When we asked the students of Industrial Training Institutes around the country about what they feel is the biggest problem the youth face today, they are baffled at the pointlessness of the question.
It’s ‘jobs’. Some say jobs, some say unemployment, some say ‘bekar ho rahe hain’ – we are turning unemployed/useless.
The problem is double-edged – on one end, they are increasingly being divorced from their traditional livelihoods through state-sanctioned dispossession, and on the other hand, a worsening labour market with far and few decent employment opportunities renders them unemployed. Reports have called the youth a drag on the Indian economy because of the rise of working-age youth with no jobs in sight. This, even as the government and the civil society either lament that it is the mindsets of young people who do not want to be entrepreneurs and rely instead on government jobs or that the young lack skills to be employable
As we enter Silchar in Barak Valley in Assam, several young people run rhythmically on a snaking terrain of the hills with dogged eyes, pushing through their dreams of joining the army. It is a physical training test, and if you are deemed fit, you move on to the next round.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty. Photo: Intifada P. Basheer and Azam Abbas
While a lot of ambition rests in the narrative of being of service to one’s country, a significant part of the ambition is also for long-term job security and secure employment in a rather hopeless employment situation in the country. In Tinsukia in Upper Assam, with heavy insurgency, young people in an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) speak almost in favour of ULFA (an armed separatist organisation in the Northeast). They say so many young people pick up arms because of rampant unemployment and the fact that rent from resources don’t accrue to the state but the central government. In the same breath, they speak of their desire to join the army. If you are one of the luckier candidates, you are placed in the defence wings of the country which is one of the biggest employers in the world, employing nearly 2.92 million people.
However, even the army, presumed as secure employment, hasn’t been left untouched by the larger trends pointing to an economy dominantly characterised by increased informalisation of jobs which in some estimates is a whopping 90.7% of total employment. In 2022, the Modi government’s move to hire soldiers on four-year contracts marked widespread protests.
Scholar Santosh Mehrotra while analysing India’s employment crisis, notes that since 2012, there has been an increased share of informal jobs with less than one year’s contract, even in the government and public sector which has led to an increase in the disheartened labour force and educated but unemployed youth. Aspirations in young people for jobs in the public sector have remained, notwithstanding the contraction of public sector employment since the 1990’s opening up of the economy. This marks a sea divide between lived experience of young people and the narratives peddled by the government leading to large-scale resentment and anger in young people.
In 2022, on his birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed 40 lakh students of ITIs, telling them that their mantra should be skilling, reskilling and upskilling. Modi declared that in the last eight years more than four lakh seats have been added in ITIs and new opportunities and jobs are being created for the students, while completely glossing over the lived reality of unemployment that the students are grappling with. In the same beguiling spirit, recently, at the Kaushal Deekshant Samaroh of the MSDE, PM Modi noted that India’s unemployment rate is lowest in the last six years which was a result of his government’s special focus on skill development, making skill development the indisputable solution to the problem of unemployment. But the figure stands in contrast with the unemployment rate reported by CMIE which states that it rose to 10.05% in October 2023, the highest in more than two years.
Young people in Assam tell us that in 2022, vacancies of 26,000 grade 3 and grade 4 posts were declared but over 12 lakh students appeared for the written exam. Others lament corruption in the system. Referring to the Assam Public service commission jobs-for-cash scam, they note how when a young person posted about this on social media, he was arrested and jailed. This anger was mirrored in the protests that erupted as well. In 2022, several students in Bihar set a train on fire disrupting railway services protesting against alleged irregularities in the railway exams.
Land and livelihoods
A resource-rich state like Assam, in Odisha people lose land for state interests and with it, their livelihoods. The poor are displaced from their lands, and the poor are called on in a declining employment scenario in the country to protect corporate interests to join the police and the army. It is, curiously, also resource conservation efforts that displace people from their livelihoods. In Chilika Lake in Odisha, the fisherfolk who rely on fishing for a living lament on how the no-fishing boundary implemented by the state leaves them high and dry with declining community access to the lake. This, apart from the expansion of commercial aquaculture, puts traditional fisher folk in peril. They imagine they will have to move to daily wage labour, letting go of their age-old livelihood practice. Some of them already work in a nearby factory for a paltry wage. They look towards the ITIs for the skills their children would require to get a job in the industries.
