The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Shortage of quality manpower yet to be addressed: Minister

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Friday, Dec 14, 2007
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Karnataka - Bangalore

Shortage of quality manpower yet to be addressed: Minister

Special Correspondent

‘India needs to broadbase its research in science and other disciplines’

Only 10 per cent of qualified people employable
11th Plan to focus on skill development

BANGALORE: The three-day international conference on e-science and grid computing concluded here on Thursday with a call to broadbase the research in science and related disciplines.

Union Minister of State for Planning M.V. Rajsekharan, who delivered the valedictory address, said that India had only 1.6 lakh experts engaged in research and development activity while it was 13 lakh people in the U.S.

Mr. Rajasekharan said that despite its total population being less than one-third of India’s population, the U.S. was able to engage more people in research.

The Union Minister said in India only 110 persons per million population were engaged in research and development compared to 4,500 per million in the U.S.

But on the other hand, India had nearly nine million science graduates, two million postgraduates, and one lakh of Ph.D. degree holders.

In addition, two million fresh students enrol for science degrees annually along with another seven lakh students in engineering. But when it came to quality, only about 10 per cent of them were employable in the sunrise industries, he said.

Mr. Rajasekharan said the Planning Commission had finalised the Eleventh Plan (2007-12) which enunciated faster and more inclusive growth.

The Commission, after wide spread consultation, had identified a number of socio-economic targets with defined objectives for the 11th Plan.

Outlining them, the Union Minister said that steps had been taken to accelerate growth rate of GDP from 8 to 10 per cent and maintain at 10 per cent in the 12th Plan in order to double the per capita income by 2016-17.

Agricultural GDP growth had to be increased to 4 per cent, 70 million jobs had to be created and educated unemployment should be brought down to less than 5 per cent, he said.

Mr. Rajasekharan said the Eleventh Plan had envisaged a high growth phase for educational infrastructure. About 400 institutions would come up during the Plan period.

He said the National Skill Development Mission (NSDM) would be institutionalised through which capacity expansion for skill development by a factor of five. The other objectives included enlargement of skill spectrum to 2,000 trades, establish credible accreditation and examination systems, establishment of national skill inventory and database for skill deficiency mapping and creation of virtual skill development resource network.

Director-General of the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (CDAC) S. Ramakrishnan and Director of CDAC Mohan Rao spoke.

The next international conference on e-science will be held in Indianapolis in the U.S. in 2008.

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