Many a times I doubt if the government really wishes to create jobs. Is it sincere about its skill training programme? Should it follow the text book solution for every problem facing the nation? Can’t the unemployed youth be trained through some innovative but practical routes?

As per a recent news report, about 15% of the transport fleet in the country with strength of 8, 00,000 is inoperative, because of shortage of drivers. Every truck requires at least two drivers or perhaps three. A driver is needed also for three-wheelers as well as for a large number of cars too. Can’t the country even train drivers who don’t necessarily require being very much educated?

As reported, India is the largest manufacturer of three-wheelers (444,000 in 2009-10) and the eighth largest commercial vehicle (0.53 m in 2009-10). India, the largest tractor manufacturing country (around 1/3 of global output) added around 370,000 units in 2009-10. All these vehicles require drivers. The owners of the luxury cars certainly employ drivers. As estimated, even one third of the car owners need drivers. Thus India may be requiring more than a million trained drivers every year. And all these may get a remuneration of much more than the BPL limit. Where are the trained drivers to fill up the vacancies getting created every day? Who trains them? Why don’t Mayawati or Nitish Kumar ask the unemployed youth in their states to get themselves trained as drivers and get employed instead of seeking a job of orderly or bearer in the government offices?

I do doubt if the Corporate India is taking any initiative to provide this service for its customers by training sufficient number of drivers as well as the people who are to maintain it. I am sure they could have done that easily. Think of the total number of dealers of auto manufacturers in the country and many other independent maintenance shops. The manufacturers can easily use their services to train drivers and maintenance men for repairing the vehicles. And the service providers could have added the facilities for training without much investment and increased their earning by charging the required fee.

Similar steps by the manufacturers of other products of mass use can train many more unemployed young men of the country. Infrastructure and construction companies can certainly get together for this cause to train the young men required for the sector. It surprises me to know that in a nation with population of more than 1 billion we do not have sufficient plumbers, masons, carpenters or electricians.

With a lot of thrust on infrastructure such as road, power, construction, the requirements are bound to keep on increasing.

I wish the CII, Assocham and other small entrepreneurs take initiative on large scale. Adding skill will never go waste. One day, pretty soon, every Indian must need to know driving, if India keeps its thrust on GDP growth.

Will government find some logic behind the issue raised here and do something to solve the acute shortage of the skilled manpower?