parampara or who have become adept through sheer experience, could also become certified as long as they are able to perform to the outcome standards.

"This recognition of prior learning would itself empower millions of our workers through formal recognition of their skills," the minister said.

Stressing on the importance of creating a "Pull Factor" through both macro and micro policies to attract and enforce people to get skilled to get into employment or self employed, Sonowal said one such factor that needs to be addressed is the issue of minimum wages.

"These need to be re-looked and aligned to the levels defined in the National Skills Qualification Framework," he said.

Stating that "action has begun", Sonowal said that the government has been facilitating the setting up of sector skills councils to bridge the gap between the employer, the training providers and the educational system.

If the industry engages with it, the sector skills councils can play a very important role, he said, adding, the basic function of the Council is to present the view points and needs of the sector that it represents and its effectiveness in being able to do so will depend on how well it is interacting with its members.

"This is a two-way responsibility - while the Council needs to reach out to individual units in the sector, each such unit also needs to make its view known to the council," he said.

Industries have greater responsibility towards skill development that will promote the country and meet local aspirations, demand and conditions, union Minister of State for Skill Development Sarbananda Sonowal said Thursday.

"The industries should focus on inclusive skilling and reach out to areas affected by left-wing extremism, the northeastern region and hill states," Sonowal said at the 'Global Skills Summit' organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here.

Exhorting the industry experts to work with the government to reach out to the youths across the country, Sonowal said the skill development was a social transformation tool to create wealth for individuals and through them for the nation.

"As women constitute a sizeable number, they should also be made to participate in the skill development activities for the country's economic growth," the minister said.

Reiterating the prime minister's emphasis on making skill development and skilled India a mission to promote and develop the country, he said the youths and their parents should be made aware that developing skills was no less than securing a graduate degree in any course.

"The chambers should take the lead to make industries recognise skills not only through jobs, but also by giving preferential employment, higher salaries and facilitate their employees to acquire new skills," Sonowal said.

Delegations and representations from a dozen countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the Philippines have participated in the summit.

Industries have greater responsibility towards skill development that will promote the country and meet local aspirations, demand and conditions, union Minister of State for Skill Development Sarbananda Sonowal said on Thursday.

"The industries should focus on inclusive skilling and reach out to areas affected by left-wing extremism, the northeastern region and hill states," Sonowal said at the 'Global Skills Summit' organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here.

Exhorting the industry experts to work with the government to reach out to the youths across the country, Sonowal said the skill development was a social transformation tool to create wealth for individuals and through them for the nation.

"As women constitute a sizeable number, they should also be made to participate in the skill development activities for the country's economic growth," the minister said.

Reiterating the prime minister's emphasis on making skill development and skilled India a mission to promote and develop the country, he said the youths and their parents should be made aware that developing skills was no less than securing a graduate degree in any course.

"The chambers should take the lead to make industries recognise skills not only through jobs, but also by giving preferential employment, higher salaries and facilitate their employees to acquire new skills," Sonowal said.

Delegations and representations from a dozen countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the Philippines have participated in the summit.

K Rahman Khan, the Union Minister of Minority Affairs has suggested to set up a committee of the three Business Chambers and Ministry of Labour and Employment to give impetus to the efforts to promote skill development and employment opportunities in public and private sectors for minorities.

The minister said this while chairing a meeting to review the status of recruitment of minorities in government organisations/departments, public and private sectors. Seeking cooperation of CII, FICCI and PHDCCI for the entrepreneurship development for minorities, the Minister asked to join hands with the efforts and initiatives of the ministry as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility for skill development. Referring to Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) of the Ministry for creation of infrastructure like ITIs, Polytechnics etc in minority concentration blocks and towns, the Minister desired that the three chambers should weave their efforts and partner to augment the Ministry's initiatives.

The Minister also suggested to launch a sustained awareness campaign to disseminate information on the initiatives taken by the Ministry in partnership with Private Sector. Elaborating about the activities of Maulana Azad Educational Foundation, Khan wanted that all efforts must be made to make use of MAEF as a vehicle for educational advancement of minorities. The Minister urged that the resources of private business houses can be provided to MAEF under the Corporate Social Responsibility for the development of minorities in the fields of education, infrastructure development, providing scholarships, skill development and entrepreneurial development. Informing that government intends to give incentive to the institution that promote diversity, the Minister also wanted to know what else government can do for such institutions.

