JUNE 2010 A DEVELOPMENT MONTHLY Rs 10

YE

-6/1

0/1

ISSN-0971-8400

YOJANA June 2010 1

Our Representatives : Ahmedabad: Amita Maru, Bangalore: M. Devendra, Chennai: I. Vijayan, Guwahati: Anupoma Das, Hyderabad: V. Balakrishna, Kolkata: Antara Ghosh, Mumbai: Jyoti Ambekar, Thiruvananthapuram: VM Ahmad.

YOJANA seeks to carry the message of the Plan to all sections of the people and promote a more earnest discussion on problems of social and economic development. Although published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Yojana is not restricted to expressing the official point of view. Yojana is published in Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

For new subscriptions, renewals, enquiries please contact : Business Manager (Circulation & Advt.), Publications Division, Min. of I&B, East Block-IV, Level-VII,R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110066, Tel.: 26100207, Telegram : Soochprakasan and Sales Emporia : Publications Division: *Soochna Bhavan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,

New Delhi -110003 (Ph 24365610) *Hall No.196, Old Secretariat, Delhi 110054(Ph 23890205) * 701, B Wing, 7th Floor, Kendriya Sadan, Belapur, Navi Mumbai 400614

(Ph 27570686)*8, Esplanade East, Kolkata-700069 (Ph 22488030) *’A’ Wing, Rajaji Bhawan, Basant Nagar, Chennai-600090 (Ph 24917673) *Press road, Near Govt. Press,

Thiruvananthapuram-695001 (Ph 2330650) *Block No.4, 1st Floor, Gruhakalpa Complex, M G Road, Nampally, Hyderabad-500001 (Ph 24605383) *1st Floor, ‘F’ Wing,

Kendriya Sadan, Koramangala, Bangalore-560034 (Ph 25537244) *Bihar State Co-operative Bank Building, Ashoka Rajpath, Patna-800004 (Ph 2683407) *Hall No 1, 2nd

floor, Kendriya Bhawan, Sector-H, Aliganj, Lucknow-226024(Ph 2225455) *Ambica Complex, 1st Floor, above UCO Bank, Paldi, Ahmedabad-380007 (Ph 26588669) *KKB

Road, New Colony, House No.7, Chenikuthi, Guwahati 781003 (Ph 2665090)

SUBSCRIPTION : 1 year Rs. 100, 2 years Rs. 180, 3 years Rs. 250. For neighbouring countries by Air Mail Rs. 530 yearly; for European and other countries Rs. 730 yearly.

No. of Pages : 56

Disclaimer : The views expressed in various articles are those of the authors’ and not necessarily of the government. The readers are requested to verify the claims made in the advertisements regarding career guidance books/institutions. Yojana does not own responsibility

regarding the contents of the advertisements.

EDITORIAL OFFICE : Yojana Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi Tel.: 23096738, 23717910, (23096666, 23096690, 23096696- Extn. 2509, 2510, 2565, 2566, 2511). Tlgm.: Yojana. Business Manager (Hqs.) : Ph :24367260, 24365609, 24365610

June 2010 Vol 54

Chief Editor : Neeta PrasadEditor : Manogyan R. Pal

Joint Director (Prod) : J.K. ChandraCover Design : Sadhna Saxena

E-mail (Editorial) : editoryojana@hotmail.com : yojanace@gmail.com

Website : www.yojana.gov.in

Let noble thoughts come to us from every sideRig Veda

(Circulation) : pdjucir_ jcm@yahoo.co.in

HIGHER EDUCATION – PRESENT SCENARIO AND CHALLENGES AHEAD .......................................................5 Madan Mohan

MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES IN A LIBERALIZED ECONOMY ...........................................................8 Narendra M Agrawal

NEW INITIATIVES IN SKILL DEVELOPMENT .......................12 Utpal Chattopadhyay

BEST PRACTICES SKILL ENHANCEMENT OF THE RURAL POOR .................................................................16 Sandip Das

INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA COLLABORATION FOR HR DEVELOPMENT ............................................................18 Pralok Gupta

CHANGING THE WAY INDIA THINKS TOMORROW .............21 H Sadhak

J&K WINDOW ...........................................................................25

MAINSTREAMING THE DISABLED IN REGULAR SCHOOLS .................................................................26 Shayama Chona, Ritu Juneja

IGNORED CITIZENS: A STUDY ON TRIBAL EDUCATION IN INDIA ...............................................................29 Raju Narayana Swamy

SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT ........................................33 A K Jagannathan

NORTH EAST DIARY ...............................................................37

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN A KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY .........................................................38 Francis Kuriakose, Deepa Kylasam Iyer

CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION THROUGH JFM IN INDIA ...............................................................................42 Madhu Verma, Munish Sikka

NUTRITIONAL SECURITY THROUGH LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS ............................................................45 Sanjita Sharma, Vishnu Sharma

DO YOU KNOW? .......................................................................49

SHODH YATRA MODIFIED SILENCER AND AIR INTAKE SYSTEM .......................................................51

C O N T E N T S

YOJANA June 2010 1

2 YOJANA June 2010

YE

-6/1

0/7

YOJANA June 2010 3

When the second most populous country in the world says that it is facing manpower crunch in most areas of its activity, there is obviously something terribly wrong with the way it has been managing its human

resources. Despite a population of over 1.2 billion, not to mention the fact that our country has the world’s youngest population and the largest number of people in the working age group, we are facing an enormous shortage of employable talent and skill. Our hospitals do not have adequate number of medical and paramedical personnel, there are not enough engineers to build our bridges and roads, nor teachers in our schools and colleges, our rapidly growing IT enabled service sector, manufacturing sector and financial services sectors are not able to hire as many people as they would need. There is a shortage of technicians, mechanics, plumbers, electricians- the list could go on. And while this is so, we also have a huge army of people in the working age group – both educated and uneducated – who do not have any regular means of livelihood as they do not possess the kind of talent and skill that the economy needs.

The biggest challenge before the country today is to bridge this gap by imparting employable education and skill to people so that they can meet the growing needs of a rapidly expanding economy. This requires an ever vigilant planning and execution process which is sensitive to the emerging needs of the economy and has the vision and the wherewithal to orient and mould the education system accordingly. The government, the industry, the academia, the NGO sector – would all need to collaborate for such an effort.

The ongoing restructuring of the education sector in the country is a pointer to the government’s intent to address the issue urgently. By making education a fundamental right and bringing in major reforms in the sector, the government is trying to ensure that everyone receives an education that is useful, meaningful and has the potential to be an instrument of progress. Apart from formal education, the wage employment schemes of the government are also being linked to skill enhancement programmes that can secure better means of livelihood for the people . The industry, banking sectors and NGOs are also actively imparting such training to people.

The current issue of Yojana brings you articles from policy makers, academicians, practitioners and other experts in the field, who discuss the major issues about human resource development that are relevant for India today, pointing out problems and suggesting ways to tackle them. The thread that runs through the articles is that India has the potential for dominating the HR scene in the world and reaping full benefits of its demographic advantage, provided we take timely action to equip our people for jobs that are waiting

for them.

YOJANA June 2010 3

About the Issue

4 YOJANA June 2010

YE

-6/1

0/8

YOJANA June 2010 5

Only a quality human resource

will ensure emergence of a true knowledge society which will ultimately enhance the

country’s competitiveness

in the global economy

Higher Education – Present Scenario and Challenges Ahead

HRD

HE HIGHER education system in India at present comprises 504 universities and universi ty-level institutions which include 243 state universities,

53 state private universities, 40 central universities, 130 deemed universities, 33 institutions of national importance established under Acts of Parliament and five institutions established under various State legislations. In addition, there are 25,951 colleges including around 2,565 Women Colleges.

Expansion during 11th Plan

At the commencement of the 11th Five Year Plan, there were 19 Central Universities, 7 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), 20 National Institutes of Technology (NITs), 4 Indian Institutes of Information Technologies (IIITs), 2 Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), 6 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 1 School of Planning & Architecture (SPA), apart from few other centrally funded educational

T

The author is Adviser (Education), Planning Commission.

institutions. During 11th Five Year Plan, a large number of institutions both in higher and technical education have been established. Apart from setting up of 13 new central universities, three state universities have been converted into central universities. Eight new IITs, seven new IIMs, three new IISERs, two new SPAs and many new polytechnics have also been setup. In addition, ten new National Institutes of Technology have been approved and 374 colleges in those educationally backward districts which have low Gross Enrolment Ration (GER) as compared to national average are being considered. The proposals for setting up of 14 World Class universities (or Innovation Universities) and 20 new IIITs are still under formulation stage.

Trends in Expenditure in Higher Education

In 2007-08, the share of university & higher education and technical education was 11.83%

Madan Mohan

OVERVIEW

6 YOJANA June 2010

and 5.33%, respectively of the total expenditure on education. The share of technical education has increased from 3.8% in 2006-07 to 5.33% in 2007-08.

As per the analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education done by Ministry of Human Resource Development, during the first three years of 11th Plan, Central Plan and Non Plan expenditure have increased at an annual rate of growth of 54% and 44% as opposed to 31% and 10% annual rate of growth of Central Plan and Non Plan expenditure during 10th Plan. The share of Central Plan and Non Plan and State Plan and Non Plan in the public expenditure in higher education are 8%, 13%, 6% and 73%, respectively. From 9th to 10th plan, Central Plan expenditure went up by 86%. During the same period, State Plan expenditure went up by 76%. Central Plan expenditure from 10th plan to 11th plan has increased by a little over 10 times.

Gross Enrolment Ratio : Though the XI five year plan has expansion, inclusion and excellence or access, equity and quality as the watchwords, the growth of higher education institutions has not kept pace with the growth of enrolments, and even less in relation to the apparent and latent demand. At the beginning of the academic year 2009-2010, the total number of students enrolled, in the formal system, in the Universities and Colleges has been reported at 136.42 lakhs. This enrolment translates into a Gross Enrolment ratio of about 12.9%. While the world average of the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education is 26.7%, the average of the developed countries is 57.7% and that of the developing

countries is 13%. Thus, many more universities and colleges will need to be opened to improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio to a respectable level.

In case the GER in higher education is to increase to 30% by 2020, either the capacity of existing institutions has to be increased by approximately 200% or the number of institutions has to be increased additionally by double the number of existing institutions. A paradigm shift will also be needed with focus on use of new technologies, better utilization of existing capacity, as also increased enrolment in distance learning and in vocational education. Ways and means will also have to be found to provide increased funding for higher education, including innovative models of public-private partnership to seek private participation in higher education, without compromising on equity and excellence. It may also be worth consideration to establish some sort of institutional mechanism for funding expansion of higher education.

Access, Equity, Inclusion and Quality

With the establishment of new institutions the access to higher education has increased to a certain extent, though a lot more is needed to expand the system further. With the implementation of OBC reservations in central education institutions it is hoped that inclusion will be taken forward. This inclusion will strengthen the process of democratization not only in higher education sector but in the overall economic, political and social processes.

The twin issues of inclusion and equity need to be given

due importance while making policies for expanding access to higher education. Imbalances in system whether related to gender, caste, religion or regionl, need to be addressed so as to provide opportunities to students belonging to disadvantaged sections.

Quality is an important aspect of education, which can be ensured through regular review of the functioning of the institutions either through self assessment or through outside agencies and by accrediting the institutions. Accreditation ensures transparency to the quality of the higher education institutions. The expansion of higher education over the years has also resulted in educational malpractices, which exist in the form of capitation fees being charged by private ins t i tu t ions a t the t ime of admissions, in addition to the fees and various other charges imposed upon students. The entry of a large number of private institutions has also resulted in rapid proliferation in litigation involving students, teachers, employees, management of higher educational institutions and universities and other stakeholders. In the absence of a speedy justice delivery system for resolution of disputes, dissatisfaction among stakeholders adversely impacts the quality of education and efficient functioning of the institutions. Also there has been a spurt in activities of Foreign Educational Institutions (FEIs) operating in India since mid 1990s. While some of them are well known institutions, a number of them are resorting to various mal-practices to allure and attract students, particularly in a smaller cities and towns. Many of these institutions have come up since there is yet neither a centralized policy nor regulatory regime,

YOJANA June 2010 7

for Foreign Educational Institutions in the country except the regulating rules framed by All India Council for technical Education in respect of technical education.

Reforms in Higher Education

The Yashpal Committee and also the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) have dealt with various issues affecting the higher education system in the country and both have suggested definite framework for improvement by way of institutional as well as policy reforms. One of the main suggestions is establishment of an overarching regulatory body, namely National Commission on Higher Education and Research, which would subsume the functions of existing regulatory institutions like University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Council for Teacher’s Training. In addition, other reforms suggested are vide ranging from accreditation of the higher education institutions to curbing malpractices to entry of foreign education providers.

Based on the recommendations and suggestions of the YCR and NKC, the central government has initiated the process for (i) establishment of educational tribunals; (ii) to provide for prohibition of certain unfair practices in technical and medical educational institutions and universities, (iii) to provide for mandatory accreditation of higher educational institutions and to create a regulatory authority for the purpose and (iv) to provide for regulation of entry and operation of foreign educational institutions. In addition, a Task Force constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development has developed a framework for the establishment of National Commission for Higher Education and Research. This framework is in public domain for wider consultation and discussion before a final version takes shape.

Road Ahead

India has a demographic advantage in the form of a huge number of young people. To make the best of this demographic advantage, these young people need to be provided opportunities to access quality higher education. Only a quality human resource will ensure emergence of a true knowledge society which will ultimately enhance the country’s competitiveness in the global

economy.

(E-mail : mmohan.edu@nic.in) YE

-6/1

0/2

8 YOJANA June 2010

People from the corporate

sector who have benefitted from the liberalization of the

Indian economy need to work

towards ensuring a superior quality of

life for people living in villages

Managing Human Resources in a Liberalized Economy

HRD

NDIA IS the wor ld’s second most populous and a comparatively young democracy. The Indian economy after liberalization in 1991, has transformed

into a vibrant, rapidly growing consumer market, comprising over 300 million strong middle class with increasing purchasing power. Indian economy in terms of purchasing power parity with an equivalent GDP of US$ 3.666 trillion is the fourth largest economy in the world after USA, China and Japan. In US Dollar Terms, it is the twelfth largest in the world, with a GDP of US $719.8 billion. The Indian economy is expected to grow with more than or about five percent growth till 2050 as projected by BRIC Report (2003). In the recent past, the manufacturing sector has caught up and has been doing very well with more than ten percent growth per annum. Automobiles, automobile components industry, textile, white goods, steel and cement are some of the manufacturing industries that have grown at about 20 percent

I

The authors is a Professor at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

per annum for the last few years. Performance of India in the service sector has been much better as compared to manufacturing and agriculture sector. Knowledge-based service sectors such as IT and IT-enabled services, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and health services have s igni f icant ly contributed towards the growth of export from the country.

Human Resource Challenges and Initiatives in Formal Sectors

The fast rate of growth both in service sector as well as in manufacturing sector in India has led to enormous shortage of talent. It is estimated that IT and IT-enabled service sector alone will hire about 400,000 people and financial service industry will hire about 100,000 people. Organizations experience a big challenge to attract, retain and engage the talented manpower. Since talent market has been demand driven, every talented person has multiple choices which

Narendra M Agrawal

PERSPECTIVE

YOJANA June 2010 9

has led to increase in attrition rates in most of the industries. In addition, after liberalization of Indian economy, the manufacturing sector as well as service sector being integrated to the world markets, they need to ensure that the products and services being offered by them are world class. Hence, Indian organizations should have access to the latest knowledge and technology to remain competitive and to sustain growth. Some of the service sector such as organized retail is new to India. A number of new educational programme at degree level have been started to take care of the knowledge needs of the sector. Hospitality industry is another industry which has been experiencing phenomenal growth due to substantial increase in business, leisure and medical tourism to India. In the following section, we discuss some of the major human challenges being experienced by Indian organizations and approaches to overcome the problems.

