Strategic Partnership of HR in success of “Skilling India”

Rexjournal ISSN 2321-1067 Renewable Research Journal
Rexjournal Volume 3 Issue 3 Page | 101
Strategic Partnership of HR in success of “Skilling India”
Krishna Nand Tripathi
Background
The Government has initiated the launch of a national Multi-Skill programme called Skill India.
This programme would skill the youth with an emphasis on employability and entrepreneur skills.
It will also provide training and support for traditional professions like welders, carpenters,
cobblers, masons, blacksmiths, tailoring, nursing and weavers etc. We also need skilled personnel
in various areas like, construction, real estate, textile, transportation, jewellery designing, gem
industry, tourism, banking and various other sectors. Skill development raises the confidence, gives
direction and improves productivity. Youth should be groomed towards blue collar jobs.
Government, Academia, corporate educational institutions, Non government organizations and
society should help the skill development to be the main focus for the economy to grow. The early
development of skill in youth, as early as school level is very important to groom them for proper
job opportunities. The training should be given in such a way that the youth is suitable for jobs in
any part of the world. Today the world needs to give importance for all the jobs equally so that
there will be balanced growth in all the sectors. Every job aspirant whether he is white collar or
blue collar should be given training in soft skills. Soft skill is needed in every area, grooming,
etiquette, hygiene, time management, safety, tolerance levels to lead a proper and decent life. Skill
development along with the above mentioned grooming areas should reach the rural and remote
areas. This will facilitate sophistication and instills the required levels of confidence among the
youth. All this will help the individual to manage himself and his job most efficiently.
Objective of “Skill India”
The main goal is to create opportunities,space and scope for the development of the talents of
Indian youth and to develop more of those sectors which have already been put under skill
development for the last so many years and also to identify new sectors for skill development,The
new programme aims at providing training and skill development to 500 million youth of our
country by 2020,covering each and every village.Various schemes are also proposed to achieve this
objective.

Competitive Advantage of India.
By 2020, India will have a 116 million strong workforce in the bracket of 20-24 years, while for
China it will be just about 94 million at the same time. This could be the strongest competitive
advantage India will have in the years to come.What is also striking is that within two decades, the
average age in US will be 40, it will be 46 in Japan, 47 in Europe and almost 50 in China, but we
will still be at 29.
"Chinese costs of production are going up. This is a great time to move production from China to
India," says Adi Godrej, Chairman of the Godrej Group, which has shifted air conditioner and
washing machine production to India. He thinks the trend will continue for 20 years.
Strategic Partnership of HR
Human resources development lies at the heart of economic, social and environmental development.
It is also a vital component for achieving internationally agreed sustainable development goals,
including the Skill India and Make India, and for expanding opportunities to all people, particularly
the most vulnerable groups and individuals in society.
Human resources development has been defined as empowering people by fostering the
contributory capacities that they can bring to the improvement of their own quality of life and that
of their families, communities, enterprises and societies. Over the years, the concept of human
resources development has evolved from solely focusing on individual capacity to also building
institutional capacity at the national level, through socio-economic policies and development plan
and strategies. Human resources development is, therefore, regarded as facilitating the development
of national human capacities to achieve sustainable, inclusive, equitable development and, at the
same time, enhance well-being of individuals. As such, human resources development strategies
are increasingly part of national development planning, and are crucial to enlighted policy.
As global labour markets both shape and adapt to the emerging occupational structures of growing
economies, human resources development strategies must balance the demands of new employment
sectors with the supply of required skill. Information and communication technology (ICT),
“Green/Blue Economy”, and agricultural development, are among the most vital sectors for the
socio-economic development in almost all countries. The need to enhance skills for emerging

