Improving the quality of education as well as the employability of workers, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation were top on the agenda at a CII event held in Mumbai on Thursday. At the CII Western Region Annual Meeting 2011 the main topic of discussion surrounded the various aspects of inclusive growth and how it can be achieved.

Mr Hari Bhartia, President, CII, spoke about the use of business as a creator of employment for a population which is one of the youngest in the world. “We have tremendous democratic advantage. Around 17 million come into the job market every year, need a job. Therefore, creation of livelihood should be the most important agenda for business,” he said.

But the employability of this population is also a matter of concern, according to the panellists who included Mr S. Mahalingam, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, Tata Consultancy Services, Ms Pratima Kirloskar, President- Innovations, Kirloskar Brothers, and Mr Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank; the discussion was presided over by Mr Arun Nanda, Chairman- CII Western Region and Director, Mahindra& Mahindra.

Only about 5 per cent of employees are formally trained, while in countries like South Korea, almost 99 per cent have formal training in their respective sectors. Stressing on the need to ‘celebrate the skills of the people', Mr Bhartia said that a large amount of investments were required in the education system, which was currently suffering a ‘capital and quality breakdown'.

Specialisation

Mr Kotak stressed the need for India to have its own area of specialisation, to be recognised as a manufacturing hub and as a lead researcher and innovation.

One of the hurdles in the field of education, according to Ms Kirloskar was the isolation of the teachers and other education sector workers from the new technology available. “This is where the industry can play its part and fund individuals such that they can access and attend these workshops, which train them in new technology,” she said.

Innovation

However, Mr Mahalingam was of the view that India, with an innovation-kind of orientation, has been able to make progress. “Three factors that have helped us are – innovation, the entrepreneurial sprit and our ability to work with a number of constraints. China has not been able to move in that direction,” he added.

The event also saw the launch of the report – CII Study on Higher and Technical Education in the Western States – which takes a closer look at what role industry is expected to play in furthering future expansion and quality improvement of the higher and technical education sectors, both at the national and the regional levels.

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