Representative image. Photo: ILO/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED)
The youth in a village in Dediapada of Gujarat are dependent on the middlemen who take them as contractual labour for a few months in a year. The villagers, predominantly Adivasi, have no viable livelihood options other than cultivation. The elder of the village points towards a 23-year-old boy who had done the fitter course in one of the ITIs in Gujarat, and is now back to the village without a steady source of income. Even skilling himself has not amounted to a job and hence the elder concludes that it’s better to cultivate their own land till the state does not usurp it. Under a constant threat of having their land taken away by the government, as happened to their kin because of the construction of Statue of Unity, a few young people from the community do join the ITIs to secure a job. The rationale is that it will aid in building a better future for themselves if they do find their lands being taken away for such development projects.
ITIs, are responsible for providing vocational training of one to two years to the youth under their Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS) with the objective that it will ensure a steady flow of skilled labour to the industries and ensure reduction of unemployment for the educated youth. Currently standing at 14,789 (government and private) in number in the country, ITIs were established in the 1950s to provide skilled labour in large-scale manufacturing fuelled by the self-reliance ambitions of independent India. Several of these large-scale industrial projects involved displacing people from their lands but were called on to sacrifice for the good of the nation and promised jobs in these industries provided they trained in ITIs. Even today, in 2023 when we ask people in a village in Gujarat, there are third generations of a family who still go to ITIs so they can secure a job in these industries which had usurped their lands.
Social mobility is still a dream. The promise of structural transformation involving the moving of surplus labour of agriculture and informal activities to more productive, non-farm activities – which economists note as necessary for economic growth and for better employment – has not helped the lay person wishing for social mobility in the country. Even as people are moving away from agriculture they are more likely to move to informal activities than higher value secure work.
Skill issue?
Scholars such as Carol Upadhya and Supriya Roy Chowdhury note that after 1990, in the industrial stagnation accompanied by jobless growth, declining industrial jobs and increase in software services, ITIs saw trades change. Those related to hospitality, organised retail, housekeeping, security services and malls thus now mirrored the change the composition of jobs in the market as manufacturing jobs declined.
With unemployment, the central feature of the jobless growth and with the majority of the population being under the age of 25, scholars, economists and the government speak of how the demographic dividend should not turn into a demographic disaster. But by 2009, in a rebranding exercise absolving them of responsibility, the state had framed the unemployment problem as a problem of inadequate skills of young people or more precisely that young people are unemployable because of lack of relevant skills.
The National Skill Policy, 2009, therefore introduced several changes to the skill landscape like introduction of short term vocational training courses – some lasting three months and target-based skilling with ambitious skilling targets setup for the state based on the count of young people skilled. The targets have since become a measure of success and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship now claims that a whopping 1.1 crore people have been skilled under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.
Also read: How Modi’s Flagship Skill India Project Stumbled Hard in Its First Year
As the ruling government keeps iterating that they will propel the country’s economy to the top position if elected for a third term, while congratulating themselves for already being at the 5th position, the perils of this goal are experienced by the marginalised, especially the youth. The Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Chandrashekhar recently put the onus of unemployment on lack of skills in the youth as he ascertained that there are many jobs available only that the young have no skill.
In our interactions with the youth in many ITIs, when we asked them to imagine the possibilities for themselves 20 years from now, they hesitate and shy away from putting their thoughts on paper. Arnob, a student of diesel mechanic trade of ITI Tinsukia in Assam after staring into the sheet for a few long minutes, retorts, “My future is as bright as this sheet of paper. It is so bright that everything is blinded by it.” All students laugh in unison at his clever remark. Being the troublemaker of the classroom and the son of a government school teacher, Arnob states, “Without a job, we won’t get a girlfriend, so it’s important.”
