Questions/Answers

Utkarsh Bangla (“Excellence through Skilling in Bengal”) is an employment linked skill development intervention steered by the Government of West Bengal. On 16th February, 2016 the Government of West Bengal unveiled the Utkarsh Bangla scheme under the purview of the Technical Education, Training & Skill Development Department. The scheme emphasizes on training the socially and economically deprived sections of the society with a special focus towards females. Under this scheme, skilling interventions are implemented through Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) and some major industries are involved in imparting quality training. Currently, the Utkarsh Bangla scheme is implemented throughout the state covering all the 343 blocks, 67 sub-divisions and 23 districts. Earlier the Government of West Bengal had faced challenges in terms of dispersed skill development interventions through various bodies resulting in non-uniformity in the implementation methodology and regulations. There was no unified e-governance system to track the skill development interventions which led to loss of data and difficulties in tracking the trained candidates. Also, due to lack of studies on regional demand and supply, the remote areas of the state were mostly neglected and the services were not distributed equally. The Government faced difficulties in candidate mobilization and drop outs due to improper branding and scheme awareness methodologies. This led to wastage of substantial effort and finances of the state government. With an annual target of skilling 0.6 million youth, the scheme aims at creating a pool of skilled candidates who are industry ready. The e-Governance portal of Utkarsh Bangla allows a cogent monitoring of all the stakeholders involved. The scheme also aims at skilling the beneficiaries of the other departments of Government of West Bengal through implementing convergence programs to reach all the remote corners and unifying all skilling interventions in the state.

Under the short-term trainings, 21% candidates trained are from socially backward classes, 20% of the trained candidates are from minority segment with most of the total beneficiaries being female candidates at 62.5%. The trainings are imparted in 38 different sectors as per the demand of the market. The department has established Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) specifically dedicated to women candidates and physically handicapped candidates. The trainings are free of cost, providing equal access to all the youth irrespective of their location, gender, vulnerability and economic condition. The e-governance system (www.pbssd.gov.in) provides easy access of information for all the stakeholders.

Goal_4 All the courses are aligned as per the National Qualification Framework designed in consultation with the industry. The candidates undergo quality training delivered by qualified trainers in a safe and sanitized environment monitored by CCTV and equipped with safety arrangements. Goal_5 62.5% of the candidates are female with defined reservation quota for females under various programs along with dedicated infrastructure and hostels for women candidates. Goal_8 The scheme ensures participation of the trained candidates in the job market to contribute to the economy and sustainable development of the state. Industry collaboration along with demand-supply mapping are major focuses of the initiative. Goal_9 The quality infrastructure and training resources ensure immediate contribution of skilled candidates in the economy to boost multidimensional well-being of households. Convergences with other departments facilitate entrepreneurships to increase the MSME sector. Goal_10 The inclusiveness of the scheme impacts beneficiaries from diverse demographic and geographic regions and uplifts their social and economic status through skilling and employment. Goal_17 The scheme is funded through the central and state government and it draws funds from other departments for convergence programs. The initiative imparts training through various government and non-government partnerships and constantly reviews the policies to build successful models.

The trainings enhance the capability, competency and confidence of the trainees and help them get engaged in employment, which uplifts the social status of the household. The trained candidates add to the workforce population of the state where an additional requirement of 9 million workers have been reported between 2017-2022 in the state. To sustain the economic growth driven by secondary & tertiary sectors, need for skilled human resource is on the rise which makes the scheme highly sustainable. The unified e-governance system ensures less paperwork while the trainings under the scheme has special focus on courses under Green Jobs.

The scheme has brought uniformity in courses, delivery methods and monitoring processes in the skill development eco-system eradicating the irregularity generated by multiple schemes under various departments, often causing duplication in effort and wastage of resources. Convergence with other departments have significantly assisted the initiative to reach the remotest part of the state and cater to candidates with diverse backgrounds. Establishment of the unified e-governance system has streamlined the information dissemination and accessibility with transparency. Industry collaboration has increased the opportunities of candidates’ placement. Branding and awareness strategies along with successful sensitization processes, increased the rate of mobilization and reduced the candidate dropout ratio to almost 25-30% from an earlier average of 50 - 55%. The mandatory use of qualified trainers and standardized equipment configurations as per National Qualification Framework have increased the quality of trainings being imparted at the training centers. Building administrative capacity and improved governance at state and sub-state level have assisted in efficient monitoring of the scheme.

