Articles
Need for Re-skilling and Up-skilling in Post Covid 19
Opinion | Articles | Felix Jajo | 14-Feb-2021
The whole world still continues to fight a pandemic and the fight seems to have taken a longer period than expected. But with the vaccines rolling out, there is a ray of hope amongst the people. It has been almost a year since the first nationwide lockdown began in order to curb the spread of covid19 and with it, a lot of changes have happened across the world, and India is no exception.The entire populace was affected by the lockdown and there was fear and despair in the minds of every individual. Having said this, we have also seen one of the worst amongst many, the reverse migration, which happened from the cities to their own villages. The large groups of laborers in the unorganized sector working in the cities lost their jobs and they had no options but to go back to their villages where they hope to get at least a proper shelter and piece of meal.
The situation was no different for Manipur. Many youth who were working in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata etc., majority of them employees in unorganized sectors became unfortunate victims of the pandemic. Due to the lockdown and its negative impact on the economy, many of these youth lost their job and it was estimated that around 30 thousand Manipuris returned to the State within few months of the lockdown commencement as the sectors they were part of were unable to sustain the with salary, even at reduced packets. Now, it would be tougher for them to find new jobs because of job scarcity and many of them are either unskilled or low skilled. The State of Manipur is already facing a problem of high unemployment amongst the educated youth, and this mssive reverse migration had increase the pressure of unemployment and is likely to push the unskilled youth to take up cultivation as one of the options to earn livelihood. But out of the total geographical area of the state, only 7.41 percent is used for cultivation.[1] Therefore, there comes the need for the youth of the state to acquire new skill or to re-skill or to up-skill themselves and be equipped with necessary skill set to meet the challenges of the modern-day demands, be it in cultivation, in start-up business or in any other form of self-employment.
Since, Manipur doesn’t have the capacity and facilities to absorb these semi-skilled youth who returned from the cities, we may have to think of getting these youth get skilled, at least to become a sustainable cultivator. Sustainable farming is the need of the hour. With the daily increase of demands and less supply, the state is facing a deficit in almost every grocery. Sustainable agriculture will focus on producing long-term crops and livestock while having minimal effects on the environment. It also focuses on maintaining economic stability of farms and helping farmers improve their techniques and quality of life. The use of modern techniques and high yielding variety of seeds will help increase the produce, increase income of the farmers and help reduce the state’s dependency on other states. The skill gap study done by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) put the incremental manpower requirement in Manipur as highest in the unorganized sector followed by Agriculture and allied activities
whereas the aspiration of the youth is highest in the IT/ITeS, tourism & hospitality sector. There is huge mismatched in the industry demand and aspirations.
The various skill training programs implemented through different Ministries and Departments can focus on the agriculture related short term training programs to enable many of the youth to engaged themselves into food production, entrepreneurship, rural enterprises, agri-information management, landscaping, soil health management, watershed management, commodity management, dairy, poultry, farm mechanization, fisheries, post-harvest supply chain management etc. The pandemic has changed the way we work and the way we get things done and hence the need for a new skill. As new business models, new supply chains and new delivery arrangements have emerged, different kinds of skills will be demanded. The training programs can be customized to suit the different levels of the youth based on their education, acquired skills, their intuition & interest and the need for the State.
Accordingly, they can get skilled or re-skilled or up-skilled. To be skilled is to get trained and acquire new set of skills which will help him to earn a living. And when we speak of reskilling, it means to identify those persons who might have had training in the agri-related field or other management studies. These persons can be re-trained to take up rural entrepreneurship, landscaping, soil health management, supply chain management etc. to help the already existing farmers to increase their yields, help in storage, supply and selling. The upskilling will help those who are already working in the agri-related field but due to the changes in the technology, new methods of farming and new variety of seeds and pest control system, may be required to upskill themselves to be able to bring forth sustainable farming and meet the demands of the State up to certain level.
However, the most difficult part would be to re-orient the mindset of the educated youth to take up agriculture or related field as a career, particularly in the light of the fact that that many consider agriculture as a less respectable occupation. therefore, it is important for the educational institutions and the various vocational & skill training institutions to make the youth aware that agriculture related field does not mean, only tilling the soil and sowing the seeds. A proper counseling, awareness and motivation would come handy in these times of difficulties and unforeseen circumstances.
(The Author is a Programme Manager with NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS), Views expressed are personal).
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