As the discussion turns serious, the youth try to figure out why it is that their state has no jobs. “Maybe it’s because Assam has been in turmoil in the past,” some say.
But buying into the state narrative of skill-deficit, many young people enrol in ITIs after finishing masters degrees in geography, political science, or zoology, or technical degrees like bachelors in engineering or polytechnic. There is a lot of value attached to the certificates of ITIs. They say practical knowledge is important which is what they get here as compared to the theoretical knowledge provided elsewhere. One of the students in ITI Jorhat in the fitter trade said, “If there is a vacancy for one engineer then there will be a vacancy for 150 fitters.”
They reiterate the dominant narrative that the academic college degrees give them theoretical knowledge which is of no use in the current modern world. And hence they come to ITIs as ITIs give them the relevant practical knowledge that will land them jobs.
In Halol, Sheetal tells us she is pursuing her BSc in correspondence while enrolled in the Computer Operator and Programming Assistant (COPA) trade in the ITI. In Dibrugarh, Pooja has completed midwife training and then trained as a nurse and then moved to ITI while really wanting to join the army. In Silchar, Aradhya, Kusum and Lavani, friends who worked in a private school have quit their low paying jobs to learn stenography which they tell us will fetch them better jobs. The age span of students in ITI institutions range anywhere between 15 to 38.
Representative image. Photo: Rajesh_India/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED)
From jobs to entrepreneurship
Since 2014, the narrative has shifted from ‘jobs’ to ‘entrepreneurship’. The state instated a Ministry for Skill development and Entrepreneurship. The Skill India Mission, also launched in 2015, put an increased focus on entrepreneurship. This was reflected in policy when the National Skill Development Policy (2009) was replaced by National Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Policy (2015) on the back of the new Prime Minister who famously said India needs to become a nation of job givers rather than seekers.
In Odisha’s Mayurbhanj, from a tiny village all men have migrated for work to the industrial districts and only return for brief periods of time. The women who are left alone to take care of the house, kids and farmlands (for those who own it), have been provided with tailoring courses under the short term vocational training programmes. The women laugh the course off. “When we all open up tailoring shops, who will give us work?”, they ask. They point to the thoughtlessness of such programmes designed by the government which defy the basic demand-and-supply concepts in an attempt to foster entrepreneurial spirit.
Even when students do have the circumstance to start their own business they recognise building capital is the first thing they need to do, which involves securing a job first. One student in ITI Jorhat, who works as a part-time rider in Rapido talks animatedly about his start-up idea. “I want to make an app for the youth of Assam where they can get part-time jobs like the ones we get in Rapido but with better pay,” he says, adding that only a job at ONGC can give him the funds necessary for such a plan.
Self-employment, many students know, needs considerable funds and the capacity to take risks, which at their position they do not have. Scholar Kothanadaraman Kumar reported in 2016 that only 12% students of government ITIs opt for self-employment.
With so many disadvantages, tackling the government narrative of a skill deficit or opting for self-employment as a way out do not map the lived realities of young people and appear to be what may be called discursive narrative violence against the many ways young people struggle to survive.
A student in ITI Talcher retrospectively speaks about how he decided to choose the fitter course. “My brother told me there are only two courses available in ITIs, one electrician and one fitter. If I want to make something I should go for fitter but if I want to control something through a computer, I should choose electrician.” Many students, like him, come to an ITI without prior and correct information only to realise the skills they are being provided might not be adequate for where they want to reach in life. Fitter and electrician trades are the top two trades in ITIs but 71.57% of seats in the fitter trade and 64.81% of seats in the electrician trade remain unoccupied as reported by NITI Aayog in January 2023.
No plan
Most students do not tell us what kind of careers they see for themselves. “We will do whatever opportunity is available.” It isn’t that they are not passionate. The endless diversifying of their skillset is an act of agency and a desperate attempt to participate in an unforgiving labour scenario in India.