sectors (i.e., green growth, knowledge economy, intellectual property policy evaluation and
management, etc.) has become particularly important in developing countries like India.
A comprehensive, cross-sectoral and integrated human resources development approach that is
sensitive to gender considerations and attuned to specific needs of vulnerable population should be
adopted, incorporating multiple vital areas, such as population, health, nutrition, water, sanitation,
housing, communications, education and training, science and technology, and employment.
Conscious efforts should be made not to confine these dimensions of human resources development
in separate ministries. Human resources development also has respect for fundamental human
rights, the rights of workers, and occupational safety and health considerations. Approaches that
centre on economic and financial policies are threatened by the recent economic and financial
crises, so an international community paradigm which seeks transformation of the whole society is
needed. Furthermore, strategies for sustainable livelihoods must be grounded in local
communities and governance structures, with full involvement of key representatives of civil
society in transparent respect for unique geopolitical and cultural settings and diversity.
According to Dave Ulrich’s Business Partner Model,HR plays four major roles-Strategics
Partner,Change Agent,Employee Champion and Administrative Expert.The changed political,social
and economic scenario of our country has posed both opportunities and challenges for the HR
Leaders.There is a bigger opportunity waiting for HR professionals to bring social transformation
in country through skill development.HR should acts as social scientists and work with missionary
zeal in promoting and fast tracking the pace of skilling to transform the skills landscape in India for
global competitiveness,This will be possible only when HR assumes the role of strategic Partner.
Skill development can be perceived as an instrument to improve labour efficiency and aims to
substantially enhance labour contribution to the overall production.To meet this ambitious target
and for creating a vibrant skilling ecosystem,partnership and a long scale engagement among
various stakeholders is the need of the hour.HR can contribute and collaborate with
government,industry associations and the society at large in the skill India initiative to ensure
continuous economic growth and social upliftment and development of the youth.Some of the ways
in which HR can strategically contribute in the skill development program are as under:

A. Setting up skill development Centers
India is estimated to have significant requirement of skilled people by 2022 across 20 high-
growth sectors ranging from manufacturing to services to infrastructure. To meet this demand, the
country requires massive capacity augmentation to the tune of eight times the current capacity. HR
can play a major role in achieving this target by partnering with the NSDC to set up large-scale
skill development enterprises. The NSDC supports the creation of these enterprises through funding
up to 75% of the operating and capital expenses, with the balance being supported by the industry.
Also, the industry could play a vital role in setting up Advanced Training Institutes (ATI) in the PPP
mode in industrialized districts to ensure proximity to the place of employment. As an example,
Singapore has adopted a model that involves a high level of private sector involvement,
incentivized through significant financial support for the Centre for Excellence
B.Supply of trainers
Apart from training the youths on various skills there is great requirement of trainers.HR could
take initiatives to develop quality trainers and support the “train-the–trainer” programs. It could
look at creating a database of all of the industry experts who are willing to train students or trainers
for a short duration. Large corporate have started coming forwards to help well structured
collaboration among industry players within their sectors who can play a significant role in
developing standards and certification.
C. Develop Talent Supply Chain Model
HR should develop Talent Supply Chain Model (TSCM) in their organization which will integrate
various processes in talent acquisition and talent development into a whole system so that a
pipeline of ready to use talent in made available in a shortest possible time.This will more cost
effective model as compared to “Hire and train” model which most of organizations are currently
using.
D.Hub and Spoke Model
HR can initiate skill development program under the Hub and Spoke model,wherein the training
providers can become Hub while the organization as sponsor of the program becomes Spoke.Under
this program deserving rural/urban students who are socially under privileged (XII qualified) can

