Bridging Rural Sector And Employment
In 2021, the Union Ministry of Skill Development in a report stated, out of 1.5 million candidates under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, 2,50,000 of them were able to get jobs. All this when there is an annual target of 30 million youth. Plenty of work is left to be desired in the present situation with respect to employment in India.
Recognising the importance of this issue, BW Businessworld organised BW Emerging Business Awards and Conclave 2022. In a keynote address, Amit Bhatia, Founder and CEO, Aspire Circle speaks about the importance of bringing employment in the rural sector, its challenges and the way forward.
“India should do three things. One, we need to understand and address market failures. Second, we have to identify sharply our growth sectors. And third, we have to build a human talent supply chain. Degrees are no longer a symbol of merit and no longer guarantees on a job,” said Bhatia.
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Addressing the reasons for market failure, Bhatia spoke about concentrated growth post-LPG reforms. “Companies have to come to skill development centres. There is also a pressing need to bring back pride in vocational roles. There is a pay difference between manual and salaried office jobs," he said.
To overcome this issue “India has to absolutely ban the use of uncertified, unskilled workers in the construction industry, transport industry, etc. Only then will the salary levels go up,” suggested Bhatia.
India needs to identify growth sectors in real, logical ways. The blue-collar workforce is not aspirational for the workforce at present. Anything that is an impact on the sector, delivers 10 to 14 times more jobs for every dollar invested. “This could be food, agriculture, ag-tech, edtech, health tech and the like,” added Bhatia.
Conclusively, for rural India it has to be micro entrepreneurship. With a majority of the country living in its villages, it is non-negotiable that they are brought into the organised workforce.