Recruitment, Selection and Induction of the New Employees

Indian manufacturing and service organizations have been recruiting fresh graduates at the entrée level in very large numbers. The top few software organizations have plans to recruit at the entry level in the range of 15-35,000 employees. Such a large number of fresh employees are required partly to take care of large attrition rate and partly to provide for the business growth. It involves substantial work in resume sourcing, initial screening, referencing and selection process. Organizations need to reduce cycle time to ensure that the business gets the additional manpower in time and at the same time the

selection process should ensure that the right candidates are being selected. Resume sourcing, initial screening work and referencing work is increasingly sub-contracted to recruitment agencies. Selection is increasingly competency based and managers who participate in se lect ion in terviews are trained in competency based interviewing skills. In fact, many organizations insist that a practicing manager cannot participate in a selection interview unless the person has attended a workshop on interviewing skills. Since the talented fresh graduates are hugely in demand, an interview becomes an opportunity for the interview panel to market the organization to a candidate by sharing the excitement of working for the given organization. Organizations have increasingly realized the need for creating match between vision and values of an organization and the aspiration and values of potential employees. Hence, interview panels spend substantial effort to assess the aspiration and values of the interviewees. Organizations which are in service sector look for behavioral evidences for service orientation in the potential candidates. In addition, since in the present era existing knowledge is becoming obsolete very fast and new knowledge is evolving even faster, organizations give high importance to learning capability of the potential candidates.

Since in the large organizations, twenty to thirty percent of the employees are young and fresh, organizations need to ensure that they are inducted to the organizational values and norms. And hence, organizations invest substantial amount of effort in inducting the new recruits to organizational

values, systems and processes. The new entrants are made familiar with the intranet based information about various systems and processes of the organization. Organizations use buddy system for the first few months to make the new recruits comfortable. Since attrition is typically high for the first six months to one year, organizations take special care to get regular feedback from the new entrants after 30 days and again after 90 days.

Finishing School Training

Due to the shortage of qualified professionals, new economy businesses such as software organizations in India have been recruiting engineering graduates irrespective of their disciplines based on their analytical and learning capabilities. These fresh engineering graduates need to be given substantial inputs in software engineering. The computer and IT courses that are taught in different university colleges need to be expanded to cover not only the fundamentals but also to expose the students to current practices in the software industry. Similar problems exist in other fields such as business process outsourcing (BPO), insurance, clinical research, organized retail and business analytics. Since university colleges do not provide enough knowledge about current tools, technique and industry practices, fresh graduates joining an organization need to be exposed to these aspects before they start taking work responsibilities.

Industry associations and organizations have started a number of initiatives to take care of the finishing school training. Organized retail and insurance business organizations have started

10 YOJANA June 2010

offering industry-practice related courses at different colleges. Software organizations have adopted engineering colleges and are teaching courses related to software engineering. Industry related courses offered by an organization facilitate students to acquire the industry specific relevant knowledge. In addition, it also contributes towards organizational brand building which helps an organization to attract talent from the partner college. Organizations have also created large in-house training facilities and young graduates are provided finishing school training for 3-6 months. In addition, e-learning is extensively used to supplement on the job learning for fresh graduates.

Performance and Reward Management for Talent

Ta len t ed employees a r e highly achievement-oriented and value learning, autonomy and professionalism. Hence, organizations need to ensure that talented people are put in their roles at the earliest and they are given big roles much early in the career. Further, leaders at multiple levels in an organization should take active interest in creating opportunity for the young talent to learn by socialization, dialogue and reflections. Leaders should ensure that the young talent is not hoarded by any one department and they should be job rotated. It facilitates the growth of the young talent and everyone in the organization becomes aware about the talent. It further facilitates giving big responsibilities to the talent much early in the career which makes them feel good that they were trusted to handle big responsibilities.

Talented employees like to receive feedback about how well they are doing and then they look forward to receiving rewards which are in congruence with the performance. High performing organizations typically provide formal feedback twice a year. Organizations having globally distributed employees rely on internet based performance management and feedback. Many organizations practice normalization of performance rating using a bell-curve. Increasingly, organizations are using open performance appraisal system and self-appraisal by employees. Organizations invest efforts to train managers in coaching and counseling skills so that they can learn to give data based authentic feedback and feel comfortable to participate in appraisal interviews with team members.

Indian organizations have been increasingly working towards enhancing the linkage between pay and performance. Organizations reward high performers as well those who have unique and relevant competencies. Senior and top management get much higher proportion of total salary as variable pay as compared to middle and junior managers.

The fast growth of organizations, industry and the Indian economy as a whole makes the challenge of managing internal and external equity a big challenge. In the recent past, organizations have been finding themselves in peculiar situations where the fresh recruits would have to be paid higher salary as compared to employees working in the organizations for one year and more to maintain external equity for the new recruits, and which

disturbs the internal equity for the experienced employees. Entry and the growth of multinational corporations in a big way in India who are willing to pay much more as compared to Indian companies; and the easy mobility of the young talent from one industry to another industry due to their learning capabilities, make the task of reward management much more complex. Organizations have to review their salary structures every year and many-a-times twice a year to retain external equity.

Developing Leadership Pipeline

Indian organiza t ions are investing substantial resources and efforts for career and succession planning. The process helps in nurturing leadership pipeline and at the same time helps in retaining talent. Early identification of talent using performance feedback and use of assessment centers is quite prevalent in fast growing organizations in traditional as well as new economy organizations. Usually, the external consultants are invited for design and conduct of assessment centers. The assessment centers are designed around the superior competencies required for a role. In addition, organizations provide career linked development and educational programme for identified employees. Organizations nominate mentors for talented employees. The mentors are expected to remain in touch with the mentees and help them to plan for their future growth and development.

Nurturing Global Leadership and Diversity

Indian organizations are moving towards internationalization and globalization of the business. The

YOJANA June 2010 11

success of such internationalization efforts require nurturing leaders who could work in cross-cultural settings. Indian organizations have been innovative in nurturing global leadership. Infosys, a software company started a global internship programme, ‘instep’ to attract international students from different parts of the world. Currently the programme attracts students from about eighty countries. The participants spend about two to six months working on live projects with Indian team members. Such an initiative helps in providing cross-cultural exposures to a much large number of Indians working along with interns from different countries. Many multinational organizations are nurturing Indian talents as potential global leaders. Organizations are also nurturing diversity in a big way. Currently, the ratio of female employees in the IT and IT-enabled services companies is about 25 percent which will become about 40 percent in the next few years. ICICI Bank, the largest private sector bank in the country has been providing equal opportunities to its female professionals and today a large percentage of top and senior executives in the company are female. While providing reservations for people coming from backward castes in government organizations is compulsory, even private sector has been talking of proactive initiatives to provide out of turn employment opportunities for the people from backward classes.

Conclusion

India is a large democratic country and has tremendous diversity in terms of caste, language, religion and economic status. In spite of such a large diversity, the indications so far suggests that India has been successful in moving towards greater liberalization and globalization of its economy. The business leadership and HR systems and processes have played a vital role in making the change process a great success in context of Indian industries. However, the challenges of managing human resources for the sixty percent of the population which lives in villages and depends upon agriculture and allied activities are urgent and enormous. Leaders and people from the corporate sector who have benefitted from the liberalization of the Indian economy need to work towards ensuring a superior quality of life for people living in villages and those who have migrated from villages to cities in search of a better life in terms of education, health care, infra-structure and livelihood opportunities.

(Email : agrawal@iimb.ernet.in)

@

YE

-6/1

0/4

12 YOJANA June 2010

If we get our skill development act right, we will

be harnessing demographic

dividend; if we do not get there,

we could be facing a

demographic nightmare

New Initiatives in Skill Development

HRD

NDIA’S SPECTACULAR

growth performance in

recent years has attracted

the attention of researchers,

analysts and policy makers

around the globe. It is projected

that with consistently high growth

rates India would emerge as one of

the largest economies of the world.

While growth projections appear

encouraging, the major challenge for

India would be to meet the emerging

human resource requirements of

an expanding economy. Despite

its population of more than 100

billion India suffers from manpower

deficiency, mainly due to absence

of required skills among the vast

majority of its workforce. This

gets reflected in the fact that about

80% of the workforce in rural and

urban areas do not possess any

identifiable marketable skills (NSS

61st Round on Employment and

Unemployment).

Skill shortages can really hurt

India’s growth prospects. The so

I

The author is Assistant Professor, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE).

called demographic dividends

can wither away very fast if

‘young India’ is not represented

by people with r ight skil ls .

The problem of skill shortages,

however, is not unique to India as

many developed and developing

countries are also suffering from

this malaise. But what makes

India’s case perhaps worse than

others is that while the country

is deficient in skilled manpower,

it has to deal with a huge surplus

manpower which is ready to

work but lacks employability

due to not having the skills that

the market demands. According

to NASSCOM-McKinsey Report

(2005) about 25% of technical

graduates and 10-15% of general

college graduates from India are

suitable for employment in the

offshore IT and BPO industries

respectively. A relatively recent

report (2008) by Confederation

of Indian Industry (CII) and

Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Utpal Chattopadhyay

ANALYSIS

YOJANA June 2010 13

also highlights the fact that over

the next five years the Indian

economy will experience a severe

shortfall of skilled workers in

the presence of huge surplus of

unskilled manpower.

Thus the task before India is

quite challenging. The country has

to maintain the growth momentum

by ensuring adequate availability

of skilled workforce, which is

currently in short supply. On the

other hand, it has to create ample

employment opportunities for a

vast population having low or no

skills. The problem gets intensified

when one considers shifting surplus

manpower from agriculture to other

economic activities. According

to the Eleventh Five Year Plan

Document, only 2% of existing

workforce in India has skill training,

while the corresponding figures are

96%, 80% and 75% respectively for

Korea, Japan and Germany. Further,

against 12.8 million per annum

new entrants to the workforce

the existing training capacity is

only 3.1 million per annum. For

bridging this sizeable gap, the

system of skill development in the

country requires a new direction.

Skill development efforts in India

needs to be accelerated and aligned

with the overall development of

the economy so that the country’s

scarce resources are efficiently

utilised in creating skills that the

market demands.

Vocational training plays a

crucial role in transforming the

unskilled people into skilled human

resources and Industrial Training

Institutes (ITIs) are key components

of the vocational training system in

the country. Vocational training

being a concurrent subject, the

responsibility is shared by both

Central and State Governments.

Director General, Employment

and Training (DGE&T), Ministry

of Labour, GoI formulates policies,

lays down standards and conducts

trade testing & certification for

both public and private ITIs.

The State Governments are

responsible for managing the

ITIs. Over the years the number

of ITIs has increased manifold;

from a meager 59 in 1956 to 5114

in 2008. Of these, 1896 are State

Government-run ITIs while the

remaining (3218 ITIs) are private.

These institutes are imparting

training in 57 engineering and 50

non-engineering trades and they

collectively offer 7.42 lakh seats to

those who have passed either 8th or

10th class examination (Eleventh

Five Year Plan Document 2007-

12, GoI).

Though ITIs have grown in

size, they have fallen short in

fulfilling the skill requirements of

the country. First, the ITIs are not

able to match the realities of the

employment scenario. Trainings

offered by them mainly cater

to the needs of the organized

manufacturing sector, whereas

over 90% of India’s workforce is

actually engaged in the unorganized

sector. Secondly, ITIs have been

slow in adapting to rapid changes in

the economy, more particularly in

the post reform period. As a result,

the trade and the number seats in

each trade are not decided on the

basis of dynamic market needs,

thus creating a demand-supply

mismatch almost in every trade/

sector. Thirdly, weak institute and

industry interaction lead to a gap

between course curriculum and

industry’s requirement. Fourthly,

physical infrastructure facilities

in most of the ITIs are poor and

their laboratories are not equipped

with modern equipment and testing

facilities. The competence and

motivational levels of the trainers/

instructors are also below par

in many cases. Finally, the ITIs,

more particularly the government

run institutes, lack autonomy in

matters like administration, finance,

academics and internal management

etc. In contrast, the private institutes,

though have autonomy, do not

attach due importance to meeting

the quality standards in vocational

training.

As a result, the industrial

training institutes in India have

failed to achieve many of their set

objectives. A study by International

Labour Organization (2003) on

the efficiency of Indian ITIs, both

public and private, observed “…

employability of their graduates

remains rather low”. The study

revealed that, in Maharashtra,

only 36 per cent of those who

passed out of public ITIs were in

various forms of wage employment

and self-employment, including

assisting parents in doing family

businesses. The corresponding

figures for other two states covered

by the study were 41% in Andhra

Pradesh and 16% in Orissa. Given

that a significantly high proportion

of India’s population is devoid of

any marketable skill, the mass-scale

skill development has been attached

higher priority. The Eleventh Five

Year Plan proposes a mission mode

approach for skill development by

14 YOJANA June 2010

launching a “Skill Development

Mission”.

In order to overcome the

exis t ing weaknesses in the

vocat ional t ra ining system,

the Government of India has

formulated a number of schemes

to transform the existing ITIs

into Centres of Excellence (CoE).

First, 100 ITIs are being upgraded

into Centres of Excellence (CoE)

for producing mult i -ski l led

workforce of world standard. The

total cost of the scheme is Rs. 160

crores, of which the share of the

Central Government is Rs. 120

crores ( i.e. 75 per cent). Further,

400 more ITIs are being upgraded

with World Bank assistance. The

main objective of this scheme is to

provide appropriate infrastructure

and equipment, update syllabi

and introduce new courses in the

ITIs. The implementation of the

scheme is guided and supervised

by two bodies viz., National

Steering Committee (NSC) at

the apex level and State Steering

Committee (SSC) in the states.

S u b s e q u e n t l y , 1 3 9 6

Government ITIs are being taken

up for upgradation through public

private partnership (PPP). Total

outlay for the scheme is estimated

to be Rs. 3550 crores including

Rs. 60 crores for management,

monitoring and evaluation. Under

this Scheme, an Industry Partner

is associated with each ITI to

lead the process of upgradation.

I n e a c h I T I t h e I n s t i t u t e

Management Committee (IMC)

will be constituted / reconstituted

with Industry Partner or i ts

representative as its Chairperson

and the IMC will be registered

as a Society. The government

will extend an interest free loan

upto Rs. 2.5 crore per ITI and it

will be given directly to the IMC

Society for upgradation of training

infrastructure. The scheme grants

autonomy to the IMC in financial

and academic matters relating

to internal management of the

institute. The IMC is also given

power to determine upto 20% of

the admissions in the ITI. The

state Governments, however, will

continue to retain the ownership

of the ITIs and regulate the

admissions and fees up to 80%

of total seats.

The upgradation of ITIs through

PPP has made considerable progress

Table 1: State-wise number of institutes covered under the scheme “upgradation of 1396 Govt. ITIs through Public Private Partnership”

State/UT 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 TotalAndhra Pradesh 20 36 03 59

Arunachal Pradesh 1 1 1 3

Assam 6 5 4 15

Bihar 4 4 - 8

Chhatisgarh 12 10 13 35

Delhi - 2 1 3

Goa - - 1 1

Gujarat 19 22 25 66

Haryana 13 13 2 28

Himachal Pradesh 9 11 9 29

Jammu & Kashmir 6 5 1 12

Jharkhand 2 2 - 4

Karnataka 26 26 22 74

Kerala 5 5 8 18

Madhya Pradesh 21 16 6 43

Maharashtra 62 55 51 168

Mizoram - 2 - 2

Nagaland - 1 1 2

Orissa 4 3 2 9

Punjab 20 19 12 51

Rajasthan 17 15 10 42

Tamil Nadu 12 5 07 24

Tripura 1 1 - 2

Uttar Pradesh 25 18 29 72

Uttarakhand 10 10 - 20

West Bengal 4 12 1 17

Chandigarh 1 - - 1

Dadra & Nagar Haveli - 1 - 1

Puducherry DT - - 1 1

Total 300 300 212 812Source: Director General, Employment and Training (DGE&T)

YOJANA June 2010 15

in a short span of time (2007-08

to 2009-10). Under the scheme

a total of 812 ITIs have been

covered till March 2010, of which

168 ITIs are from Maharashtra,

followed by Karnataka (74), Uttar

Pardesh (72), Gujarat (66) and

Andhra Pradesh (59) (Table 1).