Earlier, reviewing the minorities’ status in employment in government and public sector, the minister directed the Department of Personnel and Training to ensure that all selection boards/committees for recruitment in government and public sector must have a member belonging to minority community. He further directed to sensitise all government departments in this regard and to provide a status report.

The officials from Ministry of Labour and Employment, Department of Personnel and Training, Department of Public Enterprises, representatives of CII, FICCI, PHDCCI along with the senior officers of the Ministry of Minority Affairs attended the meeting.

With the Congress having failed to ensure adequate share for minorities in Government jobs, Minority Affairs Ministry is now banking its hopes on corporates to provide training and development to help the ignored religious minorities get jobs.

The Ministry is working on setting up a joint committee with three business chambers — Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) — and with the Ministry of Labour and Employment to give impetus to promote skill development and employment opportunities in public and private sectors for minorities.

“A law was made to provide 4.5 per cent sub-quota reservation for minorities, but it had been stayed by the Supreme Court. So, there is no policy to secure any jobs or seats in academia for the minorities,” said K Rahman Khan, Minister for Minority Affairs.

“We are hopeful that the sub-quota should happen. We are in talks with the Attorney General to argue for advancing the hearing in the apex court so that the issue could be resolved soon but in the interim we have to help the minorities,” said Khan.

The Minister, who chaired a meeting on Tuesday to review the status of recruitment of minorities in Government organisations, sought cooperation from CII, FICCI and PHDCCI for the entrepreneurship development for minorities.

“Under the revamped multi-sectoral development programme, we are also working on establishing 44 polytechnics and 113 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the minority concentrated blocks. We have set aside at least 40-50 per cent of our 2013-14 Budget, which is about `1,250 crore to establish these vocational training institutes,” said Khan.

“While the Ministry is doing its job, the industry should also join in our efforts as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative,” he said.

In an earlier meeting when Khan was reviewing the minorities’ status in employment in Government and public sector, he had directed the department of personnel and training to ensure minority representation in all selection boards and committees for recruitment in Government and public sector.

A white paper “Skill for All- New Approaches to Skilling India”,by FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), was released by Dr. Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay, Minister in Charge, Department of Technical Education & Training, Government of West Bengal. The Mnister released the white paper at the 32^nd edition of India International Trade Fair which has theme “Skill for All”.

Dr Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay said, “We have already set up a State Level Skill Development Mission under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister. This will initiate a ‘Single window Approach’ for imparting skill training and introducing national level curricula, evaluation and certification to improve the employment opportunity of the youth within and outside the state”.

He said, “Skill Development is a major challenge that our country is facing. The chasm between population and employment figures of the country suggests that a huge chunk of potential workforce needs to be trained and suitably placed for accomplishing the goal of inclusive growth. A quick look at the national figures indicate that 65 per cent of the population would be in the working age-group by 2021 and around 80 per cent of these would have below class 12th level of education. The target of skilling 8 crore people in the 12th plan has been enjoined upon by the Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development.”

“The target for West Bengal has been pegged at 60 lakh in 2012-17 and 6.4 lakh in 2012-2013. Keeping this target in mind for the short-term and medium-term, we have our job cut out. The Government alone cannot shoulder this responsibility, so it is imperative that we have to look for forging partnerships, with enablers like you all,” Dr Chattopadhyay pointed out.

He also informed that the Government of West Bengal is upgrading the existing polytechnics, ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) and vocational training centres. A flagship scheme is on for security service training and employment-linked skill development programs in hospitality, BPO, IT and ITeS. About 2000 trainees will be skilled every year for garment industry and 8000 students are being trained in CAD/CAM ( computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) for the manufacturing sector.

Amid the buying and selling of exquisite items crafted by skillful artisans at the 32nd India International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan, a more serious business is going on, in sync with this year’s theme: “Skilling India”.

The fair not only has pavilions based on the theme, but also a range of seminars and conferences are being held as part of the programme to discuss issues related to skills education. The national skill development mission aims at training 500 million people by 2022.

After one of the brainstorming session on Thursday, Pooja Gianchandani, Director of Skills Development at FICCI, said almost 60 lakh youth in West Bengal would receive training over the next 10 years to hone their skills or learn new ones.

West Bengal Minister for Technical Education and Training, Rabiranjan Chattopadhyaya, said: “The target for the state has been pegged at 60 lakh. Keeping this target in mind, we have our job cut out. The government alone cannot shoulder this responsibility. It is imperative that we have to look partnerships.”

