Amateur Economy & Skill India Campaign.

The computer engineer from Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana was going to open a chain of sandwich stores in Mumbai, India. This realization baffled a lot of people who knew me.

I was told that doing anything in India was riddled with problems and having a brick and mortar presence would ‘attract’ all kinds of people attempting to extort money from me. On the other hand, i thought

“How hard can this possibly be, you renovate, bring in equipment, do some marketing and you are in business”

I did exactly that, and opened the outlet in time only to realize that nothing was done as it was supposed to.

The interior’s were completed in time but nothing matched up perfectly. The hinges on the swinging door were not reinforced and gave way in the 4th week of operations. The paint came off the walls and the computer screen did not fit at the right angle causing delays in processing payments during peak rush hours. And then we had our first fire!

The central kitchen responsible for cooking food was run on electrical systems only. This meant that we were drawing huge amounts of current through the wires which were not designed to take the load.

The system short circuited and not only did we not have electricity, we took out the power supply for the entire shopping complex we were situated in. Our electrician had not considered the power requirements during renovation. Luckily we had a fire extinguisher at hand to douse the fire.

A ‘good electrician’ was called in and he made several repairs taking into requirements of our kitchen. It took another five days before we had our second electrical fire. This time, i took no chances and called in a consultant who helps with electrical wiring of “nuclear power stations”. He made several key suggestions and instructed the new electrician on how to purchase the correct materials for the job. This permanently resolved our problem.

This story repeated itself in many aspects of design and operating of the restaurant. I realized that there was a basic lack of proficiency. An electrician is a very broad term and most electricians are good for fixing light bulbs and replacing switches. The same goes for plumbers and carpenters. The common electrician, plumber and carpenter has never faced non-trivial challenges on a regular basis and hence his performance is for all to see.

There are 12 million students who are graduating from Govt-Approved universities that are not considered employable by private sector companies. Over the 10 year period, this number will rise to 120 million and if correct measures are not taken, the govt will have a revolt on their hands.

The current breed of electrician got into the “business” because his relative was an electrician and at the age of 15, went along on jobs with the relative carrying his tools. Over the years, he was allowed to fix minor issues after which he declared himself a professional electrician. No formal schooling or skill development certification required.

I recall on particular instance when I moved back to India with my Sony LCD TV in 2010. It was purchased in America and had a NTSC setting while India ran on PAL setting. A TV repair guy was called in to investigate and his suggestion was to replace the entire circuitry of the TV. In the end, there was a small switch in the cable box which switched the feed from NTSC to PAL and vice versa. The TV repair guy’s solution to the problem was 400 USD too expensive and would have probably ruined the TV.

I feel that only when enough medium-high tech industries are operating in the country across multiple genres (IT, Infrastructure, Pharma, Supply Chain, etc.) will the collective expertise of the people employed by them rise to professional levels. Programs such as Skill India have to deliver for not only employing a work force that is currently not employable, but also able to deliver quality work. Until then we will continue to experience shoddy work at the hands of unskilled labour.