The response from the industry

is also quite encouraging. A large

number industries across sectors

have shown interest by associating

with one or more ITIs and the list

includes some of the big industrial

houses like Maruti-Suzuki, Tata

Motors, Jindal Steel and Power,

Bajaj Auto, ITC, Raymonds, ACC,

JK Tyres, Hyundai Motors, Suzlon

Energy, Videocon etc. A few ITIs

have been adopted by public sector

undertakings such as NTPC, NHPC,

Power Grid Corporation, Indian Oil

Corporation etc.

The Scheme is the first initiative

of its kind in which Industry and

Government Institutions have to

work in tandem for the upgradation

of the ITIs. Further, industry partner

would be actively involved in

designing the course curriculum

keeping in view the market dynamics.

There is no doubt that the schemes

for ITI upgradation are innovative

and they would go a long way in

developing market oriented skilled

workforce with higher productivity.

But it is too early to predict the

actual outcome of the schemes as

they are still in progress. Many

hiccups might arise during the

implementation phase. Thus skill

development efforts in India are at

critical juncture. If things proceed in

the expected direction then Indian

economy would move to a higher

growth trajectory. Failures, on the

other hand, can lead to disastrous

consequences. This concern has aptly

been expressed in the Eleventh Five

Plan Document when it states, “…

the criticality of Skill Development

in our overall strategy is that if we

get our skill development act right,

we will be harnessing demographic

dividend; if we do not get there,

we could be facing a demographic

nightmare”.

(Email : utuchat@rediffmail.com

YE

-6/1

0/3

16 YOJANA June 2010

Four years after providing

guaranteed wage employment to poorest of poor through

MGNREGA, the government takes up

skill enhancement in a mission mode through revamped

SGSY

Skill Enhancement of the Rural Poor

BEST PRACTICES

A R AYA N B H A I , a marginal farmer from the Banda district of backward Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh has been

forced to travel to far away Mumbai and Delhi in search of livelihood during last three years because work was available in his village under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). As a daily wage worker, he has managed to get on an average about 75 days of manual work annually under the scheme in his village itself, with the added advantage of being able to cultivate his two acres of agricultural land in the remaining time. However, the combined earnings from MNREGA and his own field have been rather meager - barely enough to feed his family. Narayan Bhai now realizes that unless he upgrades his skills, he cannot earn more.

Akihlesh Kumar, another farmer with only an acre of agricultural land in the neighbouring Chitrakoot district has found employment upto 80 days

NSandip Das

per year under MGNREGA and cultivated pulses in his agricultural land which take care of his family's basic food requirement. Kumar has to go out of Chitrakoot to Allahabad and Bhopal for at least three months a year for augmenting his income.

A c c o r d i n g t o a R u r a l Development ministry official, on an average MGNREGA has managed to provide Rs 8,000 – Rs 10,000 per annum as wage to each rural poor family , but this is insufficient to fight chronic poverty. Along with old age pension of Rs 200 per month to each old person and income from agricultural activities, most of the rural folks are still not ‘out of the poverty trap.’

A f t e r f o u r y e a r s i n t o implementation of MGNREGA and spending more than Rs 50,000 crore in the mega job guarantee scheme, the government is now aiming at imparting technical skill to those eight crore odd BPL families which would make them eligible for semi-technical jobs in the rural or semi urban areas.

The author is a Delhi based journalist.

YOJANA June 2010 17

The government is aiming at substantially scaling up Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) during the 11th plan period for including at least one member of each BPL families in the country. The purpose is to augment incomes of BPL families by at least Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per month through self employment opportunities.

SGSY reshaped as NRLM

The SGSY has now been restructured as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and has provisions for imparting training as well financing at district level. Rural Development ministry has taken an initiative from 2008-09 to set up dedicated training institute for skill training of rural BPL families for self or wage employment. These institutes named as the Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI) would be set up in each of 600 odd district of the country in partnership with the state owned banks. The rural development ministry is providing one time grant assistance to tune of Rs. One crore for infrastructure creation and the states would provide free of cost land. The recurring expenses and day to day functioning of the institutes will be managed by

the banks. Till date funds have been released for setting up of over 160 RUDSETIs. About 50 RUDSETIs have started functioning mostly from hired premises.

Public sector banks such as Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank, along with Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Educational Trust, an NGO, initiated the RUDSETI concept in Karnataka in early 1980s. The lead bank of the respective district imparts training programmes to rural youth after doing a need assessment survey and the Rural Development ministry finances the cost of the training programme in the RUDSETIs. The lead bank also has functional autonomy to run these institutes as per the local demand. Reserve Bank of India has, ‘in principle’, agreed to provide support to RUDSETI and has already informed the Rural Development ministry that there are about 133 similar institutes in operation across the country.

Under the RUDSETI model, rural unemployed youth will be provided training facilities under the entrepreneurs development programme, in at least 50 areas such as dairy management , horticulture, poultry sericulture,

mushroom cultivation, photography, v i d e o g r a p h y a n d g a r m e n t manufacturing. Most of the training programmes are 1 to 6 weeks long.

The RD ministry has been focusing on providing skil l development training to rural youth so that they can get employment in those sectors of the economy where there is demand for labour , especially lower end of skill base. The ministry aims to push for SGSY in mission mode as it wants to eradicate chronic poverty by enhancing skill development rather than providing only wage employment. The RD ministry is also pushing for relaxing the norms so that those poor families who are not categorized as BPL families can avail the benefit under revamped SGSY. SGSY, which was launched in 1999, has an allocation of Rs2,984 crore in the Union Budget for 2010-11. At present, SGSY is targeted only at BPL families while MGNREGA is meant for all rural households.

If successful, the government’s move for skill enhancement of rural poor would go long way in freeing millions from chronic poverty trap.

(Email : sandipdas2005@gmail.com)

YOJANAForthcoming

IssuesJuly 2010

The July 2010 issue of Yojana will be on Water Resources of India

August 2010

Yojana will bring out a special issue on Inflation in August 2010

July 2010&

August 2010

18 YOJANA June 2010

It requires innovative and

productive methods of collaboration between industry and academia to have a complete, comprehensive and all round

development of human resources

in India

Industry-Academia Collaboration for HR Development

HRD

NDIA IS the second most

populated country of the

world. Recent estimates

of World Development

Indicators of the World

Bank put India’s population at

1,139,964,932 persons in 2008.

Though this huge population poses

various challenges to take care

of, it also creates opportunity to

become largest pool of talented

and skilled workforce. This is

particularly true if we see the

demographic characteristics of

Indian population. Almost 40% of

Indians are younger than 15 years

of age. India is likely to add 150

million people in the age group

20-59 in the next 15 years. Thus,

there is a tremendous opportunity

for India to become intellectual

super power of the world. The

conversion of this opportunity

into strength requires proper

development of its most important

resource, ‘human capital’. The

liberalization of Indian economy

I

The author is a Research Fellow in Economics and Social Sciences Area at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

and consequent growth poses new

challenges for development and

management of this human capital.

It also creates opportunities for

active corporate involvement and

industry-academia collaboration to

equip new generation with modern

knowledge, skills and techniques.

Human resource development

is concerned with providing

opportunities to realize one’s

potential to the fullest. Typical

understanding of human resource

development is from a job and

corporate perspective. However,

this article takes an integrated and

comprehensive approach to such

development and is of the opinion

that intellectual development

process start at the early stage of a

child. Therefore, adequate human

resource development requires

institutional intervention at the

very beginning of formal education

and may become a continuous

process.

Pralok Gupta

PERSPECTIVE

YOJANA June 2010 19

Education is one of the important

means of providing capabilities for

development of human capital. At

present, government budgetary

support for school education is

Rs.31,036 crore (Budget 2010-11).

Considering the vast pool of human

capital, this expenditure is grossly

short of meeting needs to provide

ample opportunities for developing

capabilities. Therefore, it becomes

important to have active industry

collaboration with academia to

fulfil development needs of our

vast human capital. The industry

can collaborate with academic

institutions at different levels and in

various forms. These collaboration

prospects are discussed in the

following paragraphs.

The industry can significantly

contribute to the development

and creation of human capital

by way of setting up educational

institutions at the primary and

secondary levels, particularly in

the rural areas. The government

may provide tax incentives for

setting up such institutions in

rural, remote and hilly areas.

According to an ASSOCHAM Eco

Pulse (AEP) Study “Comparative

Study of Emerging Economies

on Quality of Education’, India

was ranked at the second last

place among seven developing

countries in terms of education

quality. The more worrying fact

is that it scores minimum points

in primary, secondary, tertiary and

demographic parameters in contrast

to other six emerging economies

of the world. The ASSOCHAM

analysis also revealed that the

primary education in India is highly

under-developed as compared to the

other emerging nations. In spite of

having compulsory and free primary

education, the gross enrolment

ratio in primary education is the

least in India at 98.1. The highest

gross enrolment ratio in Brazil is

(148.5), followed by China (116.2)

and Russia (113.8) Even Indonesia

(110.9) and South Africa (105.1)

enjoy better enrolment ratio than

India.

The statistics of MHRD shows

that the drop out rates at the

primary (I-V Classes), elementary

(I-VIII Classes) and secondary

(I-X Classes) levels are quite high.

These rates are much higher for

rural areas due to working of rural

children in various agricultural

activities. The existing schools in

rural areas are also plagued with

absenteeism and poor quality of

teachers. Industry initiatives are

likely to bring efficiency to the rural

education system with a carrot and

stick approach. Various corporate

groups have established schools but

these are generally located in urban

areas and are very expensive. The

children belonging to downtrodden

society are far away from their

reach. The need is to have industry

presence in the form of setting up

schools for lower strata of society,

adopting some of the existing

schools and developing these into

model schools. There are some

examples of corporate initiatives to

enhance capabilities of uneducated,

underprivileged, poor children such

as Times of India ‘Teach India’

initiative, which brings together

children in need of education

and people who can contribute a

little time towards teaching them.

However, there has to be more

involvement of industry, if India

Drop Out Rates at Primary/Elementary and Secondary Schools in India (2000-2001 to 2006-2007)Year Primary (I-V) Classes Elementary (I-VIII) Classes Secondary (I-X) Classes

Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total2000-01 39.7 41.9 40.7 50.3 57.7 53.7 66.4 71.5 68.6

2001-02 38.4 39.9 39.0 52.9 56.9 54.6 64.2 68.6 66.0

2002-03 35.85 33.72 34.89 52.28 53.45 52.79 60.72 64.97 62.58

2003-04 33.74 28.57 31.47 51.85 52.92 52.32 60.98 64.92 62.69

2004-05 31.81 25.42 29.00 50.49 51.28 50.84 60.41 63.88 61.92

2005-06 28.71 21.77 25.67 48.67 48.98 48.80 60.10 63.56 61.62

2006-07 24.57 26.75 25.60 46.44 45.22 45.90 58.61 61.50 59.88

Note: Total dropout during a course (stage) has been taken as percent of intake in the first year of the course (stage), Primary, Middle and Secondary stages consist of class I-V, I-VIII, I-X, respectively.Source: Compiled from the statistics released by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India.

20 YOJANA June 2010

has to convert its large population

into human capital.

Another important aspect in

which industry can collaborate

with academic institutions is

in development of vocational

education. Vocational education

is very important not only for

converting unskilled resources to

skilled but also from employment

perspectives. However, vocational

education system in India is not

able to meet the existing challenges.

This is the age of technology

and technology is changing at a

very fast pace. Yet, most of the

vocational education institutions

are providing training and skills

in older techniques. This sets

context for active collaboration

of industrial bodies to provide

vocational training in India.

They can establish vocational

training centres to impart technical

knowledge to the people at a

lower level of education. They

can also contribute to changes in

course curriculum at a frequent

interval to adjust with fast

changing technology. As economy

progresses, it requires higher level

of skills and hence greater need

for investing in future vocational

education by industry. Subsidized

availability of tools for training

participants is another way in

which industrial collaboration

could be helpful.

The third important aspect

of such collaboration is active

ro le of corpora te wor ld in

higher education, particularly in

management, engineering and

other professional courses. Most

of the discussions of industry-

academia collaboration focus

on this aspect. Active industry

participation is necessary for these

courses as most of these are job

oriented courses requiring practical

knowledge. After liberalization,

there is a mushrooming of private

management and engineering

colleges and lakhs of students enter

job market each year from these

colleges. However, the quality

of these students is questionable.

According to Narayan Murthy,

Chairman of Infosys Technologies,

only about 25% of over 3 lakhs

engineering graduates coming

out of colleges each year are

employable. The net result of such

unemployability is wastage of

resources. This can be in the form

of providing additional training

to the concerned persons or the

persons remaining unemployed.

In both the cases, there is a loss

of time, money, energy and other

productive resources. Therefore,

there is an urgent need for industrial

collaboration with professional

institutions so as to provide the

requisite skills before entering

the job market. Industry can be

helpful in designing of syllabus,

modification of curriculum at

regular intervals, providing first

hand training and delivering

guest lectures demonstrating

practical aspects and constraints

of theoretical knowledge. The

academic institutions are also

required to be prudent and show

their seriousness in inviting

industry to participate to enhance

skill sets of students.

Last but not the least; collaboration

is also required to provide training to

mid level executives in the corporate

sector. The above discussion, so

far, has been concentrated on

active participation of industry in

academia. However, this aspect

requires active involvement of

academic institutions to meet the

training needs of those people who

are already working. Development

and knowledge acquiring is a

continuous process, and hence

requires orientation training at

different levels of work experience

in the form of Executive Education

Program, Executive Development

Program, Management Development

program etc. Academic institutions

give the opportunity to blend the

practical experience acquired by

these mid level executives with

latest developments in theoretical

knowledge and the output is likely

to be the enhancement of productive

capacity of the person, organization

and the whole economy.

Thus, there are different ways

in which industry and academia

can collaborate for human resource

development in India. These forms

are not exhaustive; rather they

are just an illustration of such

collaboration. As the population

is vast and heterogeneous, the

development needs are also

differentiated. Therefore, it requires

innovative and productive methods

of collaboration between industry

and academia to have a complete,

comprehensive and all round

development of human resources in

India.

(Email : pralokg07@iimb.ernet.in)

YOJANA June 2010 21

There are many explicit and implicit benefits to be

derived from NPS. Its long term

benefits will be huge, impacting every aspect of

social and economic life of the nation

Changing the Way India thinks Tomorrow

HRD

NE OF the basic goals of a social security system is to provide a secure and broad based source of old age income. Active ageing is a right of every citizen

who has contributed to the growth and development of a nation while they were young and working. However, while providing for their old age, a nation also has to keep in mind the resources it has at its disposal.

Improved living conditions and better medical services have resulted in increased longevity for people. This has created imbalance in the ratio of workers to social security beneficiaries, putting a question mark on the sustainability of the existing models of pension. Therefore an intense debate has been going on the world over about right type of pension reform models.

Three main reform models have emerged in the process - Parametric Reforms, Systemic Reforms and Notional Defined Contributions. While the implicit objective of all these reforms is to enhance pension

O

The author is Chief Executive Officer, LIC Pension Fund Ltd.

entitlement, the difference pertains to the entities who would shoulder the Longevity Risk . In the parametric reforms the risk is born by the pension providers while in case of systemic reforms longevity risks are transferred to the pensioners through a shift from Defined Benefit (DB) system where pension benefits are given as per a pre defined formula, to Defined Contribution (DC ) systems where contributions are paid into an individual account for each member, these contributions are invested, for example in the stock market, and the returns on the investment (which may be positive or negative) are credited to the individual's account. On retirement, the member's account is used to provide retirement benefits. The Notional Defined Contribution reforms integrate some characteristics of DB and Dc systems.

What was wrong with the Indian Pension System ?