Utkarsh Bangla prioritizes training of women candidates and provides adequate opportunities of placement without creating any gender bias. While the department has set up an Industrial Training Institute dedicated to women, the short-term trainings has a participation of 62.5% women. Moreover, the girls under “Kanyashree”, a CCT project for adolescent girls, and winner of UNPSA award in 2017, have been given special consideration for undergoing training under this scheme. All the training centers are secure and are accessible for women. To encourage girls to consider studies in the growing field of ICTs, the department celebrates “International Girls in ICT” day.

The scheme aims at impartation of skill development trainings to the unemployed youth of the state leading them to obtain employment for better livelihood. It also gives attention to separate interventions for special groups such as Persons with Disabilities, vulnerable tribal groups, victims of trafficking and others who are usually excluded from the society. The school-dropouts are regularly sensitized about the scheme to undergo training to open new avenues of employment. The scheme has a continuous process of demand-supply mapping even in the remotest areas of the state and imparts training to special groups according to the demand. Moreover, under Recognition of Prior Learning mode, the knowledge of the workers engaged in various industries without any formal skill recognition are assessed and provided national level certificates to enable them to move from informal to formal sectors with higher wages. Each skilled candidate is a productive unit added to the economy of the state. The GSDP of West Bengal has grown by 9.1% in FY 18 as compared to the 6.7% growth of GDP in India. The trainings have uplifted the social and economic conditions of the candidates and their families considerably.

The Utkarsh Bangla scheme was launched on 16th February, 2016 after consultation with all the Government and non-Government stakeholders and considering all the lessons learnt from rigorous analysis of drawbacks in the previous schemes operated in the state. In 2016, 77 Government ITIs were handed over to Private Training Providers in Public Private Partnership for quality interventions in the ITIs. Additionally, centers of excellence were set up in partnership with major industries, like Samsung, Maruti Suzuki, Royal Enfield, etc. The department implemented short term trainings for a specific program dedicated to youth from rural and poor backgrounds under the scheme. Implementation of the scheme is facilitated by a comprehensive e-Governance portal which is also used for registration of prospective trainees to conduct the demographic, socio-economic, sectoral demand and aspiration analysis of the youth of the state. Parallelly private training providers and training centers were empaneled with the department through transparent tendering process for imparting the training programs. In continuation to the existing trainings in institutional mode, the department started to set targets under non-institutional mode for the empaneled training centers depending on the demand analysis in 2017. In 2018, a CXO meet was organized to sensitize the industries to participate actively in the scheme. A unified e-governance system was developed (www.pbssd.gov.in) to bring all the stakeholders at one place for ease of communication and process implementation. To eradicate the non-uniformity in training process, a robust monitoring structure with 500 staff with GPS enabled mobile application have been deployed. A state level job fair was organized to create a channel for employment. New channels of branding and communication were implemented in 2019 to enhance the mobilization of candidates and reduce drop-outs. A monitoring & evaluation methodology was developed to judge the performance of the stakeholders of the scheme.

Mobilization has been a primary issue which was addressed through various channels of branding and communication and regular sensitization. To reduce drop outs, a one-time Direct Benefit Transfer, based on attendance and successful completion of the training, has been introduced. To eliminate the issues in placement, annual CXO meets were organized along with regular meetings with industries and chambers of commerce at various administrative levels. An e-governance system has been put in place to ease the communication between stakeholders with transparency and it works as a virtual work space for implementation.