Shyam, a diesel mechanic student of ITI Majuli, is very passionate about geography. He finished a masters degree and wanted to apply for a PhD but life had different plans for him. Explaining animatedly how we can predict rains through clouds, he mentioned how he wanted to create change in his island through his expertise. But he is pursuing a diesel mechanic course.
Noting the dismal labour market , Santosh Mehrortra, based on his research, shows how real wages have not increased for the youth even with increasing education levels which is felt acutely by the youth. Jean Dreze based on statistical estimates observes that the growth rate of real wages between 2014-15 and 2021-22 was below 1% per year – 0.9%, 0.2 % and 0.3% respectively for agricultural labour, construction workers and non-agricultural labour.
Sam Sonowal, a student in an ITI in Assam, expresses real fear that the struggles undertaken by his parents to put him through school and college may well be undone by his inability to get a job.
Even after enrolling in skilling institutions, students know securing a job is still difficult. An ITI student Adhin tells us that he knows of many who did not get a job after their course completed. “Some others have joined Zomato, but they get little money.”
This is a time of educated unemployment for many. “I will have to leave my hometown for a job after I graduate. If I am closer home I can also work in the fields and stay home, reducing my expenses,” says a student in an ITI in Gujarat.
Politics and culture
To some extent the political economy and cultural politics of the state plays a role. For instance, in a resource rich Assam where oil, petrochemicals, coal and tea production is huge, there is large capture of land and resources by corporates and the state – with very low employment generation. And even while it is extremely hard to get into these companies and recruitment is very low, scores of young people join ITIs in the hope of getting a job in the oil companies.
Then there are the cultural and social tensions that have gripped Assam on language and the politics of it which the students are very much aware of. Sunity in Silchar in Assam alleges that on a recent government recruitment drive the state didn’t recruit a single Bengali person. Unemployment can also make earlier tensions worse or foment new hatred between different communities.
In Gujarat, with its much-touted model of development with heavy industrialisation and tax havens to make it an investor friendly destination and relaxed labour laws, the challenges are different. In Dediapada, Adivasi students in the ITI said, “This development is not for us, its for others, the other castes. Us Adivasis will always remain at the bottom, our lands and forests will be taken away, and we will have to scrounge for measly work.”
Students in the mining belts of Odisha hope to get a job in one of the mining companies even though they realise the destruction to human lives and the environment the mines have caused.
Apprenticeship
Placement, many principals claim, is a big challenge for ITIs. Most of the graduates do not prefer to travel too far for the job even when within the state. They lament the low wages, unable to sustain themselves. Unless you are placed in some well-paying industries, you only secure apprenticeship – the first job of ITI graduates – where they get a salary of anywhere between Rs 8000 to Rs 10,000 as initial salary.
The Apprenticeship Act was passed in 1961 on the realisation that training in educational institutions is not sufficient for acquisition of skills and hence, students need to apprentice in industries to gain practical knowledge. Under the Act, the industries are mandated to pay the apprentices a minimum of 70% of minimum wage of the state where the industry is situated.
An HR professional at an Assam factory reveals that bigger industries hire and fire apprentices constantly keeping them on company rolls for entry-level work, thus also reducing labour costs. When we ask him if his company hires apprentices after their apprentice period, he announces that they do. A little probing reveals how most apprentices are later hired as contract labour. Secure employment is reserved for only a few in the industry. Mehrortra speaks of how this is the dominant trend in the country with both government and private sectors where contract jobs with less than a year’s contract are on the rise post 2011-12.
It’s not like the government officials and the principals do not know that the apprenticeship stipend is unsustainable.
An ITI principal in Odisha tells us, “Kids do not want to go to other districts or states because they will get Rs 10,000-15,000 there, in an unfamiliar place, which they can make doing daily wage labour closer to home.”
A foreman in an ITI in Gujarat comments on how weak the young generation is, “The youth of today don’t want to work hard.”
