INDIA- Training 500 million skilled workers by 2022,

India has set a target of training 500 million skilled workers by 2022, says P. C. Chaturvedi Secretary Labour and Employment

Government of India has, taking into account the existing vocational training facilities and realistic demand for skilled workers in the country, introduced a new Skills Policy. The aim of the Policy is to achieve rapid and inclusive growth through enhancing individuals’ employment prospects and ability to adapt to changing technologies and labour market demands, improving productivity and living standards of workers and strengthening global competitiveness of the country. In is expected that the ageing population phenomenon will globally create a skilled manpower shortage of approximately 56.5 million by 2020 and if skill development schemes of India succeed we would have a skilled manpower surplus of about 47 million by this time. India has set a target of creating 500 million skilled workers by 2022.

The Decent Work Agenda of ILO has withstood the test of time to emerge as a universal and successful mandate for protection of interests of workers all over the world. Shri P. C. Chaturvedi, Secretary (Labour & Employment) said this in the 100th Session of ILC on 14th June, 2011 while speaking on the Report of the Director General on ‘A New Era of Social Justice’. Shri Chaturvedi recounted the factors which helped India’s economy to recover swiftly from the financial crisis, that included high level of domestic investment, robust corporate sector, sustained financial sector management and comfortable foreign exchange reserves. He emphasized that providing social security benefits to the unorganized sector workers was the biggest challenge before the Government of India. A number of steps have been taken to achieve this goal, notable among them being the flagship programmes like RSBY and MGNREGA, establishment of Labour Welfare Funds and enactment of legislation to provide Social Security to unorganized workers. In the context of expeditious ratification of ILO Core Conventions he mentioned that overall action taken by member States to implement the provisions of various labour standards should be taken into account, to reach a conclusion about their extent of commitment to labour welfare.

Implementation of well designed social security benefits, promotion of productive employment and emphasis on gender equality can bring about sound economic growth and help to reduce disparities in income and living standards of workers in the long run. This is a commitment required from all member states under the leadership of ILO to make the new era of social justice a reality, Shri Chaturvedi concluded.

YSK
(Release ID :72713)