The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Manpower shortage may hit growth, says Mohandas Pai

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Monday, Apr 14, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Manpower shortage may hit growth, says Mohandas Pai

Special Correspondent

Six crore more jobs likely to be created in next 10 years

— Photo: Shaju John

SOMETHING TO CHEER: N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, T.V. Mohandas Pai, director, human resources, Infosys, and K. Venugopal, Joint Editor, The Hindu-Business Line, at a meeting organised by the Business Line Club in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: India will soon have to face the reality of an acute shortage of skilled manpower that could potentially derail the country’s growth, according to T.V. Mohandas Pai, director of human resources, Infosys, one of the country’s largest information technology companies and biggest recruiters in the software industry.

There were around 6.5 crore jobs in the formal job market at present, and around 6 crore more jobs were expected to be created by the country’s booming economy in the next 10 years. “We expect the GDP to double to $2.5 trillion in 10 years. But, one issue that could hurt our growth in the next 20 years is [a shortage of] human resources,”

Mr. Pai said, addressing representatives from the academia and the corporate world at a seminar on India’s human resources challenge, organised by the Business Line Club here on Saturday.

Mr. Pai said higher education was the only way the country could make the most of its growth potential, but inadequate investment in vocational training institutes, outdated curricula in universities and the neglect of soft skills were leading to a situation in which universities were producing graduates who were found unemployable by the industry.

“Frontal assault”

There was a need for a “frontal assault” on the State policy to give institutions more autonomy, and for facilitating a larger role for private collages and ending the government’s “stranglehold” on higher education.

“We need a vibrant university system, and the innovation to drive economies comes from universities,” Mr. Pai said. “[But] we have a broken-down education system, and the only saving grace are the private colleges.”

While the southern States had taken a lead in developing higher education institutions, there had been a neglect of the arts, humanities and social sciences, which needed remedying, N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, said.

“A distant reality”

K. Venugopal, Joint Editor, The Hindu -Business Line, said access to education still remained a distant reality for many children. “There are around 20 million boys and girls between the age of 17 and 18,” he said. “This is the time they ought to be knocking on the doors of colleges, but only 11 or 12 per cent will do so. That is the reality of higher education in this country.”

D. Vishwanathan, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University; G. Vishwanathan, Chairman, VIT; and M.V.M. Vel Murugan, CEO, Velammal Engineering College, attended the seminar.

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