Mysuru: “According to the World Economic Forum’s report, “The Future of Jobs 2018”, more than half of Indian workers will require reskilling by 2022 to meet the talent demands of the future,” said Kamal Bali, President and Managing Director, Volvo Group, India.
Delivering the convocation address during the 24th annual convocation of Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Institute of Management Development (SDMIMD) at its premise here on Saturday, March 30, he said “First, we need to revamp our systems. We should focus on gaining conceptual knowledge, rather than tangible skills which ensure employability. Second, there are more jobs in the informal economy than in the formal economy. And third, India has one of the lowest participation rates of working age women in the labour force, with merely 25%”.
“As the fastest growing economy today, India is home to a fifth of the world’s youth. Half of its population of 1.3 billion is below the age of 25, and a quarter is below the age of 14. India’s young population is its most valuable asset, but at the same time, presents the most pressing challenge. It provides India with a unique demographic advantage. However, this opportunity can be easily squandered without proportionate investment and determination in human capital development. India will not be able to realize its true growth potential if its youth are not able to participate adequately and productively in its economy. At the moment, less than 17% of India’s graduates are immediately employable. Only 2.3% of the Indian workforce has undergone formal skills training (compared with 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea) and India will, therefore, need to educate about 100 million young people over the next 10 years, a task never before undertaken in history. But, many things are happening for the first time in India and, therefore, this too is achievable provided we all exhibit grit and determination” added Bali
“India’s women are the secret to a potential economic boom and your ticket to economic growth. By 2050, India’s population will increase by 323 million, the largest population increase of any country. Women constitute almost 50% of the population. Sadly, women education in India is still a topic of discussion. The world average female literacy rate is 80%, while in India the average rate is 65%, and female participation in the labour force is 25%. Indian women in politics amount to a meagre 12%. 73% of new mothers leave their jobs to take care of their children. 50% resign at the age of 30 to take care of children. 48% out of these drop out within four months of re-joining the workforce. Only a paltry 27% mothers return to work after hiatus, while only 16% achieve senior leadership roles. The low and falling economic participation of women remains a red mark on India’s otherwise laudable economic reform report card. Therefore, massive efforts are required to ensure that the vision of providing right skills and gainful employment to “working age majority” is realized” added Bali.
D Veerendra Heggade, Chairman of SDM IMD said “In the last two decades, India has made great progress. We have made some vital contributions to the world, in particular in the field of space technology. Our country has been accepted internationally for its goods and services. Several Indian brands are recognized globally, and we are a force to reckon in many fields. Around the world, professionals from our country are sought after and are well respected. Amidst all this, there is still a lot to be done to improve our worth in the face of international competition”.
“While we have made great progress in the areas of Science and Technology, Engineering & IT, and many other fronts, we still have a long way to go. We are faced with the huge challenge of economic upliftment of the poor, gender equality, illiteracy, corruption, terrorism among other issues. We need better infrastructure, a good law enforcement system, better education, safety for women, business-friendly policies to name just a few. An absence of these is having a negative impact on our economy.” added Veerendra Heggade.
On the occasion, Veerendra Heggade presented Post Graduate Diploma in Management graduation certificates for 2017-19 batch students while Bali presented gold medals to those who excelled in various subjects. Varsha Bheemaiah won two gold medals for outstanding performance in Human Resource Management and Overall best performance and Pavan V Sharma won two gold medals for excellent performance in Marketing and for best academic performance. Girish N Totiger, Kartik S Hukkeri, Vishnu Vinay and Nayantara Dorothy Dsouza won gold medal for good performance in Finance, Operations, Systems and for best academic performances respectively. Akshay Mahajan, visually challenged from Vijayapura also received graduation certificate from Heggade.
NR Parasuraman, Director SDMIMD, briefed about various programs which were held during academic year.