Demographic Trend

Life expectancy has been steadily increasing and is estimated

H Sadhak

ANALYSIS

22 YOJANA June 2010

to go up from 63.7 yrs at present to 67 yrs for male and 68.8 yrs for female in 2016. The Growth Rate of elderly population in India is 3.8% as against general population growth rate of 1.8%. and the number of elderly population will be more than double in the next 20 years. This is steadily adding to the pressures on government exchequer.

Low Coverage

The current social security and pension system mainly covers the organized Civil Service, public sector and some segment of organize private sector. The bulk of labour force working in the unorganized sector have no such cover. It has been estimated that , only 11% of workers are covered by formal pension system while 89% still remain uncovered.

High Cost Def ined Benef i t Pension

The Defined Benefit pension for the organised segments of government service seems to be unsustainable in the future as it is exerting a lot of pressure on government exchequer.

Pension Assets

India is still much behind the developed and many emerging countries in terms of her pension assets. In 2005 India's p ension assets percentage of GDP was only 5.3% as against 64.9 percent for Chile, 62.6 percent for Singapore, 56.7 percent for Malaysia , 33.9 percent for South Africa, 125 percent for Netherlands, 99 percent for USA and 66 percent for UK.

India therefore needed to introduce a pension system that would be able to face the above challenges, and thus came the contributory and funded New

Pension System in January 2004, which came into effect from May 2009.

NPS : Structure

The NPS is a distinct system, close to Systemic Reform. India has retained its existing DB system for civil servants and also allowed the EPFO and other statutory pension/ provident fund system like EPF, EPS etc. to continue, but made the NPS mandatory for central government employees who joined services on or after 1st January, 2004. It is also voluntarily applicable to all citizens of India making the reform distinct from many countries which have initiated pension reforms in the recent times.

The Individual Account based NPS is a Two Tier system:

Tier -1 : is Mandatory Non Withdrawable Pension Account. The employees will contribute 10% of their salary and an identical matching contribution will be made by the Government , totalling 20% contribution to the pension account of the employees.

T i e r - 2 - i s Vo u l n t a r y , Withdrawable Savings Account. No contribution will be made by the Government.

Individual Account Number : Every subscriber will be issued a unique Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) by the Central Record keeping Agency ( CRA).

Portability : NPS is Portable and the pension benefits will never cease even if the pensioner moves from one place to another. Subscribers will also be entitled to switch over from one scheme to another scheme as well as from one Fund Manager to another Fund Manager.

Multiple investment options: The Pension Fund Managers will offer multiple schemes to the subscribers .At present, schemes offered to the central government employees and other citizens are different.

Funds offered to Central Govt. Employees : There are two Schemes , Scheme-1 : under which 85% assets are invested in debt instruments and 10% assets to be invested in Equity Mutual Funds/ Corporate Bonds and 5% assets to be invested in Equity. Under Scheme-11 , 100% pension assets will be invested in Govt. Securities. However at present only Scheme I is operational.

Funds offered to All Citizens (o ther than Centra l Govt . Employees) : One of the most significant feature of the NPS is flexible investment option. One can select a scheme depending oh her/his risk tolerance capacity from a basket of three schemes under active choice. These include Asset Class E : Investment in predominantly equity market instruments; Asset Class C : Investment in Fixed income instruments other than the Govt.Securities; Asset Class G : Investment in Government Securities. However those who are unable to decide any scheme by themselves, can simply opt for a pre determined investment portfolio called Auto Choice.

Pay outs in NPS

Two different types of pay out mechanisms have been introduced under NPS :

For Central Govt Employees: At the time of retirement when accumulation period ends an employee has the option to invest at least 40% accumulated wealth in

YOJANA June 2010 23

purchasing an annuity plan from a life insurance company approved by IRDA and to take maximum 60% of as lump sum withdrawal.

For all citizens : Voluntary NPS allows an investor to withdraw before age 60 at any point of time but he has to invest at least 80% of accumulated wealth to purchase an annuity from a life insurance company approved by IRDA and 20% as lump sum withdrawal. However, when an investor exits at the age 60, he has to invest at least 40% of wealth in annuity and the remaining amount can be withdrawn as lump or as a phased withdrawal between the age 60 and 70 . This Phased withdrawal is an additional facilities in voluntary NPS.

NPS : Cost

NPS is one of the low cost pension systems in the world. The cost structure is also very transparent. Various charges under NPS shown below :

As the number of accounts in CRA increase to 10 lakh, and then

to 30 lakh, the service charges, (exclusive of Service Tax and other taxes as applicable ) will be reduced to Rs. 280 and Rs 250 respectively for annual PRA maintenance per account and to Rs . 6 and Rs 4 respcetively for charges per transaction.

Tax Benefits: There are tax benefits for participating employees. Currently EET Tax is applicable for mandatory contribution to NPS.

NPS : Architecture

NPS has a well thought out architecture with defined role of various entities:

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)

The PFRDA has the responsibility to regulate and develop the pension market in India. This includes carrying out regulatory changes, overseeing quality and provision of services of NPSCAN, CRA, PFs Trustee Banks etc.

NPS Trustee

An NPS Trust has been set up by PFRDA for taking care of assets and

funds under the NPS. The securities shall be purchased by the PF(s) on behalf of and in the name of Trustees and the securities purchased by each PF shall be held in the Custodial Account of NPS Trust. However , Individual subscriber shall remain beneficial owner of these securities assets and funds. NPS Trust will appoint Trustee Bank and hold an account with it.

Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA):

CRA would undertake Record Keeping, Administration and Customers service, issue of unique Permanent Account Number (PRAN) to each subscribers, maintaining a data base of all subscr ibers , and record ing transaction relating to each subscribers. National Securities Depository Ltd ( NSDL) has been appointed as the CRA for the NPS.

Pension Fund Managers : In order to introduce competition and to provide wider choice to the subscribers , PFRDA has allowed

Intermediary Charge head Service charges * Method of DeductionCentral Record Keeping Agency (CRA)

PRA opening charges Rs. 50 Through cancellation of units

Annual PRA Maintenance cost per account

Rs. 350

Charge per transaction Rs. 10

Point of Presence (POP0) (Max. Permissible Charge for each subscriber)

Initial subscriber registration and contribution upload

Rs. 40 To be collected upfront

Any subsequent transactions Rs. 20

Trustee Bank Per transaction emanating from a RBI location

Zero Through NAV deduction

Per transaction emanating from a non-RBI location

Rs.15

Custodian (On asset value in custody)

Asset Servicing charges 0.0075% p.a for Electronic segment & 0.05% p.a for Physical segment

Through NAV deduction

PFM charges Investment Management Fee 0.0009% p.a. Through NAV deduction

24 YOJANA June 2010

multiple fund mangers. The subscriber will have a choice to select from multiple pension fund managers and multiple schemes. Pension Fund Managers will manage investment of Retirement Savings of NPS. There will be no implicit or explicit assurance of benefits except market based guarantee mechanism to be purchased by the subscriber. PFRDA has appointed three pension fund managers , namely LIC Pension Fund Ltd., SBI Pension Fund and UTI Securities Ltd for managing funds of Central Govt. employees who will also manage State Govt Funds. Further, PFRDA has appointed six fund managers to manage funds of all citizens ( excluding Central and State Govt Fund ).

Point of Presence ( POPs) :

PFRDA has appointed 22 POPs who will act as collection centre for NPS , will collect application forms from the subscribers ( under All Citizens category ) and send the same to the CRA.

Trustee Bank :

The Trustee Bank will maintain the account of the Trustee and will receive credits from the government department or its agencies and transmit the information to the CRA for reconciliation. The Trustee bank shall remit the funds to the Pension Fund Managers, Annuity Service Providers (ASP). NPS Trust has appointed Bank of India as the Trustee Bank

Custodian :

The Custodian will provide Custodial Services to the Pension Funds, which will include among others to ensure that benefits due on the holdings are received, provide detailed reports to the PFs etc. NPS Trust has appointed Stock

Holding Corporation of India Ltd as the custodian for the new pension system.

Annuity Service Providers (ASP):

The role of annuity service providers (ASPs) will be critical in the NPS, since they will offer annuity to the subscribers when members reach superannuation or withdraw pension assets. As per the provision there would be mandatory annuitization, and the members have to purchase annuity from ASPs. The ASPs will offer annuity products to the subscribers, receipt funds from CRA and pay regular monthly annuity.

NPS : Impact

Introduction of Funded Defined Contribution pension system will have a far reaching impact on Indian society and economy.

Extend coverage :

NPS will not only extend the necessary pension coverage and retirement income to those who at present do not have any access to formal social security/ pension . but will also spread financial literacy and induce the citizens to save for old age income through regular savings while they are earning. .

Increase Savings, Investment and Growth :

NPS would have far reaching impact on domestic savings , since a member of NPS needs to contribute on a continuous basis for a long time, normally till the age of 60 years . This would boost up savings for long term investment . India is already in a high growth trajectory and enhanced domestic savings would support investment activities and macro economic growth.. Research have indicated

that Pension Reforms have boosted up GDP growth rate in Chile and other countries, induced domestic savings rate and significantly influenced the Capital market.

Capital Markets :

Pension Funds are very active Financial Intermediaries . Pension reforms will increase the retirement assets , which are required to be invested in debt and capital market thus supporting the capital market activities. Further the emerging pension industry will increase the demand for long term financial instruments like Inflation Index Bonds, Zero Coupon Bonds etc. which will lead to financial innovation. A well developed Pension market thus provides stability to macro economy and financial market.

Life insurance and Annuity Market :

India has adopted the third option – Mandatory Annuitization . Under the NPS, it is mandatory that at least 40% of Pension Wealth will be invested in life Annuity at the time of superannuation. The Annuity Policy will be purchased from one of the Life Insurance Company approved by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority ( IRDA), which will provide a boost to the life insurance annuity business in India.

We have mentioned about a few visible and explicit benefits of Pension Reforms through NPS , but there are many more explicit and implicit benefits to be derived. Long term benefits of NPS will be huge, impacting every aspect of social and economic life of the nation.

(Email : hsadhak@ rediff.com)

YOJANA June 2010 25

J&K WINDOW

TOURIST INFLOW UP IN J&K

The state has witnessed a record inflow of tourists in the first three months of this year. A report submitted to the ministry of home affairs (MHA) by the J&K government said 66,135 tourists visited the state till March 31 this year as against 44,301 tourists during the same period in 2009. This was

despite 117 incidents of terror reported in the state in the first three months of the year, including a blast on the Qazigund-Baramulla railway line as well as 112 infiltration attempts.

The Centre welcomed the trend of tourists not shunning J&K in spite of the rising violence this year. The state witnessed unprecedented levels of tourist arrivals during the winter period between January and March, with the maximum inflow recorded in Srinagar, Gulmarg and Anantnag.

The MHA said the security forces had stepped up vigil to make the environment safer for tourists. Among the steps taken were a separate tourist police and enforcement wing at Srinagar, Jammu and other tourists spots, as well as adequate deployment of forces in and around the popular places. Lately, the MHA has also been giving permission to filmmakers to shoot movies.

MHA officials said tourism had been picking up in J&K in recent years. In 2008, 4.66 lakh tourists visited the state, while 4.75 lakh tourists came the next year. The state government’s report said there was a 34.49 per cent reduction in terrorism-related incidents in J&K in 2007 from the previous year, 35.16 per cent fall in such cases in 2008 as compared to 2007 and a further 30 per cent dip in terror strikes in 2009 over 2008. But even with a rise in violence this year, tourists are still coming.

MOUNTAINEERING ON LADAKH PEAKS

After receiving a nod from the Union Government to open nearly 100 peaks of the Valley for mountaineering, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has started a process to revive adventure sports with an aim to boost the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy, the tourism sector.

The decision to revive mountaineering in the hilly region of Ladakh was taken by the Union Government after reviewing all aspects including security. However, due to sensitive strategic location of Ladakh’s borders with China and Pakistan, the mountaineers will be required to get permission from the Indian Mountaineering Federation for undertaking the expeditions.

Pertinently, the breath-taking snow-clad mountains of Kashmir were unofficially closed for the past over two decades for security reasons. Mountaineering on some higher areas of Sonamarg and Pahalgam including Gangbal and Kolhai has been drastically affected due to heavy presence of troops.

The opening of the Ladakh peaks will allow the mountaineers to access the isolated Batalik and Dah Hanu areas in the Indus gorge where a group of Aryans still live in their traditional set up. It will be a major attraction for the foreigners.

A few years ago the IMF had made on the spot assessment of the Valley’s trekking and mountaineering destinations. To promote Kashmir as one of the best mountaineering destinations, the IMF had celebrated its golden jubilee year in the Valley and mountaineers from various countries had participated in the event.

As a confidence building measure to promote tourism in Ladakh, the Centre last year had relaxed the Protected Area Permit Regime (PAPR) to enable foreign tourists to visit Turtuk, a village in Nubra valley, which was reclaimed by India from Pakistan during the 1971 war. The relaxation of PAPR parameters had benefited the tourism circuits in Ladakh and Kargil.

(Courtesy : Newspapers)

26 YOJANA June 2010

It has to be ensured that

they are equipped with trained manpower, equipment,

teaching aids and special

curricula for the disabled

Mainstreaming the Disabled in Regular Schools

HRD

INCE INDEPENDENCE

the disabled have been

categorized with other

weaker and vulnerable

sections of the society

such as women, scheduled castes

and scheduled tribes. The other

sections have had powerful political

lobbies but there has been no

spokesperson for the disabled.

However, what is most tragic

as far as disabled people in India

are concerned is the fact that our

Census never bothered to collect

statistics on disability. At least, not

since India attained independence

from the British Raj. The only

attempt India made was in 1991,

when a so-called National Sample

Survey was conducted. It pegged

the population of disabled people

in India at 1.9%. This statistic

is probably responsible for the

false belief that citizens are just

S

The authors are respectively President and Director, Tamana, a non-profit voluntary association working for the cause of developmentally disabled and minimal brain damaged children.

simply not affected by disability

and this sector is ignored. Over 75

percent of the disabled children

in India can neither attend school,

nor go to a college; that getting

employment is next to impossible;

that something as simple and

ordinary as going to a cinema hall

or to a park becomes a sort of an

ordeal. The disabled population of

India has been left totally behind.

No country or society can ever

progress or develop leaving 20

million of its population behind. In

terms of human resources, we are

talking about a potential workforce

of 20 million people.

The constitution of India

had visualized and emphasized

that provisions for handicapped

children should form an essential

part of the national system of

education. What we have instead

is a bifurcation of responsibility

Shayama ChonaRitu Juneja

OPINION

YOJANA June 2010 27

between the Ministry of Social

Justice which clubs the disabled

with the disadvantaged groups,

and the department of education.

The existing dichotomies between

the two ministries are creating

confusion and exclusion. The most

grievous mistake our policy makers

and decision makers have made is

to have looked at disability as a

charity issue, as a welfare issue.

It should rightly be development

issue, a progress issue. Issues

related to Disability should be

jointly addressed by Ministry of

Health, Ministry of Women and

Child Development, Ministry of

HRD and Ministry of Social Justice

and Empowerment.

At this juncture I want to

introduce Tamana as the voice

of the Disabled of India. Tamana

set up a special school in India in

1984, at a time when disability was

not recognized, the disabled were

shunned and there was not a clear

demarcation between mentally ill

and mentally challenged. Initially,

through trial and error and later

through hands on experience,

training (mainly in the US),

networking, collaboration with

special schools and universities

abroad, we have evolved an

expertise over the last 25 years in

this field. What we are putting down

here has come out of experience

of working with the disabled and

the expertise of our highly trained

team of professionals which include

psychologists, special educators,

speech therapists, occupational

therapists.

The first act dedicated to the

disabled was the PWD act of 1995.

However in this act the definition

of disability is incomplete and is

not ''broad'' and' ''embracing''. In

the definition, the autistic are not

included, when in the last count

there were an estimated 2 million

autistic in India (Daley 2002).

