Our Indolence and Vishwakarma

It is common knowledge that people of Kashmir have over the last couple of decades been showing lack of interest in doing manual jobs which they were happily doing earlier, be it the manual work in paddy fields and orchards or as carpenters, masons, construction labour, brick kiln labour, barbers etc. In the none too distant past, winter coming and many from the rural areas would move to Jammu and neighbouring states of Punjab, Himachal and Haryana to work as wood choppers, coolies at the bus stands and for other manual jobs.

This migration for work during winter was not only sensible as it provided additional income during the time when Kashmir’s freezing temperatures allowed no scope for work outside of homes, it also had created a favourable impression about Kashmiri workers in these areas as being simple, sturdy and hard working. While there is no regret about depleting numbers going out in winter to work as coolies at bus stands, there is concern about not doing skilled and unskilled manual jobs at home in Kashmir.

An anomalous situation prevails in Kashmir with respect to employment. While there is high rate of unemployment among the less educated youth, largely rural, the same youth are unwilling to make use of the available manual job opportunities in their own areas. In view of non availability of local labour, people are compelled to hire labour hailing from outside Kashmir to do the jobs, both skilled and unskilled. Lack of interest among locals in doing manual jobs is commonly attributed to income from horticulture, commercial plantations, white collar job opportunities in tourism sector and trading, jobs in transport sector and also high land prices which has resulted in substantial returns to the families selling land or whose lands have come under acquisition for different projects. A government job of one or more than one member of family also gives comfort level to other members not having a job.

But this is not the whole reason and does not fully explain the disinterest in manual jobs. Unwillingness to make use of manual job opportunities and preferring to stay idle shows indolence and a mindset of dependence on parental and family support as long as it lasts. Be that as it may, only a detailed study will reveal why our people in Kashmir are loathe to do manual jobs and why this is becoming part of our societal culture. For now the best way forward is to continue efforts to create skilled manpower by imparting skills that are required within Jammu and Kashmir and where there is shortage.

The central government has recently launched PM Vishwakarma scheme for skill development and facilitating employment opportunities for the youth belonging to families of traditional artisans, craftspeople and workers in eighteen identified trades. These trades include carpenter, boat maker, blacksmith, hammer and tool kit maker, locksmith, goldsmith, potter, sculptor, cobbler/ shoe smith /footwear artisan, mason, basket/ mat / broom maker /coir maker, weaver, doll and toy maker, barber, garland maker, washer man (dhobi), tailor and fishing net maker.

Many of these trades are pursued by large number of families in Jammu and Kashmir for generations and such families even bear surnames unique to the trade but the ground reality is that the new generation in these families are generally unwilling to carry on with the family tradition. While it is good that the new generation is looking for better opportunities in other fields and careers and also opting for higher education, the reality is that there is also aversion among many of them for the family trade and calling. It is observed that many among these youngsters will rather want to be daily wagers in the government or do a class IV government job or just stay unemployed at home than take up their family vocation.

PM Vishwakarma scheme has provisions for recognition of the artisans through certificate and ID card, skill upgradation, stipend during training, tool kit incentive, credit support, incentive for digital transactions and marketing support. Implementation of this scheme in the right spirit will certainly help in providing succour to a large number of families of traditional crafts. While there are incentives under the scheme but these may not be adequate to attract the youngsters. There is scope for more incentives which the UT administration in J&K could consider in addition to the scheme incentives, for example, duration of training in some trades to be at least one to two months with stipend instead of just a week as is prescribed in the scheme guidelines, separate incentive for the trainer which is not there and higher tool kit incentive etc.

The Industries Department in J&K had proposed a similar scheme in 2015 as part of the World Bank assisted rehabilitation package post 2014 floods but unfortunately it didn’t mature. The department had proposed on the job training to the youth by master craftsmen or master trainers and payment of stipend to the trainees and fees to the trainer. And the focus was on skills that were in demand in the open market. The proposal can be revived, revisited and an updated list of trades prepared which are not in the PM Vishwakarma list of 18 eligible trades, for example, plumbing, electrician, repair of phones and computers, repair of refrigerators, repair of gadgets and appliances and of machines of daily use inside homes and in the work places, skills required in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture and many other fields from where day to day services are requisitioned. The idea is to train a large number of youth for self employment and make them job ready in a shorter time frame and also provide an opportunity and incentive to the local master craftsmen and trainers to transfer their expertise and skills.

One is not sure about the effectiveness of our Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in providing skilled and technically trained manpower for the industries, as was their original mandate. In J&K the ITIs were never a huge success in motivating trained youth to become self employed or work in private industries for the reason that for many years government jobs in comparison were a more attractive alternative for the ITI trained youth. A number of government jobs where technical skills were required prescribed ITI certificate as an eligibility condition. However, for many years now, getting a government job has become very difficult because of growing number of job aspirants and stiff competition in recruitment. Therefore, it makes eminent sense for the government to concentrate on the ITIs to improve the quality of training and prospects for self employment, entrepreneurship and jobs in industry. It was good to see Hon LG’s presence in the recently held convocation of ITIs and to learn about the resolve of the UT government to work for all round improvement of ITIs in J&K.

The motivation for this write up is the recent launch of PM Vishwakarma scheme by the union government. It is a good scheme but in the light of what we know about our societies both in Jammu and Kashmir divisions, additional incentives may be required to motivate the new generation of the families of traditional crafts to take up their family vocations. The other scheme discussed above involving training by master craftsmen or kind of apprenticeship with trainers will take care of trades not eligible under Vishwakarma scheme and generate good number of employment opportunities for the youth after training.

It will help to requisition services of trained manpower on telephone call to the servicing agencies. This is how it operates in cities in this country.
Tail piece- In mid seventies, a large number of handicraft training centres were set up through out Kashmir to train young boys and girls in handicrafts work with a view to preserve the unique skills, make the trainees employable after training and give a major boost to production of handicrafts.

However, criticism came in from some quarters. In one District Development Board (DDB) meeting of District Baramulla in 1983 or 1985, can not recall the year with confidence, a senior leader and the then MLA referred to the scheme of handicraft training centres as a deliberate ploy to let children stay uneducated by denying them school education at a stage in life when they should have been in school. I was an IAS probationer undergoing district training at Baramulla in 1983 and SDM Sopore in 1985. The criticism was neither legitimate nor fair but nevertheless the Hon.

MLA had a point, which goes to show how even a well intentioned public policy decision can have a flip side. This aspect could have been thought through before implementation. Perhaps, some arrangement for imparting education was later made for the trainees in these training centres. Over the years this scheme has tapered off and perhaps stands already wound up.
Khurshid Ahmed Ganai is a retired IAS officer of erstwhile J&K cadre and a former Advisor to Governor.