The e-governance system under this scheme is a pioneer in the country where the digital platform acts like a virtual workspace and allows the stakeholders to communicate with transparency. For constant monitoring, the department has utilized the existing government facilities at all administrative levels to exercise the local level leadership which helped minimise the overhead cost by bringing it down to 3% of total outlay. The department has set up PPP model ITIs to ensure quality interventions. Trainings at source of demand has been a unique initiative under this project. The courses have also been customized as per industry needs.

The decentralisation process used in Utkarsh Bangla is inspired from another state implementing the same program. A policy has been adopted for engagement of Common Resource person (CRP) at block levels and Gram Panchayat Level Federation (GPLF) for an inclusive mobilization approach to maximize the outreach touching the lives of the beneficiaries in remotest places. The concept of national level courses, assessments & certification have been adopted from National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to ensure national level acceptance of the training programs. A rating-grading mechanism for the training providers has been inspired from other national level skill development interventions.

1. In Utkarsh Bangla, all the successfully trained candidates receive a one-time beneficiary pay-out after certification as meal and conveyance allowances based on INR 50/day (where a typical day is of 4 hours of session). The pay-out helped in reduction of drop-outs considerably. The concept was adopted at the country level in a national scheme with some modification. 2. The department has implemented 77 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Public-Private-Partnership mode for the first time in India where the land and buildings have been provided by the department and the Private Training Providers are responsible for setting up infrastructure and daily operation. There are 2 PPP mode ITIs which featured in the top 100 ITIs in India in 2018 as per the study conducted by Directorate General of Training (DGT) under Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India. Accordingly, the MSDE is currently studying the process with an intention to explore options for implementing similar models in other states across the country and also adopting it as a national model.

The PPP model of ITIs is replicable in all the states in India, and also scalable nationally. Involvement of Private Training Partners (PTPs) and interested industries in operating such ITIs would enhance the quality of trainings. As the responsibility of human resources and equipment lies with the PTPs, it considerably reduces the cost and efforts of the Government. The e-Governance platform of the scheme provides a virtual workspace for stakeholders including Citizens, Trainees, Training Providers, Assessors, Inspecting Officials, Administrators & Employers. The comprehensive end-to-end ICT enabled system has been designed in such a way that it can be replicated across the country very easily. The digital platform has been designed by National Informatics Centre, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, the technology partner of the Government. It consists of the e-Governance portal www.pbssd.gov.in and two mobile applications. The software has been designed adhering to relevant national standards and deployed in the National Data Centre. The ICT based solution may become a role model for other states for implementing skill development training programmes in a holistic manner. This e-Governance model has also been adjudged as the “Winner project of WSIS 2019” in Category 4 (Capacity Building).

The scheme is funded by the State Government through the department budgetary provisions. Additional funds from other departments for implementation of convergence program are also pooled in. The scheme draws Corporate Social Responsibility funding from major industries for specific interventions. For both implementation and monitoring, the department has set up state, district, sub-division & block level management units comprising around 600 staff. Additionally, existing administrative staff have been engaged in different aspects like supervision, mobilization, placements, quality assurance, etc. In some cases, infrastructure and equipment of institutes were optimized and used for both regular operation and short-term skill development trainings.

The GSDP of West Bengal has grown by 9.1% in FY 18 as compared to 6.7% growth of GDP in India. The investment of the Government for skilling the candidates results in growth of economy in multiple folds by their participation in the labor market. There is regular funding from the government as well as the private sectors. The government has installed a robust institutional structure from the state till the grass root level for smooth program implementation. While there is a State Project Management Unit at the central level, there are District, Sub-Division, Block level units for decentralized management.

Yes

The impact evaluation of the scheme has been conducted by KPMG Advisory Services Private Limited, an international group of consultants with renowned experience in program evaluations. Evaluators considered both the qualitative and quantitative parameters of the scheme aligned with the aim and objectives to train the youth population from all the corners of the state. The evaluation was based on conducting field visits for stakeholder surveys and secondary research. The data were analyzed to find out the influence of the scheme on the target beneficiaries and understand the outcome of the trainings conducted.