The PWD Act does state that

appropriate government should

ensure that each disabled child gets

free education till 18 years, promote

setting up of special schools in

Government and private sector for

those in need of special education

in such a manner that children

with disabilities living in any part

of the country have access to such

schools; endeavor to equip the

special schools for children with

disabilities with vocational training

facilities, promote the integration

of students with disabilities in the

normal schools.

Even though the act proposed

integration of the disabled , it did

not have any teeth. The disabled

of India continued to study in the

limited number of special schools

in our country or languished at

home in the absence of special

schools. If this huge mass of

disabled Indians were to sit idle,

as 'prisoners of circumstances' at

home, and remain dependent on

charity, then what impact would

that have on the nation's future

prospects, it's progress and its

economy? Can such a nation ever

even dream of being a 'developed'

nation?

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

was launched with the aim of

achieving the long cherished dream

of universalisation of elementary

education. But the reality is very

different. Only a small percentage of

disabled children receive education,

thus preventing their integration

into society. The Right to Education

Act has made it mandatory that all

public schools and government

schools have to integrate the

disabled, but there are no statistics

available so far to show how many

disabled children are being catered

to by the govt schools and public

schools. Till now there is no count

of the disabled population of India.

So how will the government ensure

that all disabled have access to

education?

The RTE act of 2009 has finally

opened the doors for mainstreaming

by including the disabled among all

children and not segregating them.

Also it is the first time that they are

being accorded a special mention

and have not been clubbed with

the disadvantaged groups as has

been the practice in the past. It will

ensure access to education to every

child with disability. It is giving

the disabled children the right to

education. The Act has created

awareness of the importance of

education of disabled within the

society and among the parents of

the disabled.

There are however certain

inherent challenges in mainstreaming

which need to be addressed

• Even if diagnosis is made at an

early age, one can not mainstream

28 YOJANA June 2010

mentally disabled children

with typically developing ones

according to their chronological

age. The mental age of the

disabled child will be much

lower. On the other hand if we

match children for mental age

then the typically developing

children will be younger than

their disabled peers.

• Simply admitting disabled in

normal school is not enough

– you have to make special

provisions for such children –

professionally trained staff like

special educators and therapists

– speech, occupational therapist

are required; barrier free

environment .

• It is not easy to mainstream all

kinds of disabled and all degrees

of disability. For example an

autistic child who has a low

attention span, is hyper and has

behavioral issues will be a misfit

in a normal school classroom.

• Children with moderate to

severe level of disability cannot

be mainstreamed in classrooms

having 40 children as they

require one to one intensive

training. Hence, slow learners

and borderline cases may

be easier to mainstream than

moderate to severe ones. Such

children would also require

remedial intervention in a

resource room.

• Schools are not equipped for

mainstreaming –they do not

have the infrastructure, the

manpower and equipment to take

in the disabled. Major changes

in infrastructure are required in

order to mainstream.

• Sensitisation and orientation

of staff in regular schools is

required. Attitudes are such that

disability is frowned upon and

the child is stigmatized.

• There is paucity of trained

manpower in the field in country.

The disability sector is the last

choice among careers options

because of poor pay scales of

professionals.

• Special children need a different

curriculum. There is absence

of a national curriculum for

special children. Til l the

time a national curriculum is

developed, the students with

special need should be given

the option of pursuing NIOS

curriculum while continuing

to attend regular schools or

special schools as the NIOS

will provide them flexibility of

choice of academic subjects,

flexibility in age for registering

for Open Basic level at NIOS

and they can take up to 5 years

to clear a level.

Role Of Special Schools

In India it is the NGO sector

which is delivering services in

special education. The Govt of

India should be proud of the sector

and strengthen it. The NGO sector

needs to be reckoned with and

appreciated and considered as

partners in dvelopment as presently

this sector is the only entity looking

after the disabled in India. . It should

not be the Government versus the

NGO. Both should work hand in

hand. Till the government schools

and private schools gear themselves

up, the government should provide

assistance to the already existing

special schools. The profoundly

and severely challenged children

can only be trained in special

schools. Special schools can

serve as bridge schools where the

mildly and moderately retarded

are prepared for entry and later

mainstreamed in normal schools.

The special schools can provide

resource persons for training staff

of normal schools. Special Schools

can play an advocacy role in setting

up resource centres and updating

infrastructure. in the regular

schools. They can also serve as

centres of reverse integration where

students of regular schools can visit

and interact with the disabled in

co curricular activities and during

festivals.

We conclude by reiterating that

before we start mainstreaming the

disabled in the regular schools it has

to be ensured that they are equipped

with trained manpower, equipment

and teaching aids and special

curricula for the disabled. They

have to be given time to develop

the required infrastructure. Special

schools should be provided support

for services they provide to the

profoundly disabled.

E-mail : tamanapresident@gmail.com naidisha57@hotmail.com)

YOJANA June 2010 29

We need to look at the education

of tribal people in a holistic manner and redefine our goals and delivery

mechanisms to suit the needs, culture, values

and sensibilities of the people

Ignored Citizens: A Study on Tribal Education in India

HRD

ducation of the Scheduled Tribes has received lot of attention in independent India. Yet, over the years, they continue to

be amongst the most socially and educationally disadvantaged groups in the country. Exclusion from basic education for the tribes is a complex socio-political process that has multiple roots and causes. The present article attempts to throw light on the state of literacy among tribal groups and factors contributing to the generally educational attainment among them.

Literacy Profile of the Scheduled Tribes

We have about 573 STs living in different parts of India, speaking more than 270 languages and maintaining exclusive identities. According to the 2001 census, the ST population was 84.32 million or 8.2 per cent of the country’s total population. Table 1 below

E

The authors is Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs Department, Govt of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.

shows the literacy rates for the ST population and the total population of the country since 1971. As is evident from it, the gap between the literacy rates of the two has started narrowing down only after 1991 and continues to be quite substantial. Although there has been a steady increase in literacy rates of both categories over the years, progress on this count has been much slower for the ST population. Table 2 shows the state wise literacy rates among the ST population over the years. Here again we can see huge disparities between states. There are some which score way above the national average, while others continue to hover at much lower levels.

Women's literacy

As can be seen from Table 2 , the literacy profile of the ST population is also plagued by huge gender disparities. The rate is abysmal in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh

Raju Narayana Swamy

FOCUS

30 YOJANA June 2010

Table 1Literacy Rates : Total Population and ST Population

Category 1971 1981 1991 2001Total Population 29.45 36.23 52.21 65.38

ST Population 11.30 16.35 29.60 47.1

Gap 18.15 19.88 22.61 18.28

Source: Educational Development of SCs and STs, Department of Education, Ministry of HRD GOI, Census 2001

Table 2Literacy Rate of STs in States and UTs

Sl. No.

State/UTs 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 Total

2001 Female

1. Andhra Pradesh 4.41 5.33 7.82 17.16 37.0 26.1

2. Assam 23.58 26.02 ---- 49.16 62.5 52.4

3. Bihar 9.16 11.64 16.99 26.78 28.2 15.5

4. Chattisgarh --- --- ---- ---- 52.1 39.3

5. Gujarat 11.69 14.12 21.14 36.45 47.7 36.0

6. Haryana ---- ---- ---- ---- --- -----

7. Himachal Pradesh 8.63 15.89 25.93 47.09 65.5 53.3

8. Jammu & Kashmir ---- ---- ---- ---- --- 25.5

9. Jharkhand ------ ----- ----- ----- 40.7 27.2

10. Karnataka 8.15 14.85 20.14 ---- 48.3 36.6

11. Kerala 17.26 25.72 31.79 36.01 64.4 58.1

12. Madhya Pradesh 5.10 7.62 10.68 57.22 41.2 28.4

13. Maharashtra 7.21 11.74 22.29 21.54 55.2 43.1

14. Manipur 27.25 28.71 39.74 36.79 65.9 58.4

15. Meghalaya ---- 29.49 31.55 53.63 61.3 59.2

16. Nagaland 14.76 24.01 40.32 46.71 65.9 61.317.

17 Orissa 7.36 9.46 13.96 60.59 37.4 23.4

18. Punjab ---- ---- ---- ---- --- ------

19. Rajasthan 3.97 6.47 10.27 ---- 44.7 26.2

20. Sikkim ---- ----- 33.30 19.44 67.1 60.2

21. Tamil Nadu 5.91 9.00 20.46 59.01 41.5 32.8

22. Tripura 10.01 15.03 23.07 27.89 56.5 44.0

23. Uttar Pradesh ---- 14.59 20.45 40.37 35.1 20.7

24. Uttaranchal --- ---- ---- ---- 63.2 49.4

22. West Bengal 6.55 8.92 13.21 35.70 43.4 29.2

23. Andaman 1.10 17.85 31.11 27.78 66.8 59.6

24. Arunachal Pradesh ---- 5.20 14.04 56.62 49.6 40.6

25. Chandigarh ---- ---- ---- ------ ----- ------

26. Dadra and Nagar Haveli 4.40 8.90 16.86 ---- 41.2 27.0

27. Delhi ----- ---- ---- ----- ----- ----

28. Goa ---- 12.73 26.48 ---- 55.9 47.3

29. Lakshadweep 22.27 41.37 53.13 80.59 86.1 80.2

30. Mizoram ---- 53.49 59.63 82.71 89.3 86.9

31. Pondichery ---- ---- ---- ---- -- -----

32. Daman and Diu ---- ---- ---- 52.91 63.4 51.9

India 8.54 11.29 16.35 29.60 47.1 34.8

Source: (i) Census of India, Series-1, Paper-1, Provisional Population Totals 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1991. (ii) Ministry of HRD Annual Report

YOJANA June 2010 31

Rajasthan and Orissa. The states which have a high overall literacy level have a low gender differential. While in Rajasthan there is a vast gender differential- as much as 35.9 per cent points between male and female literacy (M- 62.1 %; F 26.2 % ) , in Mizoram and Lakshadweep the gender differential is 4.8 and 12 per cent points respectively. In Kerala it is 12.7 per cent points.

Drop-out Rates

The drop-out rate, which is another crucial indicator in the field of educational development, is also very high among the STs. 57.36 percent children dropped out of Classes I to V, 72.80 from classes I to VIII and 82.96 from classes I to X during 1998-99. As Table 3 shows, although the drop-out rates have been showing a largely declining trend, the decline is slower in case of the ST population.

Issues in Tribal Education

It is in this context of wide regional disparities and programmes failing to achieve the mandatory targets that approaches to tribal education need a fresh examination. First of all, education has to be redefined in the tribal context. S. Patel (1991) in his study finds that the educational opportunity available to a child depends to

a great extent on the variety and quality of education available to him. Whether or not the child is able to derive the maximum benefit from this education depends on a number of non-educational factors in his environment. These include the general health, economic status and literacy levels of the family and the quality of available social services, among other things. Some issues that have a bearing on education among tribals are discussed below.

Fear of losing tribal identity

The social factors affecting

education are many. There is a

widespread feeling among the

tribals that education makes their

boys and girls disobedient and

alienates them from their society.

A very interesting example is the

interview of an illiterate Oraon

living in a remote village in Ranchi

District, as narrated in the paper

“Tribal Education and Fading Tribal

Identity” by Ambasht, N.K.(1999),

where he says that education is

making the tribal youth “dikus”

(outsiders). They start to look down

upon their culture and want to give

up their tribal identities.

The findings of the above

quoted study are very relevant

in the context of state sponsored education programmes for the

tribes. Very few of our schools have any ethnographic account of any of the tribal societies, resulting in total non-appreciation of the strengths of their culture and values. The process can lead to fading tribal identity. The transition to a literate society must be smooth. The lifestyle and learning styles of the tribal children will have to find a place in the processes.

Economic factors

Economic factors are also responsible for lack of interest shown by the tribal people in getting education. Since most of the tribal people are living in poverty, it is not easy for most of them to send their children to schools. The percentage of tribal population living in severe poverty continues to be very high. Almost one third of the earning ST population works as agricultural labour, as against one fifth for the aggregate population. The extremist movements in many tribal dominated areas of the country bear testimony to the abject poverty of the people of the area. Questions of livelihood and survival therefore, influence the choice of whether or not to send a child to school .

Role of teachers

Teachers should be associated with day to day life style of villagers.

Table 3 Drop-Out Rates among STs and Total Population

(1990-91 and 1998-99)Category Classes (I-V) Classes (I-VIII) Classes (I-X)

1990-91 1998-99 1990-91 1998-99 1990-91 1998-99Total population 42.60 39.74 60.90 56.82 71.34 67.44

STs 62.52 57.36 78.57 72.80 85.01 82.96

Gap 19.92 17.62 17.67 15.98 13.67 15.52

Source: Educational Profile of States/UTs, Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI, New Delhi.

32 YOJANA June 2010

In a tribal village the teacher should be a learner, more specifically a seeker of local knowledge from the tribal culture. The social hierarchy existing in India also plays a significant role in the quality

of teaching imparted to students,

with teachers often found to show

partiality on caste lines. The teachers

employed for imparting education

to the tribal children should be able

to appreciate the tribal way of life

and value system. The acceptance

of teachers by the community as

one of them is critical for increasing

schooling participation in tribal

areas. An understanding of tribal

cultures and practices and familiarity

with their language are important for

teachers to gain this recognition. It

may perhaps be useful to appoint

teachers from the tribal community

itself.

Medium of instruction

It is important to impart education

to a child in his own language to

avoid creating an artificial blurred

personality dissociated from home

and school environment (Goga

D’Souza, 2003). The findings of

Vinoba Gautam, Co-ordinator, UN/

Government Janashala programme

as outlined in his study needs special

mention in this context. According

to him, a major reason for school

drop outs is that in most states the

medium of instruction is the regional

language. Most tribal children do

not understand text books written

in these languages. Further, students

and non tribal teachers who are often appointed to these schools do not understand each other’s language. The study highlights the experience of Assam which was the first state to prepare teacher training modules for the Bodo-tribal language in

1995. It also highlights the Madhya Pradesh experience where teachers’ hand books have been prepared in three languages-Gondi, Kuduk and Bhil. Supplementary TLM for tribal children has been developed in Jhabua district of MP using local cultural form i.e. folk tales, riddles etc. The paper also talks about the Karnataka experience wherein the text book for class I and II has been developed for Soliga language and

the Maharashtra experience where

tribal language dictionaries have

been developed. The language

problem in primary education that

leads to the dropping of formal

education as a whole, is because of

the divide between the home and

the school atmosphere (in terms of

language), which as a rule, co-exist

as two separate worlds with hardly

any meeting point.

Location and timings

Schools that are closer to the

village and easily accessible are

likely to attract more students and

also retain them. The school timings

should also not clash with the work

schedules for different seasons.

Infrastructure

Infrastructural facilities have

been found to be totally inadequate

and particularly deplorable in schools

in ST dominated areas. Buildings are

dilapidated with no basic furniture

and teaching equipments. Teacher absenteeism is also very high. A study by V.Subramanyam (2003) among the tribes in Andhra Pradesh states that high drop-out rates among ST students is due to lack of sufficient infrastructure facilities, teaching aids and lack of good number of qualified teachers. There is therefore an urgent need to augment the infrastructural

facilities in schools in tribal areas so that students are interested enough to continue their education.

Nature of curriculum

Content of curriculum and internal operations are key issues that need to be addressed. While everyone expects education to respond effectively to old and new challenges, we have often found the present form of education leading to alienation of tribal people from their own culture. Gandhiji regarded education as a means for spearheading silent social revolution and expected it to provide a healthy relationship between the city and the village, which would go a long way in eradicating the poisoned relationship between the classes . For education to be able to achieve this objective, we need a curriculum that can impart a modern outlook to people while encouraging them to retain all that is good in their own culture – a curriculum that is sensitive to the culture and value systems of the tribal people.

Our policy makers have so far failed to make quality education available to the tribal people. We have not been able to make al lowances for our cultural heterogeneity and factor it into our educational system. We need to look at the education of tribal people in a holistic manner and redefine our goals and delivery mechanisms to suit the needs, culture, values and sensibilities of the people. Ultimately it is not classroom transaction alone but the combined mobilization of community, political machinery and the bureaucracy that holds the key to

success in this regard.

