Apparel April 2019 Apparel April 2019 issue | Page 43

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
THE SKILLS NEEDED IN EVERY
STEP OF THE PROCESS IN TEXTILE
AND APPAREL MAKING MAKE IT A
RICH SOURCE FOR ALLOCATING
WORKERS WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS
ACROSS SEGMENTS.
of Indian labour and make it more competitive.
Apparel and textiles is a skill-based, labour-
intensive MSME sector, which has the
potential to garner the strength of millions of
unemployed people and give them a sustainable
path to vocational training and long-term
economic security.
The skills needed in every step of the process
in textile and apparel making make it a rich source
for allocating workers with multiple skills across
segments, ranging from traditional handloom
products in handicrafts, wool and silk, to the
widespread organised textile and apparel industry
that requires spinning, weaving, processing and
cut-make-trim skills for mass production. In this
endeavour, the Union Cabinet approved a new
skill development scheme with a rising outlay
from R1,300 crore in 2017 to R3,400 crore in
2018. The scheme is designed to cover the entire
value chain of textiles, apart from spinning and
weaving, in the organised sector. The scheme has
set up a target of skilling nearly one million people
in various capacities within the textile sector, of
which 1,00,000 people will be focused solely in
the traditional sector. The scheme expects at
least 70 per cent of the trainees to be placed in
wage employment, with a comprehensive
post-placement tracking in place to ensure
their assimilation.
This ‘Scheme for Capacity Building’ is
proposed to be compliant with the National Skill
Qualification Framework courses, along with the
funding norms as dictated by the Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship. The hope
remains that the scheme will provide demand-
driven and placement-oriented skills to workers
so as to incentivise the efforts of the textile
and apparel industry in creating jobs within the
organised textile segment. This effort to upgrade
skills across the organised and traditional sectors
together is particularly important due to the value
of indigenous handicrafts to both culture and
economy. Further support for skill upgradation
is made possible down the line by supporting
entrepreneurial development via provisions of
MUDRA loans.
SKILLING IS THE FUTURE
The reach of these programmes is expected to
be pan India, reaching remote locations, rural
areas, the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir—
essentially wherever entrepreneurship needs
skills. As MSMEs continue to proliferate and
grow, these skill programmes will also have the
added benefit of benefitting gender minorities
which are expected to include up to 80 per cent
women, particularly in the apparel and clothing
sector. The potential for corporate India to partner
in the nation-building exercise of skill building
can prove to be an invaluable step for Indian
business as we step forward towards becoming
a global innovation hub for the international
textile and apparel industry. The only question is:
will the focus only be on skilling people in their
adulthood or will there be a more ambitious and
far-seeing agenda to reform Indian education on
a fundamental level? Only time (and the election
results) will tell.
APPAREL
I
April 2019
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37