The evaluation has been done based on 5 primary parameters: 1. Relevance 2. Effectiveness 3. Efficiency 4. Impact 5. Sustainability For primary survey, 3 districts and 9 blocks of the state were selected based on the performance since the inception of the scheme. The survey included 1000 beneficiaries, 25 training providers, 10 employers and 15 officers from the department. Secondary data was fetched from the www.pbssd.gov.in and www.pbssd.org to measure the performance of the scheme over the years.

1. There must be a paradigm shift in perception about the skill development eco-system while involving more industries to map the aspirations of the candidates towards the training. 2. The e-governance system has effectively reduced various lags during a life-cycle of training resulting in faster and smoother implementation of the program. 3. The strengthened process of monitoring and evaluation has resulted in detection of more violations than earlier. 4. PBSSD has been instrumental in ensuring social upliftment of the livelihood of the female candidates and the candidates from socially backward classes. 5. Employment has been an issue of the scheme where 1.72% candidates are placed in wage employment and 2.25% candidates are engaged in self-employment with the assistance of PBSSD. 6. The scheme has 85% coverage geographically where as 62.5% candidates are female. 7. The process of applications for CSR under Utkarsh Bangla is seamless and enabled by ICT based platform. However, department is yet to reap the benefits of convergence and industry partnership effectively. The department has initiated a process to fulfill the aspiration and demand gap through effective counselling of the candidates prior to registration. Various industries have been contacted to build up effective partnerships and creation of employment opportunities.

One of the major features of the scheme is the convergence process where the Technical Education, Training & Skill Development Department acts as a nodal department for impartation of training of beneficiaries from all departments. These convergences allow the department to cover more youth from socially and economically deprived background and to reach the remote parts of the state. Some of the convergences assist in coverage of minority groups and gender. Funding for these programs are shared by the departments. Infrastructure is also optimized as they are shared between departments for conducting the trainings. The department has taken up 3 -tier approach by setting up management units at all administrative levels for smooth implementation and monitoring of the scheme under the local level leadership. There are almost 600 staff deployed by the department across the 23 districts, 67 sub-divisions and 343 blocks in addition to the project management unit, technical unit and establishment unit at the state level. Support has been also received from other departments to reach till the village level utilizing their presence.

During the design phase of the initiative, all previous learnings from scattered skill development programs were evaluated to generate the initiative which could be effective in future. Accordingly, other departments were consulted to understand the implementation challenges and the administrative levels were involved to realize the demographic and geographical difficulties. Industries and Chambers of Commerce were a major part in deriving the sector wise demand in various locations. Assistance from National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) was taken to ensure national level curricula, assessment & certification. The short -term segment of the initiative was implemented through the training partners and centers empaneled with the department. Various convergence programs have been initiated with other departments and industries to draw the CSR funding into skilling eco-system. The district level authorities have been a major part in implementation by confirming participation of beneficiaries, low drop-out rate, branding and awareness generation, etc. For ITIs in PPP mode the private training partners ensure proper quality of skilling in convergence with the department. KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Limited has been engaged for documentation of the initiative at design phase, handle implementation modalities, monitoring operational activities and evaluate the scheme on regular basis.

The aspirations and acumen of the candidates are sometimes deviated, leading to non-participation in trainings which results in unemployment. To address this issue, the department has prepared a candidate counselling and sensitization process for implementation at various levels of administration periodically for the youth. Industry participation has been a major part of the scheme to create employment opportunities and address the demand-supply gap. Annual plans have been designed for various job fairs at state and district levels and CXO meets leading to quality placements, resulting in sustainable livelihood. Also, at the state level, industries are invited for exploring CSR programs and finding avenues of captive employment. Utilizing Government Infrastructure for skill development programs ensure quality equipment, security and monitoring process. Various schools, colleges and universities are planned to be included to expand the capacity of the skill development programs. Convergence with other departments provide the opportunity for the initiative to reach to beneficiaries from diverse demographic, economic and geographic background. Accordingly, the department has planned for multiple convergences and greater industry participation to skill more youth. Training of Trainers has been made mandatory to ascertain quality training through qualified trainers.