Jaya wants changes in NITI Aayog

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha on Sunday urged her Punjab counterpart and Chairman of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers Prakash Singh Badal to include several initiatives in the draft report of the committee on skill development, NITI Aayog.

Referring to addressing the issue of skill development in demographically advantaged states, Jayalalitha said taking cognisance of the heterogeneity of demographic challenges and opportunities across different states, targeted interventions need to be devised by broadly classifying the states as net suppliers and net absorbers of labour. “There are clear complementaries between the opportunities and requirements in both states. The interventions at the national level need to cover the needs of both sets of states and not just focus on the so-called demographically advantaged states. Solutions to some of the issues that demographically advantaged states face may lie in policy interventions in demographically more mature states and vice versa,” Jayalalitha said. She said it was a matter of national priority to address the productivity gaps of the demographically mature states like Tamil Nadu, lest their populations grow old without fully enjoying the fruits of growth and development.

The report needs to focus on this aspect as well, she added.

In this light, one of the recommendations should be to undertake a comprehensive pan-India assessment of migration patterns, needs and aspirations, based on which requisite policy interventions for both providers and absorbers of migrant labour can be formulated, Jayalalitha said.

Pointing out that in the report there is no mention of issues relating to persons with disabilities, Jayalalitha said “this was a key omission”.

“A crucial element of the Skill Development Strategy is the determination of sectoral priorities based on an independent assessment of the needs of each sector and the formulation of appropriate policies to enhance the qualitative and quantitative skill availability for the sector,” she said, adding, this was clearly a task best done at the state-level since the priority sectors would vary from state to state.

Jayalalitha said the Union government and the Ministry of Skill Development should intensify the efforts towards universal adoption of National Skills Qualification Framework  and clarify its linkage with National Vocational Education Qualification Framework .