A Report on the LSSC General Council (GC) Meeting held on 20th March 2018

LSSC held the last GC Meeting for the year 2017-18 on 20th March 2018 at Trident Hotel, Chennai. The meeting was attended by Shri Habib Hussain, Chairman, Leather Sector Skill Council; Shri Mukhtarul Amin, Chairman, CLE; Shri P.R. Aqeel Ahmed, Vice-Chairman, CLE; Shri R. Ramesh Kumar, IAS, CEO, LSSC; Shri Israr Ahmed, Shri V. Noushad, Shri Shafeeq Ahmed, Dr. S. Rajamani, Shri Arun Kumar Sinha, MD, FDDI, Dr. Sanjeev Gupta, CLRI and Prof. Aravendan, NIFT and Shri A.R. Rajesh, Consultant, Leather SSC.

The meeting began with Shri Habib Hussain, Chairman, welcoming the members and seeking approval of the minutes of the previous meeting held on 29th August 2017 at Chennai. The chairman suggested that he would like to increase the frequency of the meetings for better engagement with all the members. Later, he requested Shri R. Ramesh Kumar, IAS, to make a presentation on the operational performance and activities of LSSC.

R.Ramesh Kumar, IAS, informed the members about various achievements of the company and stated that LSSC has 20 Training Partners across India viz. CFTI, FDDI, ILFS, LabourNet who are already empaneled by NSDC. Sharing the impact, he said that LSSC has certified 48000 candidates in Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), 3000 candidates in Short Term Courses under PMKVY, 2000 candidates under Special Projects and plans to increase the number of trainers from existing 528 to 1000 trainers in the coming years. He also mentioned that, at present LSSC has a capacity of 440 assessors to certify to the trained candidates.

Updating the members on state-level projects, he informed that training projects are underway in Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and this is in tune with the directive from Government of India to state skill mission to implement around 75 – 80% of skilling through states. He also briefed the members about the meeting with the Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan along with Shri. K.P. Krishnan IAS, Secretary and Shri Rajesh Agrawal IAS Joint Secretary &  CVO, Shri Asheesh Sharma, IAS, Joint Secretary and Mrs. Rajni Sibal, IAS, Additional Secretary. Shri R.Ramesh Kumar apprised the members about the minister’s keen interest and observations about the sub-sectors in leather and his suggestions to focus on Block and Taluk level for implementing various skilling programs. The minister was impressed with the QPs-NOS developed by LSSC and advised his office to take particular interest in curriculum verification and updates. Going by the export potential of the industry and scope for job creation, he suggested that the sector should considering renaming itself to fashion and footwear since ‘leather’ could limit its aspirational value among youth.

Briefing the members about the IFLADP Project with DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and its goals, Shri R. Ramesh Kumar said that the scheme aims for primary skill development for 4.32 lakh candidates and upskilling of 75, 000 candidates for 3 years. In this context, a proposal has been submitted by LSSC and NSDC to implement Skill upgradation through IFLADP. He mentioned the plan for training of trainers and 150 master trainers through international tie-ups, if needed, at the proposed cost of Rs. 2 lakhs per person for training and overseas exposure.

He also responded to queries from Shri Arun Kumar Sinha, IAS and discussed points made by Dr. Rajamani and Shri Shafeeq Ahmed about international tie-ups for training of trainers.

This was following by a discussion on Special Project under PMKVY awarded to Leather Sector and Shri Mukhtarul Amin, Chairman-CLE as per the MoU signed before the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Initially a target of 50000 candidates was assigned to the project. Later, the allocation of targets for Special Project under PMKVY were  revised according to new norms from NSDC. The members were hopeful that the norms would be relaxed in future to enable setting up of more training centers.

Shri R. Ramesh Kumar, IAS informed that Skill Development Training Programme for SC/ST candidates by LSSCl under the aegis of National SC-ST Hub (NSSH) Scheme of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India in underway to train 500 SC-ST entrepreneurs across India on a pilot basis. The project is being  implemented in 4 states viz. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra for job roles of Stitcher Footwear (LSS/Q2501) – Level 4 and Stitcher Goods & Garments (LSS/Q5501) – Level 4.

Mr. Rajesh Rathnam, Head Client Relations, provided on overview of NAPS and informed the members about the employer-friendly policy with incentives for all the stakeholders. Explaining the benefits of the scheme, he said that under NAPS, employers will get a reimbursement of Rs.1500 per apprentice and the duration of an apprenticeship could be extended to 2 years. He also spoke about the approval of qualifications for job roles like footwear and goods and garments, line supervisor, quality control inspector that are currently available under NAPS. He also stated that NAPS encourages multiple entry-levels and non-ITI candidates who will be awarded National Apprenticeship Certificate (NAC) based on their performance in All India Trade Test (AITT) .

Mr Rathnam also informed the members about RPL Type 4 – Best in Class Employer Scheme that encourages the employers to actively implement the program and award co-branded certificates to the employees, in addition to an incentive or Rs.500 for participation. Since NSDC has assigned a target of 1.5 lakhs to LSSC, many employers, who meet the eligibility criteria are invited to avail this scheme.

Shri Ramesh Kumar concluded his presentation by referring to the meeting with the Minister, when alignment of all courses with NSQF to avoid duplication. He said that, soon a workshop will be held in Delhi to conclude on how the curriculum can be strengthened through collaboration. This new framework will give pathways for students to have cross mobility and recognition for all the programs delivered by the leather and footwear academies. He  emphasised on the upcoming outreach programs to connect with the industry, HR managers, leader in the industry, trustees associations etc and tell them about RPL and NAPS schemes and reaching target of 1.5 lakhs for RPL. With reference to the upcoming portal for placement services, he said the Industry suitably remunerate LSSC to sustain and create trained and certified human capital supply chain.

As the last point on the agenda, Shri Habib Hussain informed the members that Secretarial Audit was conducted by the Shri V. Suresh, Practicing Company Secretary of LSSC for the year 2016 – 17. This was circulated to the members and the chairman sought approval for adoption. The members unanimously adopted the Secretarial Audit Report for the year 2016-2017.

The meeting concluded with the chairman’s proposal to organize the next meeting in June 2018.