Jalandhar, November 6
Fifty lakh jobs will be available in Punjab by 2015! Sounds incredible. But it’s true. The assessment has been made by none other than the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which hired a consultancy firm for a survey on how much skilled manpower would be required in the state in the next six years.
“We reached on the 50 lakh figure on the basis of a survey, which was conducted by a professional agency (ICRA)”, said Gunbir Singh, chairman of the Punjab chapter of the CII.
Jobs will be available in telecom, insurance, banking and textile sector, besides the construction industry. There is a huge demand of trained youth in the pharmaceutical sector also, claims the CII.
According to the survey, around 20 lakh skilled youth would be required in the primary sector that provides raw material to the industry. Mining, forestry, farming, fishing, quarrying and dairy sector is covered under the primary sector of economy. Nearly 30 lakh-trained youth would be required in the secondary and the territory sectors. Manufacturing, processing and construction come under the secondary sector, while the tertiary sector provides services to the population and business. Sectors like banking, insurance, telecom, entertainment, media, healthcare and tourism are part the tertiary sector. ”The 50 lakh requirement is at a time when the Punjab industry is growing little over 4 per cent. If it achieves a national growth level of 8-10 per cent, the requirement can shoot up to 70-80 lakh by 2015,” beams Gunbir.
“A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the Punjab Technical University (PTU), asking it to provide the skilled workforce”, he added. The PTU, on its part, is also showing keen interest in the project. “We are fully prepared to meet the challenge. The PTU is being readied to play the same role for the industry what was played by the PAU (Ludhiana) in the agriculture sector,” said Rajnish Arora, Vice-Chancellor of the PTU, while talking to the Tribune.
Citing details, Arora the varsity would adopt a two-pronged approach. “First we would organise job fairs for students passing out from various colleges affiliated to the PTU. Secondly, we would focus on enhancing the employable capacities of such youth keeping in mind the requirement of the industry. For that, there would be constant interaction with industry members and the courses would be prepared for the students accordingly”, added Arora.
It is a common complaint from the industrialists that most of the engineering and management colleges were churning out unemployable stuff, said Gunbir, adding that the PTU has now been roped in to ensure top quality manpower. “Through the CII, the industry would submit its requirement to the PTU, which, in turn, would organise training programmes to prepare the youth to meet the requirements of the industry”, added Gunbir.
Chairman of the Ludhiana Zone of the CII, GS Bhogal, said a big job fair would held by the CII on the PTU campus in February next year. “Youth from all professional colleges, including engineering, pharmacy and management would be invited. Industry representatives would be asked to list their individual hiring requirements”, added Bhogal. The CII would also organise a short-training programmes for the entrepreneurs. “To meet the needs of modern industry, you also need training programmes for entrepreneurs to enable them to adopt new technology,” said Bhogal.