He released a report, “Skill for All-New Approaches to Skilling India”, prepared by FICCI and Manipal City and Guilds during the seminar.

Stating that skills development was a major challenge, Chattopadhyaya said: “We have set up a state-level skills development mission. This will initiate a single-window approach for imparting skills training and introducing national-level curricula, evaluation and certification to improve employment opportunity for the youth within and outside the state.”

He said the West Bengal government was upgrading its existing infrastructure such as vocational training centres and polytechnics.

Gianchandani said: “The IITF provides a good platform for the industry and governments to interact. FICCI is interacting with different states on a day-to-day basis. The focus was on skills education at the interactive session with the West Bengal government.”

“The workshop looked at four main areas of skills development, providing a training centre, a university which needs to be set up in collaboration with industries, the need for West Bengal to make the state more attractive for investors and the formation of a mission management unit by the government,” Gianchandani said.

Similar interactive sessions with Bihar and Andhra Pradesh are being planned for Friday and Saturday.

There will be a youth engagement workshop on November 27. “The focus is on retail and wellness. There are huge opportunities in both sectors. Reliance Retail and monster.com are invited to the workshop,” Gianchandani said.

Packing the diversity of India - from the traditional craft of Punjab to new-age technology currently brewing in Haryana to the ethnic wares of Arunachal Pradesh — and displaying it in all its glory under a single roof is no mean task.

But then, what looks impossible has been made possible as mini-India shone the brightest at the 32nd India International Trade Fair (IITF) currently on at Pragati Maidan.

Many states chose to exhibit their rich culture, some went for the modern touch — displaying their progress in information technology — others took pride in showcasing their sporting talents and Bollywood stars.

Thursday being a holiday on account of Bhai Dooj, the crowd was unusually high for a weekday.

The Chanderi silk sarees of Madhya Pradesh, woollens from Himachal, bamboo furniture from Nagaland and Phulkari from Punjab — to name a few — saw a rush of buyers on the second day of the fair, after it was inauguration by President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday.

Pakistan High Commissioner Salman Bashir inaugurated his country’s pavilion on Thursday.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is likely to visit his state pavilion on Friday.

This year’s theme, Skilling India, features prominently in all the pavilions of the states and the Union ministries and departments.

The states displayed the theme in unique ways. Madhya Pradesh stressed the need for “skilling women” for nation building. Kerala’s focus is children’s education, welcoming visitors to the pavilion with lifesize cutouts of two youngsters and banner that reads “Skilling the future”.

The Odisha pavilion has a sand sculpture of the state’s temples. Andaman and Nicobar Islands showcased its tourism opportunities, while Rajasthan displayed its rich tradition of song and dance.

Uttarakhand, this year’s partner state at the fair, has exhibited paintings, murals, baskets from Garhwal and rugs by Bhotiyas.

Street plays on the theme were also performed by theatre groups. FICCI hosted seminars at various state pavilions.

On Friday, the National Disaster Management Authority will hold demonstrations and workshops.

Last year, 7,000 exhibitors participated — including those from 28 countries, representing over 350 companies. Over a million people visited the fair.

As Chanderi silk sarees of Madhya Pradesh, woollens from Himachal, bamboo furniture from Nagaland, Phulkari from Punjab saw a rush of buyers and exhibitors on the second day of the ongoing India International Trade Fair (IITF) today, the central theme of the fair, "Skilling India" featured on almost all the state and ministry pavilions.

Apart from the business opportunities that the fair brings along, this time around it is focusing on revenue-generating options of the participating states and also encouraging young people to pursue skill-based employment options.

Everything from textiles, pottery, art forms like paintings, embroidery, sculpting, tourism and retail is under focus at the state pavilions this time. While Madhya Pradesh focuses on development of skills of women, Kerala has brought education of children in focus, Haryana has displayed the best of technological developments and Rajasthan brings the most ethnic art forms to the Capital.

Keeping in line with the theme of "Skilling India", FICCI in partnership with the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) today organised its first skill development seminar.

Over the next 14 days, similar seminars will be seen throughout the state pavilions at the fair which will culminate into a youth engagement workshop on November 27.

Beginning the streak of seminars today, representatives of the West Bengal government spelled out the plan for training nearly 60 lakh unemployed youth over the span of next 10 years.

Over the next few days, states like Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Odisha will also hold interactive session with the young people interested in specific skills.

