 Press Release
Human Resource Development
"Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India" joins hands with "Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC)" for certification of the skills of Construction Workers.
Background:
The size of the informal economy in India is large and about 92% of the total work force is engaged in the informal economy. The informal sector comprises of small and micro enterprises, self-employed persons engaged in production/services activities and contractual labour etc. Urban informal sector has played a major role in generating economic activity and providing employment in India since long time. Annually about 8-9 million persons are being added to this workforce. Significant employment generation, self-employment is taking place in tertiary sector particularly in services sector, construction, hospitality sector etc. The Construction Industry employs 31 million workers and is next to Agriculture - Agriculture being the largest employer - in terms of employment generation.
There are large numbers of workers in the informal sector who acquire skills either because of family tradition or by virtue of being in employment for long periods. Their skills, however, are not tested and certified.
Thus, a system of certification of such skills is required to be evolved to give recognition to their skills acquired in an informal manner. This will help in improving the employability of such workforce across industries, etc.
CIDC, in association with several Universities and Industry constituents, therefore developed an HRD Programme for the workers from Construction Industry. This programme is being offered for last 3 years and has now acquired a National Stature. The programme based an open learning and distant mode of education offers 38 trades through 19 centres situated in various parts of the country.
Director General of Employment & Training (DGE&T), Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India is taking up a new scheme on "Certification of skills of workers in the Informal Sector" during 10th Five Year Plan.
CIDC has been identified as the apex agency, to take up testing and certification of workmen in Construction Trades. The scheme jointly launched by CIDC and DGE&T is outlined below.
About CIDC:
Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) has been established by the Planning Commission and Construction Industry. CIDC has been charged with the responsibility of improving and professionalising the state of the Construction Industry. It lays down the Basic National Qualification Standards of performance for trades related to the Construction Industry. Such standards are an outcome of extensive deliberations within the Industry constituents, comprising of Government departments & Ministries, Public Sector Undertakings, Industry representatives and Members of Academia. Syllabi, pedagogy, testing and certification systems have been evolved for listed trades in collaboration with IGNOU/TIET/Dr.BRAOUniversity/Other Universities. There are 19 approved Constituent Institutions/Partner Institutions known as CIDC Training Centers located in different parts of the country.
The outlines of the scheme is as follows
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Objective – To test and certify the skills of the workforce in informal sector in Construction Industry.
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Coverage – Initially the workforce in Construction Industry who have not undergone any institutional training but have attained skills in informal manner would be covered under the proposal. Testing and certification will be done in the listed trades (currently the list consists of 38 trades). This list can be upgraded depending on exigent requirement.
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Levels of competency – Skills will be tested and certified at two levels i.e. Level I and II. The Level II workmen shall be certified for their skills, which will enable them to work on International/Internationally Funded projects and will serve as a benchmark for overseas employment of Indian construction workers.
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Award of Certificate – The certificates will be awarded by CIDC, for a period of two years, and thereafter subjected to surveillance for onward revalidation for subsequent two years intervals.
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