The demographic transition of India makes it imperative to ensure employment opportunities for more than 12 million youths entering working age annually. To create employment-ready workforce, the youth need to be equipped with necessary skills and education. The country presently faces a dual challenge of severe paucity of trained labour, as well as non-employability of large sections of the educated workforce that possess little or no job skills.
The government has listed skill development as one of its priorities and aims to enhance participation of youth, seek greater inclusion of women, disabled and other disadvantaged sections into the workforce, and improve the capability of the present system, making it flexible to adapt to technological changes and demands emanating from the labour market.
New Holland Agriculture has collaborated with Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP) for a Skill Development Program for Tractor Operators and Mechanics in the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Through this project, the company wants to prepare rural youth for improved livelihoods by making them skilled and employable in the domains of tractor operator and tractor mechanic.
In total, the program has trained 160 youth, which includes 80 trainees in each state and provide placement/self-employment to minimum 50% of the trained rural youth. Candidates who attend the skill-training program can find employment in service departments of farm machine dealers, wholesalers, and manufacturers, or independent repair and maintenance workshops. They can also set up their own businesses for tractor repair.