"Every Indian state brings forth their ingenious skills to the fore at the fair. But to "skill India" in real sense, the industry has to come forward and create jobs and hunt for appropriate market for these art forms and skills. A lot of private enterprises are also expected to participate in our programmes, especially the workshop on the last day of the fair," said Prabhat Chandra Sharma, general manager, ITPO.

ECB bond-buying programme is unlikely to have much impact on the Indian markets, department of economic affairs (DoEA) secretary Arvind Mayaram said on the sidelines of a FICCI conference on skill development on Friday.

Mayaram said the Vijay Kelkar panel has submitted its report suggesting measures for achieving fiscal consolidation and in cutting the deficit. Speaking on skill development, he said private players can help bridge skill deficit. He said the country needs to skill 500 million people for the economic growth to sustain and accelerate. The solution for creating a skilled workforce lies in making skill development into a profit centre for commercial entities, he said.

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) unlimited bond-buying programme to help euro zone is not likely to have much impact on India, a senior government official said on Friday adding that the resultant inflation on account of the move has to be contained.

ECB president Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the new plan, aimed at the secondary market, would address bond market distortions and unfounded fears of investors about the survival of the euro. It will help in reduction of borrowing costs for struggling euro zone economies.

The move was well received by the global markets. In fact, joining a global market rally, the Sensex on Friday surged by 337 points, its biggest single day gain in two months, on heavy buying.

“There is not going to be much impact as of now on India but we will have to see...inflation has to be managed, it has to be contained,” Arvind Mayaram, secretary, department of economic affairs, told reporters here at the sidelines of a global skills summit organised by industry chamber FICCI.

All the same, the ECB has also indicated that the bond buying will be sterilised, i.e. the amount spent on buying short maturity bonds of troubled economies will be absorbed back by the ECB. This means that no additional liquidity is expected to flow through the global markets because of these proposals.

Amid fears of a spurt in international commodity prices expressed by experts due to European Central Bank's plan to sovereign bonds, a Finance Ministry official today said the move is not going to have "much impact" on India in the immediate run.

"There is not going to be much impact as of now. But we have to see how we are able to handle our own problems," Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters on sidelines of a FICCI event here.

The ECB yesterday announced a programme that allows it to execute potentially unlimited sovereign bond-buying, a bid to save the region's currency.

Meanwhile, PHDCCI President Sandip Somany said the massive bond buying programme announced by the ECB could trigger a rise in international commodity prices and stoke inflation in supply constrained economies like India.

He said the prices of key commodities such as crude oil, food articles and gold may enter higher trajectories in international market and stoke inflation in the domestic economy due to the move.

Meanwhile, the Sensex today spurted by over 337 points, its biggest single day gain in two months, on buying across-the-board following European Central Bank's decision.

Yesterday, Reserve Bank deputy governor K C Chakrabarty had said in Mumbai that the ECB's latest move could boost capital flows as well as bring down current account deficit but may also increase commodity prices on the flipside.

"Yes, the bond-buying programme announced by ECB could increase the fund flows into our economy. If it happens, which is likely, then it can help bring down our high current account deficit. From that point, the move is good for us but it also can increase commodity prices," Chakrabarty had said.

The government will set up 10 community colleges in collaboration with Canadian educational institutes to educate illiterate adults and provide skill-based training for employment, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday.

"Under the adult literacy programme of the HRD ministry, as many as 70 million people need to be literate and their capacity enhanced to enable them to acquire the skills required to perform jobs," the minister said at the fifth Global Skills Summit organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( FICCI).

Of the illiterate 70 million, 60 million are women who need education and skill training close to where they live. And for this, the government would launch 100 community colleges this year.

"We are going to set up a working group and have a roadmap in the next three months with Canadian collaboration," he added.

Referring to India's rich demographic dividend, the minister said there are 400 million people in the age group of 0-40 which is three-fourth of Europe and much larger than the numbers in the US and Canada put together.

"I shudder to think of the challenges of educating and imparting training in skills to contribute to the growth process. If we don't get it right, the recipe would be between disaster and great success."

He called for a roadmap for focused international collaboration on developing skill-sets that would be needed to service the world community.

"If we can collaborate and set up community colleges or skill development centres in the context of National Skill Development Corporation and the Sector Skill Council then what we will be able to do is develop skills and human resources which then can be absorbed in other parts of the world for their economic development and at the same time have enough skills to be absorbed in our economy which is a win-win for both."

