Odisha: The Indian Plumbing Skills Council (IPSC), in partnership with Hindware Home (HSIL), the makers of Hindware brand of plumbing products, today inaugurated an Advanced Plumbing Lab at the Pattamundai Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Kendrapada, Odisha. The new lab marks Skill India’s successful partnership with Corporate India to boost skilling in the plumbing sector as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Skill India’ Mission and is expected to impact estimated 10,000 beneficiaries in Odisha.
The new plumbing lab will work towards developing highly skilled manpower for the Indian Plumbing Industry. Present on the occasion of the inauguration as Chief Guests were Hon’ble Minister, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and MSME and Dr. R.K Somany, Chairman and Managing Director, HSIL Limited.
Constructed by HSIL’s Corporate Social Responsibility Foundation, the new lab will offer advanced industry-oriented courses to train plumbing manpower on modern plumbing methods and help them learn of new products, installation practices, services, and maintenance. The lab aims to bridge the gap between conventional plumbing and modern plumbing and it will help increase the candidates’ employability skills. In addition to it, the training at the lab will include entrepreneurial skills, which will help in bringing out the Nano-Entrepreneurs within the candidates. There will be various skilling modules run through this lab, i.e., Short Term Training, Recognition of Prior Learning, Bridge Training for the existing workforce and many more.
Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, commented, “Odisha has always been known world-wide for its skills marking its stunning architectures, history, dialects, vibrant art music and dance forms. On one hand it is arts like Pattachitra (Cloth Painting), Rock Paintings, Silver Filigree, Sand Art, Applique Work, Brass and Dhokra works that have claimed fame worldwide, while on the other it is its workforce, specially the plumbing community which is now working across geographies. Odisha’s youth has great potential and the right aptitude for knowledge and training. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of a $5 trillion economy can only be achieved if we continue to invest in our youth and promote skill development so that we can reap our demographic dividend to the best.”
“Over the past few years we have been seeing greater participation of private companies in the skilling initiatives of the government. This is a very heartening development as it is only through such kind of collaborations with industry will we be able to succeed in our mission. This initiative will definitely boost the technical know-how of the work-force in the industry and the academia giving them employment opportunities in the plumbing segment,”said Dr. Pandey.
“Our Hon’ble Prime Minister has emphasised on the critical need for water conservation and has recently announced the Jal Shakti Abhiyan which is a time-bound, mission-mode water conservation campaign. Having skilled plumbers is one small contribution to the water resource management exercise being undertaken by our government,” he further added.
Commenting on the occasion, Dr. R.K Somany, Chairman and Managing Director, HSIL Limited said, “We are committed towards the Government’s ‘Skill India’ initiative and are focused on empowering the resources in the Indian plumbing Industry. We are constantly engaged with the external ecosystem to bring effective and impactful learning models. Our new initiative with the Indian Plumbing Skills Council at Pattamundai ITI is a firm step in that direction. I am confident the rigorous training and quality of the module will help in boosting the competency and make the workforce industry-ready.”
Odisha state continues to be the main base of plumbers and are known for their plumbing expertise. Pattamundai is famous for its plumbing community and in the district, almost every household has at least one member working in the plumbing trade.
The plumbing sector in India is highly unorganized, contractual and migratory and its various diversified sub-segments such as contractors, manufacturers, and consultants were not represented by any organisation. IPSC was launched to bridge the gap between the skilled demand and supply of manpower and has been consistently offering excellence in vocational proficiency, backed by holistic skill development for the plumbing community to help reduce this skill deficit. Currently, IPSC has approx. 230 training centers, 185 certified trainers and 77 certified assessors across India. IPSC has been working continuously to engage the industry towards the Skill India Mission amongst other important activities pertaining to formalizing the skilling eco-system in the Indian Plumbing Sector.
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