“Ours is a country which puts large workforce without training them,” states Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman of the CSDCI adding that the council is trying to create competency standards for training.

One of 18 Sector Skill Councils approved by the National Skill Development Corporation till date, CSDCI would focus on developing the skills for the construction sector with six specific trades of mason, bar bender and fixer, scaffolder, carpenter, laboratory technician and assistant laboratory technician.

“Every year the programme will scale-up adding new skills, ultimately taking to about 500 odd skills to be developed in the construction sector,” informs Gulabchand.

CSDCI aims to develop, establish, standardize and sustain industry competency frameworks, skill levels, occupational standards, create and deliver capacity, investment and skilling outcomes which shall meet or exceed construction industry expectations.

“The objective of CSDC is to create national occupational standards for trainers and assessors,” states Gulabchand.

The council would focus on the manpower requirements of the real estate (residential, commercial, and industrial as well as SEZ) sector, and infrastructure arena, utilities like power and irrigation, urban infrastructure, and transportation (railways, civil aviation, roadways, and ports).

“Hiring of the best competent worker for a particular function has to be performed is the only criteria prescribed by National Skill Development Corporation. We need best people to be deployed so that the quality, timeliness and cost come out effectively,” opines S Ramadorai, Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation.

The Council will set up training standards and facilitate training institutes across the nation. It will work jointly with large private companies and institutions to devise industry-based curriculum, set training standards, offer good quality vocational training, and provide industry-endorsed certification.

“It will help create a skill development plan, set specific competency standards, work out training mechanism to develop modules for trainers and conduct certification of trainers as well as for workers,” highlights Gulabchand.

CSDCI, with a corpus of Rs 140 lakh with grant of Rs3.2 crore from National Skill Development Council, plans to certify around 1.14 crore trainees and train 1.98 lakh trainers over a 10 year period.

“A wonderful programme has been launched today making it successful is our job,” opines Gulabchand.

This skill development council is being promoted by four industry bodies i.e. CREDAI, Builders’ Association of India, Construction Federation of India and National Highways Builders Federation.