National Seminar on Academic institutes-industries interaction

Setting up production houses is not enough, stop brain drain

Industrialization should be backed up with in house skilled man power generation and retention.

Jharkhand Overview
Number of districts Number of towns Number of villages Population Urban Population Literacy Rate Per capita GDP Population BPL 24

152
32616 3.29 crores 23% 68% USD 700(2001 census) 40%(2001 census)

Approximately 1.2 crore people are BPL and around 1 crore are illiterate in Jharkhand

Some awakening facts

A state which contributes to approximately 1.7% of the national GDP
creates almost 10% of IITians every year! A state which has an IIM and will have an IIT and is home to the most hard working brains in

the country and perhaps the world, is having a per capita GDP
which is 37.5% lower than the national average and is just 25% of the Delhi territory. It is only a disheartening and surprising fact that

40% of our population is BPL compared to 27.5% nationwide! A

state which has 40% of the nations mineral base ranks 16th in the national GDP percentage contribution list???

The wake up call

There is a problem, a problem which is larger than the political issues in the state, larger than the issues of investment and resource planning, a problem more intrinsic in nature which needs to be addressed if our Jharkhand aims to become the Manhattan of India! We firmly believe that sustained growth in industrialization backed up with in house skilled man power generation and retention holds the key to the development of Jharkhand. This paper throws points in favor of the argument put forward by us and also recommends a holistic plan to take Jharkhand on the road to a long term progress.

Where should the focus be?

Three strongest resources of Jharkhand, due to geography and landscape are:
Minerals

Forest reserve
Tourism spots.

Let us classify them into two major sectors

Mining and manufacturing
Services

There are three lines of action which are the most obvious routes to transforming Jharkhand in the years to come.

Mining and Manufacturing: Minerals Forest Reserve Services: Tourism and hotel industry

But, let us see the trends which have transformed other states and

draw in some other sectors which need to be focused on irrespective

of geography.

Mining and manufacturing: - Small Scale Industries

Services: - IT services

Small scale industries: India is country of entrepreneurs which makes it different from country like China whose growth is driven by government initiatives only. Small and medium scale industries drive the economy fast and big since they generate employment and are often value creators for the society. For instance, a state like Gujarat is marked by many small scale industries located around its major cities. These industries add to production and hence create value for the state and leads to a growth in GDP.

 IT Services: A must have for a state which wants to see itself flourish. IT

services attracts talent from all over the country and most importantly
helps retain the talent in the state. IT services industry has been the lead runner of improving life styles and promoting young blood in the work arena. Promotion of direct and indirect employment: Considering the case of Tamil Nadu: 8 lakh people are directly employed by IT while 22 lakh have got indirect employment. Hence, the government should focus on both the geography specific and generic sectors in writing the script of Jharkhands development.

What is the current status? In Jharkhand, most towns are based around some industrial establishment. For instance, Dhanbad is based around coal and Bokaro around steel. Two kinds of people live in such towns- government officials and industry workmen. The city has some SMEs working in the supply chain of the bigger industry and also has some local entrepreneurs working as retailers, educational consultants etc.

What is the consequence? The situation with Jharkhand is that most young

sharp minds do not join government jobs, primarily because a. the packages
are not competitive and b. the work location is not comparative to the big metros. Hence, the only good brain that stays in the state post higher studies is perhaps the mining engineers and the mechanical guys who move into the TATA conglomerate. Apart from that 90% of the intelligent brains get educated here and then move out for job avenues. Hence the industry alone is not sufficient to absorb the young talent produced in the state.

Why should we look at retaining good talent? If young graduates stay back in Jharkhand in any sector whatsoever, they shall earn and in turn spend higher than what the current trend is. This would lead to an increased supporting employment and will boost consumerism in the longer run. A growth in consumerism will lead to a change in life style with younger earning crowd pouring into the city. The cities will become livelier places to live and in turn not solely dependent on the industry that used to drive it before. Young talent in the city can be then redirected to industrial and service verticals by industry players or by their entrepreneurial visions. Retaining bright brains will help the state identify big opportunities, turn them into possibilities and eventually lead the state to a bright and prosperous future.

 Young entrepreneurs can benefit the state fourfold: They can add value to the society by setting up industrial ventures in or around cities which leads to export income and higher employment. Such has been the trend in more advanced states like Gujarat They can help in rural development by opening up alternate sources of income for the rural masses. This can be done by providing them alternative channels of growth and not by philanthropic charity. Focus should not be on opening NGOs or not for profit voluntary

organizations, but on opening sustainable, scalable and profitable organizations which can boost
the rural economy and create employment. SELCO solar, SEWA and Fab-India are some such examples. If young talented people stay back in Jharkhand, there wont be any need of flushing crores of rupees into NGOs. They can help creating a second line of skilled workers in the industrial arena and otherwise too.

Skilled man power can be built only if skillful training is imparted.

They shall over a period of time create big ventures originating from the soil of Jharkhand. Giving big lands to external players for creating industries will boost GDP, but this cannot be the only way to drive growth. In house production set ups need to come up so that every existing gap in the market is served and the economy flourishes.

Role of academic institutions: - Generating talent

The role of academic institutions is to ensure that the students passing out from

the colleges are inclined towards core sectors and want to become value adders to
the society. Hence the role is two-fold: Encourage students to take active interest in core branches like electrical, mechanical etc. Make the students realize that by attaining higher education, they are acting as wheels on which the economy runs. This can be done by providing additional courses like social entrepreneurship, public policy, human resource management,

micro -economics and macro economics even to technical graduates. We need to

join them to the society. There is no harm in even including projects department wise on how each department can contribute to this geography.

Role of industry Absorbing and retaining talent

Industry acts as the talent absorber in this context. Hence industry

needs to make its value proposition attractive and interesting enough for the young talent to join and sustain. This can be done at

two levels: Having work culture, compensation and incentives competitive By recruiting students from regional campuses

By involving students into the industrial development by giving

them higher entrepreneurial culture and developmental projects at work

How can the two collaborate in talent generation and retention?

Academic institutions collaborate with industries and send students for professional internships in different industries in the state

across functions.
Industry attracts these students by offering Pre Placement Offers to deserving candidates.

Industries send their experts to conduct project seminars and

technical workshops on campuses which involve students from different streams.

Academic institutions set up a Forum for Industrial Interaction

which invites industries to give projects to students who then deliver final project reports to the industry.

 Industries can allow students to visit their premises on a regular basis so as to attract students towards the regional industry base. Cross departments industry-academics magazines can be released with students and professional being present on the editorial board. For instance, a mechanical engineering monthly magazine involving engineering students, industry engineers and professors from technical engineering institutes can form an interest building connectivity between the industry and the academic world. Institutes should offer courses which are more real- time /live than theoretical, so that students develop interest in core streams. Institutes should assist industries by creating second line skilled workers through workshops and certified programs.

To sum up, role of the State: To encourage academic-industry interaction through seminars/ workshops/ magazines etc

To ensure growth of industrialization along with service sectors like

tourism, IT etc. To create vacancies in state services through regular channels as well as entrepreneurial state funded projects brought on campuses.

Hence the message is:

Dos: Grow more sectors, create entrepreneurs through talent retention and state promotion of SMEs, improve skilled labor

condition through involvement of technical institutes and increase

technical student involvement in industries through formalized industry interfaces.

Do Nots: Stop focusing on NGOs as the major means to drive rural

development and external investors as the major source to drive industrial growth.

Thanking You,
Mr. Rahul Anand and Mr. Kamlesh Chauhan PGP 2009-2011, IIM Ahmedabad Co-Founders, B-Factorya higher education preparation hub in Jharkhand