Himalayan Times (1962)

April 1, 1963 'rhmalayan Times

TRAINING OF CRAFTSMEN IN A DEVELOPING ECONOMY

By K. L. JOSHI

( Continued from last issue )

Estimates of require,
ments of oraftsmen for
the Third and the Fourth
Plans are difficult to
make. The requirement
of additional oraftimen
now included in the Re-
port of the Third Five
Year Plan it about 13
lakhs. Similarly, additional
oraftsment requ red for
the various industries
during the Fourth Plan
period have been estima-
ted to be between 18 to
20 lakbs. The methods
employed to arrive at
these estimates are yet
very empirical and consi-
derable detailed work will
hare to be done in rela-
tion to various seotors
employing oraftamen and
operators to check up the
figures. According to one
method, the ratio between
engineers and oraftsmen
and operatives was ten-
tatively considered to be
):32 by the end of. the
First Plan on the basis
of a calculation that there
were 31,200 engineers and
about 10 lakhs of crafts-
men and operatives both .
in engineering and non-
engineering trades. Gra-
dually this ratio is being
modified in relation to
larger employment of en-
gineers, so that by the

end of the Second Plan
it has tended to be 1:25.
For the Third Plan, the
same ratio could be assu-
med and the additional
engineers required in the
Third Plan mentioned in
the Report of the Third
Five Year, Plan has been
estimated to be 61,000..
Therefore, the oraftsmen
and operatives both in
engineering and non-en.
gineering trades that will
be required would be 12.75
lakhs or say 13 lakhs.
In the same way, it has
been estimated that -for
the Fourth Plan about
80,000 additional engineers
will be required. There-
fore, the additional crafts-
men and operatives both
in engineering and non-
engineering trades that
will be required would be
of the order of 20 lakhs.

" This broad way of
calculation has been chec-
ked up by another method
of projecting the require-
ments from employment
data and also from the
data about the jobsoreated
in engineering activities
in industries during the
First and the Second
Plans. Moreover, calcula-
tion? were also based on
the actual requirements
of different Ministries,

Five

State Governments and
industries in private and
public sectors. These fi-
gures are oaloulated in a
conservative way so as
to yield no scope for any
"wastage of efforts in pro-
ducing trained manpower.
However, detailed work
will have to be don*
again for the requirements
of the Fourth Plan, be-
cause the ratios in diffe-
rent industries vary; for
example, while the pro-
portion of craftsmen or
operators will be large in
oertain industries like tex-
tiles, the f proportion of
engineers will be larger
in industries dealing-with
machine tools steel plant,
fertilizers, heavy industries
and other big projects.

It was safe, however,
to assume that about 13
lakhs of draftsmen and
operatives.will be required
in engineering and non-
engineering trades during
the Third Plan of whom
8.10. lakhs are in engi-
neering trades and the
rest in non-engineering
trades. It is expected
that out of the 8.10 lakhs
in engineering trades,
about 2 lakhs will be
trained by the Industrial
Training Institutes of
which the number will be
318 during the Third Plan.
A large proportion of the
balance is being trained
in several industries as
well as establishments
under Railways, Posts and
Telegraphs, Deface, etc