(Email : narayan5@ias.nic.in)

YOJANA June 2010 33

Education and acquiring

of new and improved skills can help people

break this barrier and propel them

into an orbit of better

opportunities

Skill Development for Employability Enhancement

HRD

ERTAIN SKILLS are

handed down through

generations. These skills

are ‘Trade Secrets . ’

They may command

a premium in the market. For

example , p r epa ra t i on o f a

panchanga, preparation of certain

medicine etc. These secrets are

not patented. Some of the family

skills do not earn high wages.

A carpenter ’s son becomes a

carpenter. A barber’s son becomes

a barber. Thus generations are

bound to be in the same strata of

society and cannot improve their

lives. Education and acquiring

of new and improved skills can

help people break this barrier and

propel them into an orbit of better

opportunities.

As per the 2001 census India

has a BPL population of roughly

260 million and 300 million

school dropouts in the age bracket

of 6 to 16. In this country with

the youngest population, nearly

C

The author is former M.D., State Bank of Travancore.

13 mil l ion people enter the

labour market every year. While

the world is likely to have a

shortage of about 47 million

working people by 2020, India

will have 65 % of its population

in the working age bracket and a

56 million strong surplus labour

force. The challenge before the

country is to impart adequate and

right kind of skills to this surplus

labour force to enable them to

earn better wages for themselves

and for the country. Our present

capacity for skill development

programmes is for 3 million. The

target is to raise it to 15 million

during the 11th Five Year Plan

and to 500 million by 2022, with

emphasis on inclusion in terms

of gender, rural/urban, organized/

unorganized, minorities, SC/

ST, r eg ions wi th ba l anced

development etc.

In the Indian context, initiatives

for skill development have been

taken up at various levels, both

A K Jagannathan

FOCUS

34 YOJANA June 2010

government and private. Some of

these initiatives are discussed in the

following paragraphs .

In i t ia t ives taken by the Government of India

Coordinated Action on Skill Development

Coordinated Action on Skill

Development is the major initiative

for achieving 11th Plan objective

of inclusive growth through

coordination and harmonization

of skill development initiatives of

different players. The action aims

at creation of a pool of skilled

manpower with adequate skills that

meet the employment requirement

across various sectors of the

national economy. The institutional

structure put in place for the purpose

includes the PM’s Council on

Skill Development, the National

Skill Development Coordination

Board (NSDCB) chaired by Deputy

Chairman, Planning Commission

and the National Skill Development

Corporation under Ministry of

Finance.

PM's National Council on Skill Development

PM’s Council on National

Skill Development has Union

Ministers of key ministries like

Finance, HRD, MSME, Heavy

Industries and Public Enterprises,

Rural Development, Housing and

Urban Poverty Alleviation, Labour,

Deputy Chairman, Planning

Commission, Chairperson, National

Manufacturing Competitiveness

Council, Chairperson of National

Skill Development Corporation

and six experts in the area of skill

development. The main functions

of the Council are :

i. To lay down overall policy

objectives, financing and

governance mode l s and

strategies relating to skill

development.

ii. To review the progress of

s chemes , and gu ide on

m i d c o u r s e c o r r e c t i o n s ,

additions and closure of parts

or whole of any particular

programme / scheme.

iii. Coordinate Public Sector/

Private Sector Initiatives in a

framework of a collaborative

action.

The Council has set a target of

creating 500 million skilled persons

by 2022 with emphasis on inclusion

so as to deal with divides of gender,

rural/urban, organized/unorganized,

employment and traditional/

contemporary work place. Some

of the key governance principles

it has laid down include designing

of programmes under which the

learner can pay the skill provider

directly; skills are fungible and

bankable; individuals are enabled

to convert their knowledge and

skills through adequate testing and

certification into higher diplomas

and degrees. The emphasis is

on promoting multiple models

of delivery that can respond to

differing situation in various states

and to utilize existing available

infrastructure of educational

institutions for skill development

after school hours without affecting

formal education.

National Ski l l Development Coordination Board

The NSDCB is entrusted with

the coordination and harmonization

of the Government’s initiatives for

skill development spread across

the seventeen Central Ministries

and State Governments with the

initiatives of the National Skill

Development Corporation. It has

twelve members which include

Secretaries of Central Ministries

of Labour & Employment, Rural

Development, Finance, Higher

Education; Chief Secretaries of

Four States by rotation for a period

of two years; three distinguished

a c a d e m i c i a n s / s u b j e c t a r e a

specialists, and Chairperson/Chief

Executive Officer of the National

Skill Development Corporation

besides Deputy Chairman, Planning

Commission, as Chairman and

Secretary, Planning Commission,

as the Member Secretary of the

Board. The main functions of the

Board include:

i. Enumerating strategies to

implement the decisions of

the Prime Minister’s National

Council on Skill Development

ii. Developing suitable operational

guidelines and instructions to

achieve the objectives of skill

development

iii. Initiating solutions and strategies

to address the problems of

regional imbalance in skill

development infrastructure,

socio-economic, rural-urban and

gender divide; quality teachers;

ensuring effective utilization

of investment; integrating

varying existing regulatory

institutions; involving private

sector to develop skills for

wage/self employment and

promoting apprenticeship/on-

the-job training for creation

YOJANA June 2010 35

of skilled personnel to address

both unemployability and

unemployment problems.

iv. E n c o u r a g i n g t h e S t a t e

governments to put in place

similar institutional structures.

v. Establishment of National

Skill Inventory and National

Database for Skill Deficiency

Mapping on National Web

Portal to facilitate exchange

o f in format ion be tween

prospective employers and job

seekers.

vi. Coordinating and facilitating the

repositioning of Employment

Exchange as outreach points

for storing and providing

information on employment

and skill development.

vii. Coordinating the establishment

of a “Credible accreditation

system” and a “guidance

framework” for all accrediting

agencies of different Ministries

and private players.

viii. Monitoring, evaluating

and analyzing the outcomes

of the various schemes and

programmes and apprising the

Apex Council.

National Skill Development Corporation

The National Skill Development

Corporation (NSDC), a non-profit

company under Section 25 of the

Companies Act, has been set up

under the Ministry of Finance.

It has an equity base of Rs. 10

crore of which 49% is contributed

by the Govt. and 51% by the

private sector. The Corporation

has a two tier structure viz. a 15

Member Board and a National

Skill Development Fund (NSDF)

as a 100% government owned

Trust to facilitate its mandate

of coordinating and stimulating

private sector initiative in the area

of skill development with enhanced

flexibility and effectiveness. The

15 members of the Board include

six government nominees, and 9

are private members. The NSDF,

the operating arm of the NSDC, is

created with a corpus of Rs. 995.10

crore as Government owned Trust to

receive financial contributions from

donors, private entities, government

(both Central and State), statutory

bodies, financial institutions etc.

The beneficiaries of the Trust are

the youth of India who require

skill development and vocational

training. Its main functions are as

follows:

i. It will make periodic as well

as an annual report of its plans

and activities and put them in

the public domain.

ii. E s t a b l i s h i n g a Tr a i n e e

Placement and Tracking System

for effective evaluation and

future policy planning.

iii. Establish credible independent

certification systems for both

V.E. and V.T. with the scope

for permitting vertical and

horizontal mobility within and

between V.E. and V.T.

Initiatives being taken up by Banks - Case of State Bank of Travancore

Apart from the government,

there are other institutions like

banks, NGOs and the industry

i t s e l f , who i s i nvo lved in

imparting skills to the youth of

the country.

Setting up of Rural Self Employment Training Institutes

With the aim of mitigating

unemployment among rural BPL

youth, the Ministry of Rural

Development has issued guidelines

for sett ing up of Rural Self

Employment Training Institutes

- one in every district - by the lead

bank of the area. The objective

of these Institutes is to provide

intensive short term residential

s e l f e m p l o y m e n t t r a i n i n g

programmes with free food &

accommodation, to rural youth

for taking up self employment

initiatives and skill up gradation

for running their micro enterprises

successfully. The training offered

to the eligible unemployed rural

youth is to be oriented to promote

sustainable self employment or

wage employment in specific

areas determined after due market

scanning.

State Bank of Travancore has set

up RSETIs in Alappuzha, Kottayam

and Pathanamthitta, where it is the

lead bank.

Skill Training for Employment Promotion Amongst Urban Poor (STEP UP)

This scheme launched under

Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar

Yojana (SJSRY) is focussed on

providing assistance for skill

formation/upgradation of the

urban poor to enhance their

capaci ty to under take se l f -

employment as well as access

better salaried employment.

STEP-UP provides training to the

36 YOJANA June 2010

urban poor in a variety of service,

business and manufacturing

activities as well as in local skills

and local crafts.

Wayanad Rural Micro Credit Training Institute

State bank of Travancore set up

the Wayanad Rural Micro Credit

Training institute (WRMCTI) at

Kalpetta in Wayanad District in

2005, to impart training to rural

entrepreneurs in Micro Credit

Activities / Agriculture and Allied

Activities jointly with Government

of Kerala, under the Rashtriya

Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY) .

The Institute is designated as

the nodal Institute for imparting

training to PMEGP beneficiaries of

Wayanad District and is enabling

participants to avail credit from

banks by liaisoning with the

lending institutions. So far the

Institute has conducted training

programmes for 217 batches

with 6076 beneficiaries since

inception. Women formed 95% of

the beneficiaries.

Financial Literacy and Credit Counselling Centre

The objective of the FLCCC

is to spread financial literacy and

to give credit counselling to the

poor. Knowledge about financial

products, benefit of borrowing,

interest rate, how it is applied and

responsibility for repayment, all

these and more are sought to be

spread, free of cost, to the rural

poor. The intention is to cover

the entire population for usage

of banking services (deposits,

advances, remittances, insurance

products) so that financial inclusion

is achieved.

A p a r t f r o m t h e a b o v e

initiatives, the industry is also

involved in imparting training and

skill to the youth of the country.

There is an ongoing programme

that aims to convert 1396 ITIs

(Industrial Training Institutes) to

Centres of Excellence in specific

skills and trades.The Government

of India is extending interest

free loan of Rs. 2.50 cr for ITI

upgradation. The Government

wants to upgrade 300 ITIs every

year.

(Email: ak_jjjj@yahoo.co.in)

YE

-6/1

0/9

YOJANA June 2010 37

NORTH EAST DIARY

RURAL WATER SCHEMES IN NE

The Union Ministry of Rural Development has released grant-in-aid for various Northeastern States, including Sikkim, to take up rural water schemes. Rs. 20 crore has been sanctioned to the Assam Government towards additional funds under the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission

(NRDWP) during 2009-10 to provide safe drinking water facilities to rural habitations and schools. The funds have been released to the implementing agency, the State Water and Sanitation Mission, Assam.

For Manipur Rs. 7.77 crore as second instalment of funds against allocation of Rs. 6,160 lakh for NRDWP during 2009-10, Rs. 10 crore has been sanctioned for Meghalaya, Rs. 16 crore for Tripura, Rs. 9.8 crore for Sikkim as second instalment of funds against allocation of Rs. 2,160 lakh for NRDWP. For Mizoram Rs. 4.95 crore has been sanctioned.

The National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), a component of Bharat Nirman, is one of the flagship programmes of the Government with the objective to provide safe drinking water to all households in rural areas, while ensuring convergence with related programmes and involvement of the Panchayati RaJ Institutions. To achieve drinking water security at village/habitation level, conjunctive use of water-judicious use of rainwater, surface water and ground water is promoted.

The Union Ministry of Rural Development has released grant-in-aid Rs. 16 crore to the Tripura Government towards additional funds under National Rural Development Water Programme (NRDWP) during 2009-10 the funds are meant for completion of rural water schemes to provide safe drinking water facilities to rural habitations under The Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. The NRDWP, a component of Bharat Nirman, is one of the flagship programmes of the Union Government which aims to provide safe drinking water to all the rural households of the State.

SUCCESS IN PROMOTING COMPOSITE FISH CULTURE

The efforts of a few highly motivated youths is creating a ‘blue revolution’ in a backward area of Assam. Members of Kalong Kapili, an NGO, with support from the Fisheries Department have been able to promote composite fish culture in Dimoria block, empowering a large number of people.

Today, the low lying areas of two Panchayats have people rearing fish, ducks and pigs besides cultivating banana, a package that has worked to their advantage. The locational edge of being close to a huge market in Guwahati has obviously helped.

A visit to the two areas where Kalong Kapili has provided guidance and training to villagers revealed that earning close to one lakh rupees a year is no longer a dream for those engaged in raising fish, ducks and pigs on the same plot. The waste from the animals provides good nutrient for the fish to grow, whereas the animals have access to water in the tanks.

The initial efforts were made in 2006, after a few local youths failed to secure employment. The next year with some apprehensions, they formed Kalong Kapili, during which period they helped train 55 persons to start scientific fish farming supported by the Fisheries Department, NABARD and Assam Grameen Bikash Bank, Sonapur. The hard work put in by the youths evidently paid off with fish production going up, and loan beneficiaries paying off their instalments on time.

Today there are nearly 500 people who have benefited from the initiative started by just a few young men. What is significant is the fact that there were no other income augmenting opportunities for most of the people who decided to embrace composite fish culture. Kalong Kapili now wants to promote fish farming among women in a more focused way, and to expand its technical knowledge base.

(Courtesy : Newspapers)

38 YOJANA June 2010

Human Resource management

should tap into the innovative

pulse of the nation and build

networks and communication

to ensure competence

Human Resource Management in a Knowledge Economy

HRD

I S T O R I C A L L Y , E C O N O M I C development of nations has occurred in different stages- from mechanising

agriculture, to industrialisation and post-industrialisation enterprises. Economies progress from factor driven low end sectors to investment driven middle end and innovation driven sectors at the high end. Many countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have followed this linear pattern of development. But there are exceptions. As Michael Porter of Harvard University explains, development is unique to each nation and is approached by organising resources around its strengths.

India, a developing nation still hovers around the factory driven stage of development. As experts suggest, aggressive automation of the manufacturing sector with Foreign Direct Investment can set the stage for development

H

The authors are respectively former Assistant Professor of Commerce and Management at Mar Ivanios College, Kerala University, Thiruvananthapuram and a freelance writer based in Puducherry.

in the middle end sector. But India’s inefficient port and road infrastructure will not be able to handle the high volume rigours of such dramatic progress. Therefore the right approach would be to push for innovation driven growth as India shows vibrancy in the knowledge sector. This is corroborated by the Global Competi t iveness Report. We should exploit the large pool of skilled workforce by investing in Human capital and focus on innovation driven economy with knowledge based industries. Superior knowledge resources have tremendous growth opportunities. How we manage our human resources in a knowledge based economy will define our future. It is in this context that knowledge based economy assumes significance.

What is a Knowledge Economy?

Alvin Toffler in his seminal work, ‘The Third Wave’ has divided

Francis Kuriakose Deepa Kylasam Iyer

VIEWPOINT

YOJANA June 2010 39

human history into three waves or periods- the first wave was that of agricultural revolution, the second that of industrial revolution and the final and the most important wave that swept mankind off its feet was the information revolution. This was possible post war with the commercialisation of the communication technology. A Knowledge economy encompasses capabilities of people rather than those of machines. It centres on human capital. Accessing and sharing knowledge globally has become a reality thanks to networking and connectivity. In short, knowledge has become an integral component of all products and services. It has become an entity independent of time and space and has led to economic growth in terms of both volume and revenue. Adequate man power supply and information

infrastructure will increase the information literacy of our citizens and will reflect positively on the e-readiness of our country. Table 1 shows the ranking of e-readiness of the countries of Asia Pacific where India ranks an unimpressive 10th.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Information and Communication Technology can be an important tool for empowerment. It can be used for the successful implementation of social welfare programmes, ensure better governance, eradicate poverty and illiteracy. This potential was envisaged by our former President Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam when he proposed PURA-Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas. Coherent knowledge and resource distribution would lead to Physical connectivity through roads, electronic connectivity

through communication networks and knowledge connectivity through training centres. Village Knowledge Centres or Community Information Centres are the epicentre of information dissemination. Such a project can be successful using Public- Private Partnerships. Government to citizen interfaces like Gyandoot, Akshaya (Kerala) and Bhoomi (Karnataka) have been successful. A list of Community information initiatives by the Government is given in table 2.

