Pune Mirror: Pune: Tuesday, July 03, 2018.
A Right to
Information (RTI) query has revealed that Maharashtra Skill Development
Corporation has failed to achieve even 50 per cent of its targets, three years
after its establishment. According to RTI, a whopping sum of Rs 1.26 lakh has
been spent on training every student, despite which, 25 per cent of the lot
could not get a job after training. The training agencies feel that the gap has
occurred due to the different definitions of the government and industries on
what qualifies as skilled labour.
In a bid to
achieve the skill development mission in line with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s vision, the government of Maharashtra has envisioned equipping 45
million people with employable skills by 2022 under the Society Registration
Act, 1860. However, not even half the targets have been met.
According to
the data obtained under RTI by activists Milind Bembalkar and Vivek Velankar,
it was revealed that in 2015-16, only 19,000 students out of the 75,000 (a
target set by the state), who were being trained. Out of them, only 5,760
managed to bag a job. In 2017-18, the target was set to one lakh, out of which only
77,000 were trained and 31,248 secured a job.
Bembalkar
called this phenomenon as a failure on the part of government.
He said,
“While giving permissions, they should have surveyed and listed which district
needs what kind of skills. They have started courses like computer training and
beauty parlour training almost everywhere. For instance, if there are foundries
in Kolhapur, the government should have started courses on this line. Instead,
they have blindly initiated generic courses and refused permissions to other
programmes. This is not helping the applicants and is leading to more
problems.”
The training
agencies citied a similar problems and claimed that they see a schism due to
norms set by the government and the industries. Vishvesh Kulkarni, head of
Yashasvi Training Agencies, said, “The training pattern follows three short
courses over three months. For industries, someone who has undergone three
months’ training, does not qualify as skilled labour. But the government claims
that they should be considered as skilled labour and should be given all the
benefits of an employee of the payroll. We have highlighted it multiple times.
But the government is not ready to accept this. This is leading to the gap.”
Despite
repeated attempts, the government officials could not be reached for comment.
“For
industries, someone who has undergone three months’ training, does not qualify
as skilled labour. But the government claims that they should be considered as
skilled labour.”
-Vishvesh
Kulkarni, head of Yashasvi Training Agencies
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