CREDAI joins hands with NIPUN to bring a transformational change by Upskilling the Construction Workers Under MoHUA’s initiative through NSDC will upskill 1.06 lakh workers
Chandigarh, 28 February 2023: ( AVAJ APKI NEWS )
The Union Budget 2023 pushed for a focus on upskilling programmes as the central government announced that PMKVY 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth and set up 30 Skill India International centres across different states to train youth for international opportunities. Initiatives such as this can be fruitful for a country like India as labour intensive sectors like real estate contribute around 7% of the country’s GDP. Skilled labour force is imperative for the real estate industry to grow and CREDAI has enrolled more than 7000 workers under the NIPUN (National Initiative for Promotion of Upskilling of Nirman workers) Initiative, a unique upskilling program for construction workforce under Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India.
The real estate industry is the second largest employment generator in India, and not only provides livelihood for unskilled / semi-skilled – helpers, masons, bar benders, etc but also provides jobs that are long-term as an average construction cycle varies from 3-5 years. The most important element that decides the pay of construction workers is the level of experience and is also directly proportional to the additional skills that they are adept with. The need for skilled labour is expected to rise even as the economy is on the way to a K-shaped recovery and the nation is experiencing a development renaissance. Therefore, it is crucial to introduce certain programmes for the workforce and other more specialised industries, the opportunity to upskill and climb up the value chain from an unskilled helper to more technically proficient responsibilities.
The Government and MoHUA through implementing agencies have identified skill shortages in the current construction workforce and have taken an initiative to train them in content that is specially developed with worker’s individual needs in mind. A nationally recognised certificate is awarded by NSDC following an 80-hour training programme and a third-party assessment conducted by the construction skill council. This certificate gives the labour force, who has never received any official training or skilling—a sense of pride and confidence. Initiatives like NIPUN can be deemed as the need of the hour and the real estate industry stands to benefit from such initiatives of the Government of India.
“The Government echoed CREDAI’s sentiment towards the need for upskilling as they announced the budget for FY 23-24. The welfare of construction workers has been at the core of CREDAI’s values, and we have been working continuously towards their empowerment. It gives me immense pleasure to announce that more than 2 lakh construction workers have benefitted from our skilling initiatives since 2011 and under the NIPUN initiative, we plan to upskill 20,000 workers. We thank MoHUA for rolling-out NIPUN when the construction sector in India is growing at a rapid pace” Mr. Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President CREDAI, said.
While CREDAI has been actively working to upskill labour workforce for more than 10 years, they have been able to make a substantial difference through their efforts as they skilled 2 Lakh workers and youth and helped them climb up the ladder and become proficient in their job roles. The NIPUN Initiative is a progressive endeavour for the skill development of the construction sector workforce.