The National Knowledge Commission, 2005 explains the different components of a Knowledge system.

Access to knowledge- This can be facilitated through open access literature, open software and by strengthening libraries and information infrastructure.

TABLE 1E-READINESS RANKING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Rank in Region (2006)

Country e-readiness (Score out of 10) Human Development Index ( Out of 177 Countries)

1 Australia 8.50 3

2 Hong Kong 8.36 22

3 Singapore 8.24 25

4 New Zealand 8.19 19

5 South Korea 7.90 28

6 Japan 7.77 11

7 Taiwan 7.51 85

8 Malaysia 5.60 61

9 Thailand 4.63 73

10 India 4.25 127

11 Philippines 4.04 84

12 China 4.02 85

13 Sri Lanka 3.75 93

14 Indonesia 3.39 110

15 Vietnam 3.12 108

16 Pakistan 3.03 135

Sources: The 2006 e-readiness Rankings, Economists Intelligence Unit (EIU); Human Development Report 2005, UNDP.

40 YOJANA June 2010

Knowledge concepts- This includes professional skills and independent capabilities

Knowledge creation- This encompasses independent research capabilities and self sufficiency in knowledge

Knowledge application- This involves maximum benefits from intellectual assets to enhance productivity

Knowledge Services- This involves coherent knowledge d i s s e m i n a t i o n t h a t m a k e s government functioning more accountable.

An important ingredient that integrates all the unconnected components is human resources.

The Role of Human Resources

A Knowledge Economy requires success at three levels- sensing, mobilising and operationalising. The combination of competencies required is called organisational

capabilities. Human Resource Management (HRM) is required to create organisational capabilities in a knowledge economy. In this new environment, a human resource management has to step out of the traditional mantle and assume new and dynamic role of managing capabilities that people create and relationships that people must develop. More flexibility is required to facilitate adaptations and adjustments. The responsibilities in human resource management in a knowledge economy will be the demanding role of

Human cap i ta l S teward , who accumulates and conserves collective knowledge

Facilitator, who encourages learning, sharing and rewards knowledge accumulation

Relationship Builder, who creates synergy through cross cultural team work

Rapid Deployment Specialist,

who is versatile in evolving flexible HRM architecture

Power, prestige and money flows into intellectual property. Intellectual capitals are bought and sold in the human capital markets. Knowledge, rather than goods and services are the crucial components of the new world economies. As Don Tapscott (1996) rightly pointed out, added value is created by brains rather than brawns. Knowledge Economy has spawned a global knowledge based organisation transforming the world into a single homogenous market. Human Resource Management is the epicentre of such profound transformation. As it is drawn into greater prominence, it can create greater impact. Human Resource management should tap into the innovative pulse of the nation and build networks and communication

to ensure competence.

(Email: francyge83@yahoo.co.uk deepa_7ki@yahoo.co.in)

TABLE 2COMMUNITY INFORMATION INITIATIVES IN INDIA

Name of the Project Coverage Institutions InvolvedAkshaya Kerala State Information Technology Mission

Bhoomi Karnataka Revenue Dept., National Informatics Centre

Community Information Centres

North Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, National Informatics Centre

Digital Gangetic Plane Uttar Pradesh Media Lab Asia, IIT-Kanpur

Drishtee Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar

Drishtee Ltd.

E-choupal Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan

International Business Division of ITC Ltd.

Gyandoot Madhya Pradesh Gyandoot Samiti, National Informatics Centre

Rural e-seva Andhra Pradesh West Godavari District Administration

TARAhaat Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh

Developmental Authorities

Village Knowledge Centres 600,000 Villages in India in 2007 Government Agencies and NGOs

Source: ‘Information Literacy Initiatives in India with special reference to Emerging Knowledge Economy, SB Ghosh et al, 2006.

YOJANA June 2010 41

YE

-6/1

0/5

42 YOJANA June 2010

There exists great scope of empowering the village community and further improving

the livelihood of the villagers by developing

forests carbon sequestration projects

under the existing JFM institutions

Climate Change Mitigation through JFM in India

ENVIRONMENT

HE NEGOTIATIONS

for collectively acting

t o w a r d s c l i m a t e

change mitigation and

adaptation by different

nations were recently held in the

month of December at Copenhagen

summit .The conservationist,

foresters, researchers and many

others worked towards inclusion

of Reducing Emissions from

Deforestation and Degradation

(REDD) and REDD+ mechanisms

to mitigate climate change under

the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) banner.

While deforestation and forest

degradation are major contributors

to climate change, accounting

for nearly 20% of total Green

House Gas (GHG) emissions,

REDD and REDD+ initiatives

aim to combat climate change by

compensating for income lost as a

T

The authors are respectively Professor, Environment and Development Economics and Research Fellow in the Indo Shastri Project on CNRM at Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.

result of halting deforestation and

promoting sustainable management

of forests.

REDD was proposed in COP

11 and in COP 13 proposal for

the inclusion of conservation,

and enhancement of forest carbon

stocks under REDD was initiated to

seek compensation for conservation

efforts done in countries like India

where the total area under forest

has increased post 1990. This

compensated conservation approach

seeks to incentivize the efforts

of increasing the forest carbon

stock and hence help in climate

change mitigation. Thus nations can

be compensated for successfully

protecting and increasing their

forest carbon sinks as a result of

their conservation efforts (Rawat

& Kishwan, 2008).

REDD+ approach advocates

the inclusion of Sustainable

Management of Forest (SMF) and

Madhu Verma Munish Sikka

OPINION

YOJANA June 2010 43

Afforestation and Reforestation

(A&R) under the UN climate change

regime. It seeks to channelize the

funds from international carbon

markets to support efforts of

sustainable management of forest

that actually result in an increase

in forest cover. While REDD

aims at protecting the existing

forest carbon stock, a REDD

plus approach supports saving

and simultaneously adding to the existing carbon stock (Kormos, 2009). The REDD plus approach thus seeks to widen the scope of forestry sector in the carbon markets from existing afforestation and reforestation to avoided deforestation and sustainably managing existing forest stocks to increase the carbon sequestration to contribute in climate change mitigation by strengthening the protection and management of existing carbon sinks.

The model based projection of carbon stocks in India’s forests and tree cover, as per the study of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (2006), reflects an increase in the carbon stocks as contained in the country’s forests from 8.79 GtC in the year 2005 to 9.75 GtC in the year 2030. Thus in Indian context, a REDD+ policy approach including compensated conservation offers the possibility of seeking incentives for incremental stocks of 0.96 GtC during the period 2006-2030 (projected increase from 8.79 GtC in 2006 to 9.75 GtC in 2030) (Ravindranath, Chaturvedi, & Murthy, 2008). Thus if this carbon sequestration amount is monetized under different market scenarios, at estimated carbon price range

of 10-50 US$ per metric tonne of

carbon, India can earn a whopping

amount of 9.6-48 billion US$ in the

coming years.

In this context a policy report

compiled by CIFOR and Forest

Trends (Smith & Scherr, 2002)

has also examined the potential

benefits and threats for local

community to participate in

forest carbon projects. The report

advocated a policy action by the

developing countries to enable

forest carbon projects contributing

to large scale local livelihoods and

concluded that considerable efforts

are still required to establish the

enabling conditions for forest

carbon projects in most of the

developing countries.

Linking JFM with the REDD

India has a forest policy in place

that envisages active participation

of communities in the protection

and management of forests. The

National Forest Policy, 1988

advocated the community forestry

programme named as Joint Forest

Management (JFM) which was

adopted through a Government of

India resolution in 1990. It aimed at

conservation of forests on one hand

and improvement of livelihoods

of the engaged communities

on the other. Different types of

JFMCs were created depending

on the forest area and their

composition required inclusion of

representatives from all social and

economic classes (Jadhav, 2009).

These communities are responsible

for the management of forests and

have a right to benefit sharing in

addition to the usufruct rights over

the forests. In almost two decades

of existence, JFM has provided

benefits to many communities but

they are not sufficient enough to

sustain their long term interests

in conservation process. In this

context linking JFM through

REDD mechanism will instil new

life in the existing JFM institution

and will incentivize people for

s trengthening JFM process.

Currently there are 106,482 JFM

committees covering 22 million

hectares of forests in 28 states

of India (Pai & Datta, 2006).

Such large area and existing JFM

framework provides huge potential

to develop large scale forest carbon

projects under REDD and other

such innovative instruments and

pass the monetary benefits for

the development of participating

communities.

This along with a long term

planning for the development

can contribute to the livelihood

improvement and socio-economic

welfare of the participating

community members, who otherwise

are not requisitely compensated

for protecting the forests that

are supposedly providing global

services.

Some possible interventions that

could be facilitated by conservation

funds:

Creation of village infrastructure

like cemented roads and bridges,

community centres, water

pipeline etc as JFM Committees

have the authority to pass such

proposals for the development

of village

Constitution of a village level

credit society to lend low interest

loans to JFMC members.

I m p r o v e m e n t i n f o r e s t

management practices through

44 YOJANA June 2010

appointing forest watchmen from the village community.

Intensifying soil and water conservation activities to improve water availability and agriculture productivity in the villages by digging trenches and creating check dams.

Part transfer of funding from REDD+ projects to individual households as direct income on the concept of virtual cash crop.

Conclusion:

While forest stock has been

successfully conserved with the

help of community participation

under JFM, the actual benefits

tha t had been de l ivered to

community in order to improve

their living status have been

much less as compared to policy

expectations. There exists great

scope of empowering the village

community and further improving

the livelihood of the villagers

by developing forests carbon

sequestration projects under

the existing JFM institutions

and simultaneously deploying

conservation funds that can be

made available under REDD,

REDD + and other instruments

to mitigate the climate change by

protecting forests in the country.

The local community is one of the

most important stakeholders in the

forest management and indeed

most vulnerable to the impacts

of climate change but there are

instances where community is

not actually rewarded for their

conservation efforts despite

the need to compensate for the

conservation to enhance their

livelihood.

(Email : mverma@iifm.ac.in sikka.munish@gmail.com)

YE

-6/1

0/12

YOJANA June 2010 45

Education program for villagers

should incorporate this component emphasizing the importance of

consuming these nutritionally rich products and their effect on growth,

enhanced capacity and disease resistance

Nutritional Security through Livestock Products

HEALTH

O O D , N U T R I T I O N a n d e n v i r o n m e n t a l security have gained s e r i o u s c o n c e r n i n the new millennium. India has wi tnessed

phenomenal progress in the sphere of agricultural production particularly in vegetable, fruit & milk production where productivity gains are 2.1, 1.6 & 1.8 times respectively since independence. In-spite of satisfactory progress in food production, widespread nutritional insecurity prevails at household level. Out of 815 million undernourished people in the world, 95 percent are found in developing countries mainly in Asia and Africa and more than 25 per cent of this population exists in India. According to recent report of FAO, India is still in the group of Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDC). The vulnerable fraction of society cannot still meet nutritional requirements and suffer from diseases related to deficiency of protein, energy, vitamins and minerals especially iodine.

F

The authors are Sr.Assistant Professors (Animal Production), Rajasthan Agricultural University, Jaipur.

The livestock sector plays a significant role in the welfare of rural population of India. Of the total households in the rural area, about 73 per cent own livestock. More importantly, small and marginal farmers account for three quarters of these households. Income from livestock production accounts for 15-40 per cent of the total farm household’s income in different states. Thus, an increase in demand for livestock products, can be a major factor in raising the income and living standards of the rural households. It is appreciably visible that with the increase in per capita income, the people are shifting their eating habits from cereal to animal foods.

Livestock product wealth in India

India has one of the largest livestock populations in the world (Table-1) and is the single largest milk producer with a share of about 14 per cent in worldwide milk production. Poultry is one

Sanjita Sharma Vishnu Sharma

OPTIONS

46 YOJANA June 2010

of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector in India today. India's livestock population includes 88 million buffaloes, which is 58 per cent of the world's buffalo population. Apart from dairy, our country ranks 3rd in fish, 4 th in eggs, 6th in broiler and 7th in meat production in world. It is amazing that despite a continuous increase in the supply, per capita consumption of livestock products in India remains low. The per capita consumption of milk is only about half of its consumption in the US and Australia, and in the case of poultry meat, it is still lower, only about 12 per cent of the consumption in China. India is facing per capita deficit in milk, egg and meat to meet the ICMR dietary recommendations (Table-2).

Nutritive value of Livestock Products

Livestock, besides contributing income and employment also provides essential nutrients viz. protein, calorie and micronutrients to the masses of the country Livestock products viz. milk, meat & eggs are rich in protein and other essential nutrients, provides over half of the daily protein intake of human beings. The animal protein is higher in biological value than plant protein as it contains most of the essential amino acids required for proper growth, maintenance and production. Animal proteins like egg, milk, meat and fish having higher biological value of 96, 90, 74 & 80 with protein efficiency ratio(PER) 3.8, 2.8, 3.2 & 3.5 than vegetable protein like rice, wheat & pulse having biological value 80, 66 & 72 with PER 1.7, 1.3 & 1.3. Increasing the consumption of animal products can reduce protein-

energy malnutrition particularly among the young children and pregnant mother.

Milk

Milk is the primary source of nutrition containing significant amounts of saturated fat, protein and calcium as well as vitamin C. Calcium from dairy products has a greater bioavailability than calcium from certain vegetables. Milk is a source of Conjugated linoleic acid which has been investigated for its anticancer propoerty and may help in lowering cholesterol . Camel milk has attracted attention for its anti-diabetic properties and goat milk for its smaller fat globules and high vitamin A and potassium content.Goat's milk is a very good source of calcium and the amino acid tryptophan.

Meat

Meat is a concentrated source of protein which is not only of high biological value but its amino acid composition complements that of cereal and other vegetable proteins. It is also a good source of iron and zinc and several B vitamins, and liver is a very rich source of vitamin A. Most meats contain a full complement of the amino acids required for the human diet. Fruits and vegetables, by contrast, are usually lacking several essential amino acids contained in meat. It is for this reason that people who abstain from eating all meat need to plan their diet carefully to include sources of all the necessary amino acids. Animals which are generally used for production of meat in India comprise of buffalo, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry. Poultry meat is the fastest growing component of global meat demand and can serve as important commodity for

attaining household nutritional security in rural areas.

Egg

Chicken eggs are the most commonly-eaten eggs. They supply all essential amino acids for humans, and provide several vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, riboflavin, folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, choline, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. They are also an inexpensive single-food source of protein. The egg is one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D. The egg white consists primarily of water (87%) and protein (13%) and contains no cholesterol and little, if any, fat whereas the yellow portion i.e. yolk makes up about 33% of the liquid weight of the egg and all of the egg's vitamin A, D and E present in the egg yolk. It contains all of the fat, slightly less than half of the protein, and most of the other nutrients. It also contains all of the choline which is an important nutrient for development of the brain, and is said to be important for pregnant and nursing women to ensure healthy fetal brain development. Recently, chicken eggs that are especially high in Omega 3 fatty acids have come on the market.. Cooked eggs are easier to digest, as well as having a lower risk of salmonella infection.

Fish

Fish is the most important staple food for costal population & also provide employment. Fish oil has been regarded as good source for most of fat soluble vitamins like A, D & E. They lower the cholesterol and increase high density lipids beneficial for human health. After mutton and chicken, fish is the most accepted non-vegetarian diet and has

YOJANA June 2010 47

no taboo as compared to cattle or pig meat. Fish is a rich source of animal protein which is easily digestible and absorbable. Fish farming in India has shown excellent average growth rate over 6 % in the last decade and considers as an activity of great potential for its contribution towards food and nutritional security.

