“If we impart good vocational training and skills to the surplus manpower available in India, then India can provide approximately 10-12,000 crore people employment in the near future,” said Mr Dattatreya.
Talking about the Apprentices (Amendment) bill recently passed by the Parliament, the minister said, “In India we are providing training to 2.8 lakh people which is very less compared to Germany (30 lakhs), Japan (1 crore) and in China (2 crore).”
“In near future we want to equate with Japan in this field so that at least 1 crore people should be given apprenticeship and skill development which needs industry's co-operation,” said Mr Dattatreya.
Talking about the challenges being posed to India by increasing globalisation and technological changes, the minister said that technical upgradation is very important particularly in MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) units.
He further said that skills' training of the manpower is very important for success of the Government's ambitious Make in India programme.
Highlighting the plight of employment exchanges in India, Mr Dattatreya said, “Employment exchanges in our country have become only registration centre of unemployed people but our Government wants to make it as national career service centres and we would be allocating an amount of Rs 390 crore in the upcoming budget to finance this (programme).”
Stressing upon the need for promoting e-governance, the minister said that it would promote transparency and accountability so that more employability would be generated.
“The younger generation is very eager to see results from this Government and which calls for active participation of the industry,” said Mr Dattatreya.
He also said that unorganised sector which employs about 93 per cent of the workforce would be the focus area of the Government. “It is the unorganised sector where skills are needed so that people will get fair wages and that would create conducive atmosphere between the industry and workforce and would lead to increased productivity.”
On the issue of inspector raj, Mr Dattatreya said, “We want inspector raj to be totally transparent and we are working to eliminate corruption and harassment in the industrial sector as now the inspector would only go for inspection based on computer generated data.”
While informing that Government would be undertaking a nationwide campaign to distribute inoperative amount worth about Rs 27,000 crore lying with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the minister called for private sector's co-operation for not letting such an amount to further accumulate in the retirement fund body.
In his address at the ASSOCHAM summit, Mr Rana Kapoor, president, ASSOCHAM said, “Education and Skilling will significantly improve employability, earning capacity, health and curtail poverty. To address the critical gaps in infrastructure development, training needs as well as teacher shortfall, the Government needs to create an enabling ecosystem for skill development and employment by reducing the skill gaps.”
“Expanding access to higher education, skill enhancement and vocational training through investment in training infrastructure and technology will enhance India's competitiveness globally and help realize the Government's vision of making India the Skill Capital base of the world,” added the ASSOCHAM chief.