The simplicity and ease of these assumptions belie inherent contradictions.
Also read: Unemployment Rate Rose to Two-Year High of 10.09% in October: Report
Caste
The casteist roots of ITIs become more apparent when one understands the history behind it. A need for institutionalised forms of industrial education arose after the 1880s when the colonial state wanted to produce industry-oriented Indians. Arun Kumar in his research points out that in colonial India, technical education was reserved for elites whereas industrial education was opening up for the masses. To meet the needs of the latter, the Lucknow Industrial School was opened in 1892 as a collaborative effort between the government and the taluqdars. This school was thought to be ideal for low-caste artisans who had begun to demand education and for whom practical education fitted their aptitudes.
The principal in an ITI in Gujarat who also told us that youngsters do not work hard speaks of how most employers of the industry are the ‘Patels’, an upper caste in Gujarat.
Even as the state speaks of the need to raise aspirations of young people, the fact is that it is the state which continues to limit the aspirations of students. Scholars such as Saraf have spoken of how by now introducing skilling programmes from secondary schools itself “will restrict young people, largely from socially underprivileged backgrounds, to low-productivity blue-collar employment in the informal sector”.
In one of our industry visits, there was a clear demarcation of engineers and ITI graduates. There are separate uniforms that need to be worn, and most often engineering graduates are usually managers. If you are a blue-collar worker then your mobile is confiscated every morning, stored in blue boxes and returned to you when you finish your shift. And more importantly, the boundaries between the blue collar worker and the white collar worker are rigid.
In a country with a rigid caste system, decades of marginalisation is based on the kind of work you do. The new claims on “hardwork” appear to perpetuate caste and class divisions too.
Constantly shortchanged
The state’s resolution that skilling will solve the unemployment crisis has led to counsellors going to the most remote villages to persuade young people from the most marginalised communities to join skilling institutes without thinking of contextual challenges.
One teacher in Odisha tells us that he has gone to Maoist-dominated areas to persuade young people to join the ITIs but to no avail. He says “These people don’t understand the value of this proposition”. But in our conversations we see that the young people actually do see the value in such a proposition, only they do realise how they might be shortchanged.
In a village in Kalahandi in Odisha, young girls tell us that an ITI teacher had come to their village and promised them scholarships and jobs at the end of the course if they join. They fought their parents, convinced them to let them join the ITI and finally enrolled.
Now, visibly angry, they think the teacher was getting a commission and scammed them. “He knew our parents would never let us go for a Rs. 7,000 job outside of the village but he still gave us false promises and hopes,” one of the girls said. All four are back home, work in the household and are being pressured to be married.
In Khadsaliya in Bhavnagar of Gujarat where gender biases restrict young women from several life opportunities including limited opportunities to pursue higher education, Malavi has managed to convince her parents. But without a job, she continues to polish diamonds at home – the cost for each diamond varies depending on its quality but can also be as less as Re 1 per diamond. She makes Rs 200 a day.
In a village in Malkangiri in southern Odisha largely dependent on forest produce and rain fed agriculture, the community asks us, “Why should we be sending our kids for education? There are no jobs!”
Marked by informalisation of the economy, the lack of jobs, lacunae in apprenticeship contracts and low regulation of industries themselves has left the students at the losing end scrounging for what was promised to them. The “skill-deficit” narrative has invited an annual public expenditure of Rs 10,000 crores in running 3,500 government ITIs along with the World Bank supported STRIVE scheme which pumps in an additional Rs 2,200 crores. But still, unemployment persists. NITI Aayog reports that industries still complain of shortage of skilled technicians and the placement rate of ITIs remains low at less than 0.1%.
A student in ITI Balasore captures the plight, “Why are we made to go from one degree to another? Why are we subjected to this?”
Priyanka Krishna is graduate of SOAS, University of London and works as a researcher in the field of education and development
Bhawna Parmar is a graduate of Ambedkar University, Delhi and works as a researcher in the field of youth studies and education.