Limitations in rural areas:

Dairying in India is based on bedrock of small holder dairy

production system unlike many developed countries where dairy farms have become giant factories. Rural population depends on livestock both for livelihood and food where livelihood very often prevails over the latter. Farmers par t icular ly smal l , marginal and landless tend to sell most of the milk leaving insufficient quantity necessary for consumption at home. Due to development of sound marketing

system through cooperative milk societies, farmers have channels of marketing and assured cash re turns . The tendency ge ts aggrava ted du r ing d raugh t situation when agriculture suffers badly and therefore issues of livelihood assumes preference over nutritional security. Contrary to this, urban population have both availability and access to large variety of value added modern day dairy, egg, meat and

Table 1: Livestock scenario in IndiaSpecies Total heads

(in 000)% of south Asia % of world

Cattle 1,78,939 79.6 15

Buffalo 93,193 77.3 54

Sheep 61,529 69.0 4.0

Goat 114594 58.4 20

Camel 635 56.3 8.0

Poultry 4,28,929 53.8 4.0

Table 2: Per capita availability & deficit of livestock productsFood Item Per capita availability ICMR guideline Per capita deficit Projected demand 2020

Milk 231 gm/day 300 ml per day 19 gm/day 330.4 gm/day

Egg 40 eggs/annum 180 eggs/annum 140eggs/annum 48.27eggs/annum

Meat 6.0 kg/annum 10.9kg/annum 4.9 kg/annum 7.4 kg/annum

Table: 3 Nutrient compositions of various livestock productsCommodity Moisture Protein Fat Carbohydrate Energy

(Kcal)MilkCow Milk 87.5 3.20 4.10 4.4 67

Buffalo Milk 81.0 4.30 6.50 5.00 117

MeatBuffalo 78.7 19.40 0.9 - 86

Goat(lean) 74.2 21.4 3.6 - 118

Mutton(muscle) 71.5 18.5 13.3 - 194

Chicken 72.2 25.9 0.60 - 109

EggEdible egg 74.0 12.0 11.3 1.0 173

Egg white 87.0 10.0 traces 1.0 20.0

Egg yolk 49.0 14.0 32.0 1.0 320

Fish 80 19.0 1.0 5.2 115

48 YOJANA June 2010

other edible animal products and by-products for consumption.

Strategies for Improvement:

Increasing Animal Productivity

Focusing on increasing animal productivity for attaining nutritional security can become a promising tool in mix crop livestock system based rural economy. Low cost homestead production is a method of increasing availability & consumption of milk, egg and meat. Providing balanced animal feed at subsidized cost, artificial insemination facility for indigenous breed improvement, healthcare services at the door step, monitoring animal management activities viz. regular de-worming, timely vaccination and proper housing etc. can bring down the cost of production with increase in amount of production. The local initiatives to promote quality and innovative products for cheeses, meat and fibres could help for sustainable development in an eco-friendly environment.

Marketing & value addition

Along with improving the status of low cost animal production, post harvest processing , value addition of animal products and marketing infrastructure need to be developed according to area wise demand at block levels so that locally acceptable animal products can be available at affordable price through the year . Research is underway for developing animal products of desired nutrient composition for treatment and prevention of particular disease. In near future we can hope to see animal products with a label indicating its use in particular disease condition and for particular stage of life.

Extension activities

Ignorance about nutritional value of animal products is an issue that needs to be addressed by various extension agencies working in different disciplines viz., medical, veterinary and agricultural sciences. Education program for villagers should incorporate this component emphasizing the importance of consuming these nutritionally rich animal products and their effect on growth, enhanced capacity and disease resistance. Improved livestock practices, awareness program & development of marketing infrastructure will definitely ensure availability and consumption of animal products to attain nutritional security at house hold level and for over all well being of an individual, community and society.

(Email : drvishnus@yahoo.com)

M A I N S 2 0 1 0M A I N S 2 0 1 0M A I N S 2 0 1 0M A I N S 2 0 1 0M A I N S 2 0 1 0

CSAT CSAT CSAT CSAT CSAT ADMISSION NOTICEADMISSION NOTICEADMISSION NOTICEADMISSION NOTICEADMISSION NOTICE

PHILOSOPHYPHILOSOPHYPHILOSOPHYPHILOSOPHYPHILOSOPHYSMP School of Metaphysics

(Author of several books on Philosophy)by Anoop Kumar Singh

GENERAL STUDIESGENERAL STUDIESGENERAL STUDIESGENERAL STUDIESGENERAL STUDIESby Dr. Vishal & Team

PHYSICSPHYSICSPHYSICSPHYSICSPHYSICS

ISP Indian School of Physics

byDr. Vishal Ex. Asst.Prof. in DU, Ex. PDF, IIT (Israel)Mr. Daulat IT-BHU, 36th Rank in BASMr. Mitesh IIT Roorkee

HISTORYHISTORYHISTORYHISTORYHISTORYby Dr. Mishra

fgUnh lkfgR;fgUnh lkfgR;fgUnh lkfgR;fgUnh lkfgR;fgUnh lkfgR;by A. Kumar & Eminent Prof.

CIVIL SERVICECIVIL SERVICECIVIL SERVICECIVIL SERVICECIVIL SERVICEAPTITUDE TEST APTITUDE TEST APTITUDE TEST APTITUDE TEST APTITUDE TEST (CSAT)(CSAT)(CSAT)(CSAT)(CSAT)

Enquiry :09899646306, 0999059735509650617807, 09654680505

Head Office : 103, 1st Floor B / 1-2, Ansal Building,

Behind UCO Bank, Dr. Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi-9

South Centre : UGC Point 27-G, 2nd Floor, Jia-Sarai,

Near IIT Delhi-16

1st Rank BPSC

Both Med.fgUnh/English

YE

-6/1

0/6

YOJANA June 2010 49

DO YOU KNOW?

What is the Human Development Index (HDI) ?

HDI is a composite statistic used

as an index to rank countries by

the level of “human development”

The statistic is composed from

statistics for life expectancy,

education, and standard of living,

collected at the national level

using a pre determined formula.

The HDI looks beyond GDP for

a better definition of well being.

It provides a composite measure

of three dimensions of human

development:

(i) living a long and healthy

l i fe (measured by l i fe

expectancy),

(ii) being educated (measured

by adult literacy and gross

enrolment in education)

(iii) having a decent standard

of living (measured by

purchasing power parity,

PPP, income).

T h e i n d e x i s n o t a

comprehensive measure of human

development. It does not include

important indicators such as

gender or income inequality nor

concepts like respect for human

rights and political freedoms. But

it provides a broadened prism for

viewing human progress and the

complex relationship between

income and well-being.

What is Human Poverty Index ?

Human Poverty Index or

HPI-1 focuses on the proportion

of people below certain threshold

levels in each of the dimensions

of the Human Development

Index - living a long and healthy

life, having access to education,

and a decent standard of living.

By looking beyond income

deprivation, the HPI-1 represents

a multi-dimensional alternative to

the $1.25 a day (PPP US$) poverty

measure.

The HPI-1 measures severe

deprivation in health by the

proportion of people who are

not expected to survive to age

40. Education is measured by the

adult illiteracy rate. And a decent

standard of living is measured

by the unweighted average of

people not using an improved

water source and the proportion

of children under age 5 who are

underweight for their age..

With an HPI-1 value of 28.0%

India, ranks 88th among 135

countries for which the index

has been calculated. With 15.5 %

people not having the probability

to live beyond 40, India ranks

105th among 153 countries, with

11 % people not using improved

water source India ranked 76th

among 150 countries, with Adult

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

How was HDI Formulated ?

The origins of the HDI are to

be found in the United Nations

Deve lopmen t P rogramm e’s

(UNDP) Human Development

Reports (HDRs). These were

d e v i s e d a n d l a u n c h e d b y

Pakistani Economist Mahbub ul

Haq in 1990 with the purpose of

shifting the focus of development

economics from national income

accounting to people centered

policies.

How does India fare in the Human Development Report of 2009 ?

Between 1980 to 2007, India’s

HDI rose by 1.33% annually from

0.427 to 0.612. HDI scores in all

regions have increased progressively

over the years although there have

been periods of slower growth or

even reversals.

The Human Development

Report of 2009 pertains to figures

for 2007. As per this Report, India

ranks 134th out of 182 nations,

with an HDI of 0.612. With Life

Expectancy of 63.4 years we ranked

128th among 176 nations, with an

Adult Literacy Rate of 66 % we

ranked 120 among 151 nations. Our

Combined Gross Enrolment ratio of

61 % placed us at rank 134 among

177 nations and our per capita

GDP of 2753 placed us at rank 128

among 181 nations.

50 YOJANA June 2010

Literacy rate of 34 % India was at

rank 120 among 151 countries and

with 46 % children underweight

for their age we ranked 137 among

138 countries.

What i s Gender Related Development Index ?

I n t r o d u c e d i n H u m a n

Development Report 1995, Gender

related Development Index or

GDI measures achievements

in the same dimensions using

the same indicators as the HDI

but captures inequalities in

achievement between women and

men. It is simply the HDI adjusted

downward for gender inequality.

The greater the gender disparity

in basic human development, the

lower is a country’s GDI relative

to its HDI.

for the entire international

community to work together

towards a common end – making

sure that human development

reaches everyone, everywhere.

The eight goals include – (1)

Eradicating extreme poverty

and hunger; (2) Achieving

universal primary education;

(3) Promoting gender equality

and empowering women; (4)

Reducing child mortality; (5)

Improving maternal health; (6)

Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria

and other diseases; (7) Ensuring

environmental sustainability; (8)

Developing global partnership

for development. These goals

further break down into 21 quantifiable targets that are

measured by 60 indicators.

(Source : UNDP )

India’s GDI value, 0.594 should

be compared to its HDI value of

0.612. Its GDI value is 97.1% of its

HDI value. Out of the 155 countries

with both HDI and GDI values, 138

countries have a better ratio than

India’s.

W h a t a r e M i l l e n n i u m Development Goals ?

The Millennium Development

Goals or MDGs are eight time-

bound goa l s t ha t p rov ide

concrete, numerical benchmarks

for tackling extreme poverty in

its many dimensions. Adopted

by world leaders in the year 2000

and set to be achieved by 2015,

the MDGs are both global and

local, tailored by each country

to suit specific development

needs. They provide a framework

S U B S C R I P T I O N CO U P O N(For New Membership/Renewal/Change in Address

I want to subscribe to_________________________________________(Journal’s name & language) for

1 yr. for Rs. 100/- 2 yrs for Rs. 180/- 3 yrs. for Rs. 250/- DD/IPO/MO No. ________________________________________________Date____________________

Name (in block letters)

Address

PIN

Note: For Renewal/change in address-please quote your Subscription No.Please allow 8 to 10 weeks for the despatch of the 1st issue.

Please send DD/IPO/MO to Business Manager Publication Division, East Block, Level-VII,

R. K. Puram,New Delhi-110066. Tel. : 26105590, 26100207,

Fax : 26175516Also ensure that it is drawn in favour of ADG (I/C)Publication Division, Ministry of Information and

Broadcasting, New Delhi.

YOJANA June 2010 51

Modified silencer and air intake system

SHODH YATRA

HAGWAN SINGH is a

student innovator with

a few innovations and

scores of other ideas

to his credit. The most

promising among his innovations

is the modified silencer and air

intake system for two-wheelers.

Born in village Kotra to Kailash

Narayan Vishwakarma and Kalabai,

Bhagwan Singh comes from a

modest background.

Even as a child, the shy and quiet

Bhagwan Singh maintained a box

where he kept all the things (mostly

scrap) needed for his creative

works, collected from all possible

places. He recalls making models of

tape recorders and similar electric

gadgets. Life changed in class nine

when he participated in a science

exhibition and won a state level

award for making a model of a JCB

crane. Suddenly he became famous

and everybody in his school knew

him. His skill to make good projects

started getting appreciated. This

Bopened up a source of income for

him too. He started making science

projects for students with which he

financed his studies and generated

funds for his innovations.

He took a break from studies

after class 12 in 2003 to prepare

for engineering entrance but as

he could not get through, he had

to take admission in graduation in

2004. During his preparations he

took electronics hobby classes at

Jawahar Bal Bhavan, run by the

State Government. There he met a

couple of teachers who motivated

him and egged him on to develop

more innovations. Another major

source of support was his school

teacher and NCC coordinator.

Modifying the two-wheeler silencer

W h i l e f a c i n g p r o b l e m

commuting to his college everyday

in the undulating terrain of

Bhopal, Bhagwan came up with

his E-Bicycle in 2005. In this

Bhagwan started to

think of ways to increase the

mileage of two-wheelers

so as to reduce the running cost,

saving both money and fuel

52 YOJANA June 2010

E-Bicycle, he used a dynamo,

which charged a battery. The

power from this battery was

used to run the bicycle when

required. But the problem with

this E-Bicycle was that due to

the use of dynamo, the resistance

increased and more effort was

required to pedal. While working

on the E-Bicycle, Bhagwan started

to think of ways to increase the

mileage of two-wheelers so as to

reduce the running cost, saving

both money and fuel.

He observed that the heat of the

exhaust gases of vehicles remained

unutilized. He started thinking

of ways to use this . He realized

that pre-heating of intake air may

increase the combustion efficiency

and hence the mileage. He tried to

develop two prototypes to harness

the heat of exhaust gas, but failed

on both the occasions. After some

hard work, on the third occasion,

he was able to develop a prototype

that could preheat the intake air

and partially exchange heat with

charge (the mixture of air and

fuel). He replaced the silencer

of his brother’s moped (Hero

Puch) with the modified attachment

and took test drives with and

without silencer. He observed an

increase in the mileage by almost

25 per cent when this system was

incorporated.

The modified silencer

The innovation is a modification

in silencer of the two wheelers

where part of the exhaust gas is

used to pre-heat the air and charge

leading to increased combustion

efficiency of the engine. It results

in the increase in the mileage by 25

to 30 per cent.

The exhaust gas enters the

heat exchanger through the nozzle

attached to the main exhaust line

and supplies the exhaust gases from

the same pipe to the heat exchanging

chamber. One end of the modified

intake air line is kept between the

engine fins so that it gets fresh air

easily and the other end of the pipes

is connected with the filter. This line

is made of copper. The additional

chamber situated behind the main

chamber is connected with smoke

outlet nozzle on the other side. Its

purpose is to reduce the noise level.

Aluminium covers are provided

at both the sides of main chamber

and make the device cool from the

outside.

In this system the intake

air is passed over the exhaust

manifold (silencer), which results

in pre heating of the intake air. NIF

facilitated its testing at BIT Mesra,

Ranchi. The test report mentions

that the use of the modified silencer

and the system for preheating of

intake air increases the mileage by

25 to 30 per cent. This technology is

still in the process of being refined

so that it can be used on a wide

scale and needs some adjustments

in filter, intake manifold and the

timing of fuel supply. NIF also filed

a patent (1460/MUM/ 2009) in his

name for the technology.

Bhagwan Singh is a serial

innovator and has contributed

many ideas and innovations a few

of which are mentioned below.

Front wheel driven E-bicycle: It is a battery operated bicycle where

the front wheel has been powered.

It can be operated both manually

and through a battery. However,

further work is required on this as

this may have some steering and

braking issues.

Multipurpose jogging machine: This machine serves the dual

purpose of exercising as well as

electricity generation, which can be

stored in batteries. This idea is not

entirely new and NIF database has

many such references apart from

others available on the internet.

Electricity control board: It is

an electric circuit that disconnects

the power supply if there is

voltage fluctuation for more than

a preset time in seconds. Also

when connected to an appliance,

this system switches off the power

supply whenever the load is less

than a preset value. The technology

may possibly be available but is

not in much use either in industrial

setups or at home.

Apart from these he has also

developed a timer system that

switches on/ off a device as per the

predefined value, centralized control

system for electricity connections,

theft alarm system, motorized wood

cutter, etc.

NIF suppor ted some h is

innovations for prototyping apart

from providing support for basic

fabrication machines like hand

grinder, welding station, etc. His

work has been covered by local print

media and also by Sahara Samay, C

TV, Bhaskar TV and Raj News

earlier.

(E-mail : campaign@nifindia.org, www.nifindia.org)