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62 | May 15, 2012 visit www.dqindia.com DATAQUEST | A CyberMedia Publication

Touted as one of the most innovative schemes of recent times, SDIS launches its web portal to increase reach and act as a one-stop destination for all the stakeholders

SDIS: Technology will Lead the Way

“Necessity is the mother of invention”—this was exactly what P Chidambaram, then the Finance Minister of India, had realized way back in 2006-07 when India needed to ad-dress shortage of skilled labor in the country. Hence this

need gave way to the announcement of Skill Development Initiative Scheme (SDIS) in 2006-07 under Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGE&T) in the Ministry of Labor.

Primarily, this initiative based on Modular Employable Skills (MES) was implemented in May 2007 with the aim to train at least 1 mn people. It primarily targeted school dropouts, existing workers, and ITI graduates and trained them for over a period of 5 years to make them capable of a respect-able and sustained employment.

Implementation of SDISWith the initial funding of `550 crore for this scheme for the training of 1 mn people, the project started at the cental level in close consultation with the industry; state governments; experts from ILO, GTZ, World Bank, and central bodies; and educationists for devising guidelines for skill develop-ment and coming out with a roadmap for the implementation.

In the initial phase, the project was handled by the central government; but after an overwhelming response, the state governments were also involved from 2010 onwards.

From (L to R): Amarjeet Kaur, DDG (E); Sharda Prasad, director general, DGE&T; Mallikarju Kharge, union minister of labor & employment, Government of India; Prasanta Kumar Das, country manager & practice head, public sector, enterprise services, HP; and Sudhir Rao, CTO, HP at the candle lighting ceremony

Key Deliverables of SDIS Web Portal

n Online registration of the trainees, VTPs, ABs

n Online monitoring and control

n Online enrollment for training

n Online creation of training and assessment batches

n Online results and certificates

n Produce MIS reports

RUKHSAR SALEEMrukhsars@cybermedia.co.in

DATAQUEST | A CyberMedia Publication visit www.dqindia.com May 15, 2012 | 63

tration of the trainees, VTPs, and ABs; online monitoring and control of the funds allocated by the government, payment of fees by the trainees, sala-ries of VTPs, and other miscellaneous expenses; online enrollment and train-ing; online creation of training and assessment batches; generating online results and certificates; and generat-ing various kinds of MIS reports for an easy assessment at any level.

Kharge expressed his concern over the delay in issuance of certifi-cates to the previous trainees, but is hopeful that this portal will be able to resolve the problem to a large extent. Furthermore, he adds, “It is one step forward in bringing good governance based on total transparency. Technol-ogy has definitely helped in doing it.”

Roadmap AheadSharda Prasad, director general, DGE&T, clearly indicated that it was an immense task and it is going to be more challenging for us to monitor and supervise this project, as Indian projects generally do not get more than 2.5% of the total project fund to ensure progress unlike developed countries who allocates a bigger chunk in addition to the appointment of the third party for supervision.

Now the DGE&T wants to invest a substantial percentage of the fund (almost 40%) in creating avenues for employment and awareness among perspective employers in the next 4 years. n

SDIS Status: A Quick Glancen Eighty percent of the trainees have been employed, but no record

exists regarding where and how much they are earning.n Original certificates of the trainees are yet to be issued.n Awareness among the stakeholders about the SDIS benefits

cannot be measured.n Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka have

trained the maximum number of people whereas NE States and J&K have trained the least.

n There are 6,300 registered VTPs and 36 ABs in SDIS.n 1.3 mn people have been trained in 60 sectors and 1,350+

courses till 2011 over a period of 5 years.

Future of SDISn Government has allocated `700 crore for SDIS for FY2012-13.n Increased role and involvement of the state governments, and will

be allocated 50-60% of the allocated amount.n 40% of the funds will be utilized to create employment.n Indian states lacking a supporting infrastructure will be provided

VTPs and ABs from other states and expenses of relocation and lodging will be taken care by central government.

n State-wise, area-wise, and center-wise MIS reports will be created to ensure transparency and zero percent leakage in the system.

SDIS

Candidate

Flow of SDIS

Enrolment & Fees

Training

Assesment

Job Portals

Employed

CertifiedReimburesment

Technology: The Need of the HourAnything which cannot be measured, cannot be improvized, says Sharda Prasad, director general, DGE&T. With this thought, he analyzed the chal-lenges faced during the project to come up with some yardstick to quantify and track the outcome of the scheme with ease. This led to the strategic associa-tion of DGE&T with HP to come up with a web platform to minimize the challenges of this nationwide project.

Sudhir Rao, CTO, HP comments on this association as a mark of growth of the country when the industry comes forward to resolve the issues and ensure transparent governance through an advanced technology prod-uct and solution. HP had deployed a huge project team to develop this web portal, which was expected to be a one-stop solution for all stakehold-ers of the scheme including trainees, VTPs, and employers.

Challenges FacedSince 2007, the ministry and the project teams faced many challenges right from planning to rollout of the project at the central and state level. Few of the challenges which crip-pled the project at various places and stages are:n Till date, many states like

North East states and Jammu & Kashmir have not been able to real-ize the full potential of the schemes due to lack of infrastructure in terms of availability of VTPs, ABs, and industries to provide employment.n There is no central database to

keep a record of the trainees, their

employment after the completion of training.n Issuance of original certificates

immediately. Most of the trainees are provided provisional certificates.n Monitoring of the project funds

at the state level.n Training of the DGE&T was

also an integral part of the project to ensure its smooth implementation.

Launch of SDIS Web Portal Partneship between DGE&T and HP resulted in SDIS web portal, which launched by Mallikarjun Kharge, un-ion minister of labor & employment, Government of India on April 19, 2012 at a ceremony in New Delhi.

This portal is expected to primarily deliver 6 deliverables: Online regis-