Green jobs can fill the gaps in the growth story

Why in the News

India’s next task is to turn its fast fall in poverty into better jobs, increasingly green jobs. An assessment by the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST), titled *India’s Green Jobs Moment*, estimates that clean economy sectors could support over 1.3 crore jobs by 2035. The gap is skilling: too few people are trained, and most courses are too short.

What are green jobs, and where will they come from?

1. What it is: Green jobs are paid work in activities that cut emissions or help communities cope with climate change. Eg. installing rooftop solar panels or repairing an electric vehicle.
2. Why now: India’s goals of Viksit Bharat (a developed India) by 2047 and net zero (cutting emissions to what is absorbed) by 2070 are creating new industries.
3. Growth sectors: Renewable energy, storage, electric vehicles (EVs), green hydrogen, recycling and nature based solutions that strengthen climate resilience.
4. Local and rural work: Rooftop solar, EV repair and recycling are local by nature, and agroforestry and mangrove restoration jobs are largely rural.
5. The takeaway: Green jobs can reach households that have just crossed the poverty line, because much of the work sits in towns and villages.

Why is India well placed to build a green workforce?

1. Poverty decline: The World Bank counts India’s poverty decline among the world’s fastest, driven above all by rising employment and more women in paid work.
2. Better educated youth: Young Indians are better educated than before.
3. Employed workforce: The worker population ratio, the share of people employed, is just 1.9 percentage points below the share working or seeking work, so almost every job seeker finds some work.
4. Transferable skills: About 71% of thermal power roles assessed can shift to renewables and green hydrogen. About 90% of automobile roles can move into EVs, often after a short bridge course.

Where does skilling fall short?

1. Thin technical base: Only 5.3% of young people have technical education, and 5% have formal vocational training.
2. Demand outpaces training: Direct employment in key green sectors is projected to grow by about 4.5 lakh jobs a year. Dedicated green programmes have trained only around 81,000 people.
3. Short courses: About 43% of formally trained workers completed courses of under six months. Advanced green roles need deeper technical knowledge.

What can the existing training system build on?

1. ITI network: India has over 15,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), vocational schools for trades such as electrician, with more than 26 lakh seats.
2. PM-SETU: The Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs (PM-SETU) scheme is modernising 1,000 government ITIs.
3. Policy revision: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is revising the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the base for green skilling.

Challenges

1. Missing green laboratories: Institutes lack laboratories for solar, battery and hydrogen trades.
2. Instructor shortage: Few instructors know green technologies, so new courses cannot scale quickly.
3. Disconnected pathway: School, technical and vocational training and the workplace run as separate tracks, so learners cannot progress smoothly.

Way Forward

1. Green laboratories in ITIs: Use the PM-SETU upgrade to equip government ITIs with green laboratories.
2. Instructor training: Train ITI instructors in renewable energy, storage and EV technologies.
3. Longer programmes: Offer longer, high value programmes alongside short courses and apprenticeships.
4. Education continuum: Use the revised skilling policy to link school, technical and vocational training and the workplace.

Conclusion

India has the young workforce and transferable skills that green industries need, but its training system is too thin and too short to supply them. Whether the revised skilling policy builds a school to workplace continuum is the thing to watch.

Key numbers

1. People out of poverty: About 496 million Indians, 2011 to 2023 (World Bank).
2. Extreme poverty share: 27.1% (2011) to 2.6% (2023) (World Bank).
3. Youth share of population: More than 27% of Indians are aged 15 to 29.

Schemes and Initiatives for Skill Development

1. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY): The MSDE’s flagship scheme, launched in 2015, for short term skill training and certification of prior learning.
2. Skill Council for Green Jobs: A sector skill council set up in 2015, promoted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and industry, that sets green job standards.
3. Suryamitra: A programme of the National Institute of Solar Energy under the MNRE that trains youth as solar photovoltaic technicians.
4. National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS): Launched in 2016, it shares part of apprentices’ stipends so that employers take on more trainees.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2023, GS2, 15 marks] Skill development programs have succeed in increasing human resources supply to various sectors. In the context of the statement analyze the linkages between education, skill and employment.”