Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy says Bihar politicians breathe easy when there are exams in the state.
"When matriculation exams are on in Bihar, I don't get too many requests for public functions recommendations. For that matter, politicians don't get disturbed or receive too many public requests as not just the students but the entire family gets busy preparing for the exam and its logistics like handing out chits and notes through windows," said Mr Rudy in an obvious reference to the photo of an examination centre in Bihar where scores of people were seen climbing windows to help students cheat in the board exam.
The minister, however, used this example to argue that very little attention is paid in India to develop skills that can fetch jobs. Instead, the emphasis is always on getting degrees. "Its a sad situation because people's aspirations are linked to degrees. When I meet someone and ask him: what do you do? The answer would be: I have done BA. But he can't say what are the things he knows that can get him a job,"said the minister.
Mr Rudy made these remarks while releasing a report on India's skill requirements over the next 10 years. The report says India would need about 110 million skilled labour across different sectors - from the field of construction to jewellery making to automobiles.
"We once received a letter from the Peruvian embassy saying that they issue visas to people to operate fork lift in India. You know Peru is about 17,000 kilometers away from us and people come from there to operate fork lifts. Can you believe it that we don't have skilled people here?," claimed the minister.
By 2020, all those seeking a central government job will need to have a certification under the National Skill Qualification Framework, a skill measurement standard that was set up by the previous UPA government in December 2013.
In other words, over the next five years, to get a central job, a person will be evaluated not just in terms of educational qualification but particular skills he or she possesses.
Explaining the importance of skills, the minister cited his own example of being a pilot: "I can fly a plane once I get my commercial license. But I also need to possess other skills such as being able to read meteorology reports and communicate with air traffic. So all these ingredients make up my skill sets of being a pilot and we would call this as qualification pack as QP."