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Improved life, opportunities and better money for the workers- Benefits of training would be contested by few. Education would make labourers more aware of their rights and contractors would no longer be able to exploit them. Job avenues would increase with an increase in their employability. In monitory terms, estimates suggest that trained people get 25-50 per cent more wages compared to those who are unskilled.
And there are role models like ’Gangaben’ who was recently awarded the first Vishvakarma Award namely 'Expert in Masonry Works' award by Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC). Gangaben is a master in the male dominated world of masonary, who sharpened her skills at Karmika School for Construction Workers (in association with CIDC), which not only increased her income but equipped her to manage a team engaged in similar work and also train others in the school.

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More efficient hands for the construction industry - The construction sector would be able to increase its efficiency and reduce costs with efficient and skilled manpower. Take for example a mall in Mumbai which got delayed for six months due to adequate numbers of qualified labor workers. Lack of experienced workers meant that a lot of work had to be redone. Properly trained workers would contribute enormously in avoiding unnecessary costs and delays in execution.

Current role of training and certification
A majority of construction workers are either illiterate or have little schooling; as a result workers are typically trained on the job. Most unskilled workers are so raw that not only do they need to be taught how to use a ruler, lay bricks, paint walls and mix cement, but also how to use an elevator and even a toilet.
There is no institutional framework to impart training at the worker’s level, barring a few initiatives by Government bodies, industry associations and construction companies. The government-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) along with National Academy of Construction (NAC) and the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) collectively train & contribute only about 5 lakh quasi-skilled shop-floor workers into the national pool each year - which is only 13% of 4 million of average supply required every year as per the projections.

Industry associations and construction companies are taking small but unique steps to try and bridge the skill gap. In Sept 2008, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) through private-private partnership set up its first National Centre of Excellence for Skill Development in Chhindwara district, Madhya Pradesh. Trainers arranged from member companies such as Ambuja Cement, JCB, L&T and Punj Lloyd are to impart training in skills like masonry, bar bending, welding, excavator operators and fitters.

L&T trains approximately 300 workers every year through its Skills Training Institute. Other large real estate and construction companies like DLF, HCC, Gammon India and Nagarjuna also invest considerably in training their construction workers. Ingersoll-Rand (India) (part of Volvo) has launched India's first road institute, Rasta, with the objective of bridging the gap between technology and application by end users. A private initiative by the name Pipal Tree Ventures Pvt. Ltd, has been started in Hyderabad to equip rural youth to be more industry-ready.

More coordinated efforts required
While efforts are being made, they are being carried out in isolation resulting in sub-optimal results. There is need to expand the training and skill certification programmes, both in terms of content as well as geographical reach. What is required is a coordinated effort from all stakeholders including Government, industry association, educational institutes and companies to come together and build strategies, framework and identify effective and scalable solutions to bridge the demand-supply gap for construction manpower.

The author can be contacted at ssandhir@rics.org

The Driving Force

Uplifting the construction workforce will be a win-win situation for the industry and the workers, writes Sachin Sandhir, MD & country head, RICS India

Now that the construction industry is slowly bouncing back, it won’t be long before we once again face longstanding issues of manpower shortage across the construction value chain. All of us are fairly aware and must fully recognise the impact it can have on the overall implementation of the project and costs.
It is also understood that a number of initiatives have been planned or taken at individual company level to address the shortage of manpower, armed with a host of measures including salary raises, handsome perks, better lifestyle comforts to woo people back from overseas and last but not the least, training initiatives in various forms and scales in the hope of meeting our project needs, if not with the objective of making a difference to the industry at large.