be placed in organization for 4 years or more to work and learn to get a qualified diploma,advance
diploma or degree.The focus of skill development is varied and encompasses provisioning of both
simple manual skills for basic employment/self-entrepreneurship and comprehensive skill
development for industrial employment.
E.Online Vocational Courses
HR can introduce a few online training sources in selected vocational trades such as retail,customer
services,front line management with duration of one six to year.HR can also undertake
employability enhancement program that will endeavor to train students not only in the domain
knowledge but also on soft skills and presentation skills which are essential for becoming
employable.
F.Modular Employable Skills (MES)
It is a demand driven short term training courses that can be undertaken by HR leaders in their
organization.MES is the minimum skill set which is sufficient for gainful employment.Center
government facilitate and promotes training while industry,private sector and state government
train the persons.The essence of the scheme is in the certification that will be nationally and
internationally recognised.The MES scheme has given an opportunity to the learner as well as as
industry to be an integral part of a qualitative journey where the learner is confident of the training
received and the employer is assured of a trained individual.
G.Innovative Initiatives
The author,in his earlier organization had implemented an innovative skill development initiatives
to train the school and college dropouts on basic technical skills by partnering with an NGO and
local Industrial Training Institutes (ITI).This initiative was undertaken to create a pipeline of talent
to meet the manpower requirement for the business.The company sponsored the fee students who
underwent the training program,At the end of training these students were awarded certificates both
from the ITI and the company.As on date the organization has successfully trained more than 500
students through this scheme.Such initiatives are positive step towards skilling the untapped
potential that can be utilized to make Skill India a reality.

Conclusion
Without the development of human resources in societies around the world,the continued
degradation of natural resources will occur,as more human are not offered the resources and skills
necessary for them to become productive constitutes and contributors to world progress.
Ducker has observed that change in market dynamics,technology and the structure of labour has
created work that more complex,abstract and knowledge-based;increasing number of jobs require
higher levels of reading,mathematics,problem solving,interpersonal and other workplace
skills.However,most of the suffers from lack of these skills that are needed for social and economic
development.HR is the engine that can provide the necessary competencies to develop team
work,problem and process analysis,communication and other needed capabilities.
India is at the door step of an historical opportunity and can bring about a change in economy,
society and human life. Raghunath Mashelkar, former Director Genenral of Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR) says that there is a constant battle between the mind which is the
engine of problem solving and the mindset which is as a set of beliefs and dogmas. Mindset
prevents the mind from taking bold and innovative decisions based on openness to data and facts.
According to him only those minds that win the battle will make progress. The leaders in India
are taking extraordinary initiatives by adapting to changed circumstances and shifting the mindset.
The openness is percolating downwards slowly and positively. This will help to accept challenges
and solve problems rather than being in a state of denial. The McKinsey seven ‘S’ framework
developed by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, shows central, interconnected factors that
influence the organization’s effectiveness, especially its ability to change. The soft S’s – Skills,
Staff, Style – are determined by the people at work in the organization and are difficult to anticipate
or to influence. It has been established beyond any doubt that the past success is no indication of
what has to come in future. However, now a days revenue is not the yardstick on which corporate
are assessed. It is the shareholder value and this change is happening at such a rapid pace that
Indian economy will be able to change from a crawling caterpillar to a flying butterfly only if it is
able and willing to change and adapt to the future.

Skills and knowledge are the engines of economic growth and social development of any country.
Countries with higher and better levels of knowledge and skills respond more effectively and
promptly to challenges and opportunities of globalisation. India is in transition to a knowledge
based economy and its competitive edge will be determined by the abilities of its people to create,
share and use knowledge more effectively. This transition will require India to develop workers into
knowledge workers who will be more flexible, analytical, adaptable and multi skilled. In the new
knowledge economy the skill sets will include professional, managerial, operational, behavioral,
inter personal and inter functional skills. To achieve this goals, India needs flexible education and
training system that will provide the foundation for learning, secondary and tertiary education and
to develop required competencies as means of achieving lifelong learning. We need a “Thought
shift” from employment to employability.The role of HR professionals are very vital in this
pragmatic shift.The only way to make Skill India a success story through collaboration and
partnership.

Bibliography :
1. Drucker,P. (1995)- The new society of organization-Harvard Business Review
2. In Search of Excellence, by former McKinsey consultants Thomas J. Peters and Robert H.
3. Planning Commission of India - http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports

Strategic Partnership of HR in success of “Skilling India”

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Strategic Partnership of HR in success of “Skilling India”

More from Dr. Krishnanand Tripathi

Strategic Partnership of HR in success of “Skilling India”