Harish Hande sees need to change skill development policy

Selco-India chairman Dr Harish Hande said there is a threat of monopolisation in future in terms of creation of workers in view of the skill development policy of the country.

"The policy is restricted to the creation of skilled workers. Skill development has to be changed to knowledge development and entrepreneurship development module," he said at 'Meet the Press' porgramme organised by Mangaluru Press Club and Dakshina Kannada District Working Journalists' Association here on Friday.

“The present policy helps in the creation of welders, fitters and plumbers. There is no scope for innovation and entrepreneurship development. The government should create centres of innovations in all the ITIs in the country. Every ITI has a potential to innovate to reach out to the grassroots level," he felt.

Stating that lack of energy access is one of the greatest barriers to poverty reduction in the country, Hande said that more than half of India’s population either has no electricity or suffers from unreliable electricity. "This, in turn, has affected the reliable income generating activities for the underserved populations of the country. India can become the leader in poverty reduction through innovations in sustainable energy," Hande felt.

“We need to build appropriate ecosystems. Innovations in rural livelihood based technology, appropriate financial products, doorstep delivery models and market linkages need to be given priority,” he said.

Hande said the country, which is plagued by caste system has created another “caste system” in the name of English and degrees. "There is entrepreneurship and innovations among those who have no knowledge of English and degrees as well. This needs to be tapped for the development of the country," he added.

Solar lights and other solar light-based appliances to inaccessible areas of the country needs to be pushed for decentralising solar power production. "It is better to decentralise solar power production and have units at each house/building to meet the power requirement rather than going for large solar plants. When a solar plant is set up in desert areas, one layer of dust will reduce the efficiency by 30%. If the banks start financing, then solar lights will reach all the households," he felt.

Solar powered threshers are the need of the hour to help the farming community. Selco is working on solar powered thresher, cold storage and also requirement for poultry industry. By 2018, Selco will push for solar powered thresher, he said.

E-shalas
Hande said that the students of 2,500 schools (e-shalas) sit inside a smart classroom, learn lessons on an LED projector, which is entirely solar-powered, through Selco Foundation. As against the normal LED projector's power consumption of 250 watts, this projector consumes only 25 watts, he said.

Under the system, the syllabus for 8th to 10th standard are digitised. Further, solar powered tablets will be given for 150 anganwadi centres in Dakshina Kannada district, he added.

Selco is now working in Jharkhand and Odisha. “Tanzania and Philippines governments have invited us to develop an ecosystem for the implementation of solar energy consumption on Karnataka model. The ecosystem for tapping solar energy will be taken up by involving local residents in Tanzania and Philippines,” he added.