The minister underlined the need for vocational education programmes in schools

The government will set up 10 community colleges in collaboration with Canadian education institutes to educate adult illiterates and enable them to absorb skills required for jobs in the vicinity of their homes. “A roadmap for focused global collaboration is needed as with the IT revolution, and this would call for developing skills that would be required to service the world community,” said Kapil Sibal, communications and IT minister during FICCI’s Global Skills Summit on Thursday.

Of the 100 community colleges that will be set up by the MHRD this year, 10 of these would be set up in collaboration with Canadian Government. The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal said at the Global Skills Summit organized by FICCI here today. Putting things into context, the minister said, "Under the Adult Literacy Programme which aims to cover some 70 mn working age population in the age bracket of 18-64 years in the country by 2020, 60% are women. Since they can't move away from their holds due to family commitments, to make them skilled, we need community colleges which will reach out to them wherever they are residing."

The minister also talked about a recent pilot project on vocational education launched in Haryana schools last week. The next step of the pilot project will be West Bengal which if successful will be launched nationally with an opportunity to pursue higher courses such as BSc in vocational education for those who wish to pursue their education for a higher degree and make better use of their domain skills.

Talking about international collaborations he said there has to be a win-win situation for foreign players if we want them to invest in the country. This would typically happen with nations who have a demographic challenge in front of them. India for instance would have an average age of 29 years in 2020 while China and the US will have an average age of 37 years.

Agreed the German Ambassador to India, Michael Steiner. He said, " With an ageing population, it will be an win-win for us to collaborate with India on skill development. And we are collaborating with the Ministry of Labour by beginning the training of the first batch of master trainers next month onwards."" Steiner also added that the sill development to be fruitful and successful the industry has to be deeply involved in it from designing course curriculum, evaluating and assessing the skills of candidates after they get trained to be absorbed in the workforce, the way it is in Germany.

India's education system is not keeping pace with rapidly evolving technology, resulting in difficulty in finding suitable candidates where millions are unemployed, FICCI president R.V. Kanoria said Thursday.

"We have a paradoxical situation in our country. Employers complain of not finding suitably skilled candidates and on the other hand there are millions of unemployed in search of jobs," Kanoria said at the 5th Global Skills Summit, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here.

Kanoria said an outdated education system and lack of emphasis on vocational training was resulting in a paradoxical situation in the job market.

"There is an obvious mismatch caused by the inability of our education system to keep up with rapid and constantly evolving technology," Kanoria said while addressing inaugural session of the two-day summit.

Kanoria, who is also the chairman and managing director of Kanoria Chemicals and Industries Limited, said there was a need to give adequate attention in the education system to the requirements of employers.

"A prominent factor of this mismatch is the lack of adequate mapping of the requirements of the learners. Another factor contributing to the mismatch is the low esteem associated with vocational education," he said.

The theme of the 5th Global Skills Summit, organised by the FICCI in association with the ministry of labour and employment, government of India, is "learner first".

Kanoria said the demands for skilled trainers is set to increase sharply in the coming years.

Referring to a National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) report, Kanoria said the demand for vocational skill trainers, including technical trainers is estimated to be about 40,000 annually.

In a rapidly aging world, India’s demographic potential is increasingly bagging the limelight.

However, Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal highlighted the importance of skilling and educating this growing ‘young’ population to ensure that the potential for success does not become a recipe for disaster.

Community colleges

To optimise the potential in the country, Sibal said the Ministry would institute 100 community colleges in the country, of which 10 would be in collaboration with the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. These colleges would impart education as well as vocational skills to adult illiterates.

“When I think about India, I shudder to think about the challenges,” he said at the Fifth Global Skill Summit, adding that by 2030 India is likely to become the most populous country in the world.

Sibal said the country has over 400 million individuals in the age group of 0-14 and another 100 million in the 14-18 years bracket.

“If we are able to put all of them to work, our per capita economic output would be much higher than anywhere in the world,” he said at the summit organised by the Federation for Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Non-working population

The Minister added that 60 per cent of the Indian population is ‘non-working’, of which women comprise the majority.

He also said skills development has to be in situ, and has to be taken to the people who really need it, instead of expecting them to seek it in far-off areas.

Skills development

Also, according to the E&Y-FICCI Knowledge paper on skills development in India —Learner, released at the summit, 68 per cent of the potential candidates for skilling are women, highlighting the need for greater focus on the fair sex.

Abhaya Agarwal, Partner, Ernst and Young, added that about half of the working population needs some form of skills training. However, 93 per cent of the people who need to be skilled are in the unorganised sector, making the process difficult.