Transforming the Skill Landscape

IESC has come a long way transforming the skill landscape in the infrastructure equipment sector.

The Infrastructure Equipment Skill Council (IESC) is a ‘Not for Profit’ sustainable organisation promoted by the Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association (ICEMA), supported by the Confederation of India Industry (CII) and funded by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to spearhead the skilling of workforce in the Infrastructure Equipment (IE) Sector. The Council operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) of the Government of India.
The Council was formed in August 2014 and stared operations from Bangalore in November 2014. The activities of the Council are overseen by a 18 member governing body comprising senior executives from all segments of the equipment industry as well as representatives from related bodies like NSDC, Builders Association of India (BAI), Financial Institutions and Academia. IESC not only covers the construction sector, but also other sectors like, mining, iron and steel, plant hiring and leasing, defence etc,

Milestones
The Council has come a long way since its inception; expanded its operations and established foot prints pan India.
Currently the Council has over thirty members comprising the who’s who of the infrastructure equipment manufacturers. The Chairman of the IESC Governing Body Vikram Sharma and Co-chairman Anand Sundaresan, who is also president of the ICEMA, are both well known in the industry and have been in the forefront propagating and mentoring the skill development activities of the Council; currently focusing exclusively on training and certification of operators and mechanics.
National Occupational Standards (NOS) and Qualification Packs (QP) for all the major products and trades covering over 80% of the workforce in the industry have been developed and approved. These are summarized as under; and details are available on its website www.iescindia.com
• Note: * Concurrently IESC are developing NOS & QPs for select remaining products like tower cranes, telescopic handlers, skid steer loaders and water well drills besides bridging the career progression gaps at Level 5 (Master Operators and Master Mechanics/Technicians) These standards are…of the industry…by the industry…and for the industry!!!!
• Further the Council has accredited over 40 training partners pan India; certified and empanelled around 125 trainers; and most creditably mobilized and trained 1400 operators/mechanics.
• During this period the Council participated at the ConMac Exhibition in Guwahati (Feb 2015) Excon at Bengaluru (Nov 2015) and more recently at the Bauma Conexpo India at Gurgaon Dec 2016, where the activities of the Council received wide publicity and encouragement.
• IESC has also conducted panel discussions on Skill Development at various forums, attended by select industry luminaries. Further, Construction Times a leading media company in the industry has recognized our efforts/progress and instituted awards for various skilling activities being undertaken by us.

Activities
The Council is presently engaged in a wide range of activities.
• It has submitted a project report to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for establishment of Model Training Centres for skilling of highway equipment operators under the RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) model.
• An MOU has been signed with National Highway Infrastructure Development Company for skilling of its workforce at various project sites with primary focus in the north east where the road network is set for a major transformation very shortly.
• Under CSR funding, in co-ordination with NSDC it has just made a beginning with Coal India and its subsidiaries to train their operators and mechanics. This process will be further promoted with other concerned PSUs for the year.
• The Council is coordinating with both Auto and Logistics Skill Council for establishment of Multi Skilling Centres at select locations across India. Besides another five centres jointly with Auto and Shreeram Transport Finance are on the anvil.
• It is also exploring tie-ups with various state governments to drive the skill development projects. MoU has already been signed with Kerala and Andhra Pradesh; expression of interest has been received from UP, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
• Last but not the least, select colleges under the aegis of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have been affiliated to run IESC certified programs at NSQF Levels 3 and 4 under the PMKVY 2.0 scheme (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana)

Conclusion
The Council is preparing itself to scale up the numbers by affiliating more training partners with passion and commitment to change the skill landscape of the IE sector. Mobilisation continues to be a challenge as the job opportunities in the industry have yet to open up as desired. However, the Council is optimistic of this happening soon, with market showing positive movement with sales of machines.

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