Joblessness among engineers

Dr Ashwani Mahajan
Nation may take pride in the fact that we have made significant stride in the field of higher education. If we talk of professional education in engineering and management, we have developed 17 IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and 13 IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) in the country, which are not only of international standards, but have also established their brand globally.
Country has made significant progress in the field of higher education, which is revealed by the fact that enrolment in higher education has increased by 250 per cent in the last 25 years. Technical education has a significant contribution in this development. Today the country possesses a huge infrastructure in the field of technical education, more specifically in engineering education. Our engineering institutes enroll more students than the USA and China combined. Our engineers have made their own place internationally. However, according to a recent finding, today nearly 10 lakh engineering graduates are struggling to find a suitable job for themselves.
According to Nasscom, apex body of IT companies, Indian IT companies, which employ majority of software engineers, are expected to employ 50,000 less engineers this year. Though the argument in the official quarters is that, though companies are employing less people, unemployment amongst engineers is primarily due to the economic slowdown.
But the reality is that, unprecedented increase in the number of engineering institutes, and resulting increase in new graduates in engineering, is the major cause of rising unemployment among engineers. Economy does not have the capacity to employ all the new graduates. Due to limited capability of the IT sector and ever rising number of engineering institutes, nearly two to three lakh engineering graduates fail to get employment and an equal number, though manages to get some job, but not a suitable job, according to their degree. Obviously in this scenario, engineering graduates are getting dismayed. Along with this a large amount of investment in these new engineering institutes is also endangered, as popularity of their courses is diminishing.
Mushrooming of Institutions of Technical Education
According to the regulatory body of technical education AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education), in 2006, there were 1268 engineering institutions in the country, which increased to 3346 by the year 2012. Engineering institutes had only 5.5 lakh seats in 2006, which increased to 14.75 lakh seats, thanks to new institutes and increased intakes by old ones. Mushrooming of engineering colleges in such a short span is putting a question mark on the standards of teaching, quality of students and the infrastructure. With rising number of unemployed engineering graduates, utility of investment in these institutes is also eroding.
Lack of Planning
Though the Planning Commission draws plan for opening of new colleges and institutes under government sector, as a part of overall plan for education, there is total lack of national planning, about how many colleges or institutes are required or should be opened, in different disciplines. Permission is granted to various engineering, polytechnics, management, teacher training, nursing and medical institutions, if they qualify the norms set for the purpose. Sometimes, we do find relaxation or circumvention in the rules. However, there does not exist any national, state or regional level assessment or survey; about the need for human resources, trained in different fields. Opening of new educational institutions has been solely left to the market forces. Greed to earn more by charging hefty fees, has led to the mushrooming of educational institutes. Thanks to establishment of new private sector educational institutes; though students are getting more opportunities to study, but at much higher cost.  Easy availability of education loans, have proved to be a boon to these institutes, as they get students, however, these days, due to declining number of placements, these institutes are not getting sufficient number of students. As a result, many engineering and management institutes are at the verge of closure.
Needed Judicious Manpower Planning
For the development of any nation, it is imperative to have judicious manpower planning, so that education and training of the human resources is provided according to the needs of the country. For the development of agriculture, industry, commerce and other services, we need people with appropriate education and training. We need engineers, managers and technicians for the purpose of industrial development. In the last few years the nation has made rapid development in the field of software, and software companies have made their place in the world. Most of the employees of these software companies are engineers. Up to 2012, these software companies had about 8 lakh employees. Though lesser than software, country has also made some progress in computer hardware too, which has also helped in employment of some engineers.
Progress in the field of software is continuing unabated. According to Nasscom, the IT industry recorded a growth of 21.5 percent in the year 2012-13. This growth has led to rising employment opportunities in this field. But the creation of new jobs is falling short of, number of engineers being produced by our ever rising number of engineering institutes. The result obviously is ever raising unemployment of engineers.
In the past too, the nation has been facing the problem of brain drain. Had the condition been conducive for our educated human resources, in terms of employment opportunities, they would also have been contributing to the development of the country. However, our Indian Diaspora, has not only made India proud due to their proven skills and capabilities, they have also filled our empty foreign exchange reserves and saved the nation from the shortage of valuable foreign exchange. But today we need manpower planning, which could take care of the requirement, and education and training be imparted to our youth according to the needs of the nation, to save the nation from any further brain drain.
Need of the hour is that the government make an assessment, by way of a detailed survey of the need for the institutions of higher education; including medical and colleges, polytechnics, nursing and teacher training. Permission for new educational institutes should be granted based on the requirement of trained manpower in each sector. Due attention be given to the standards of education and quality of infrastructure and the faculty. Nation should not be starved of required manpower and all should get opportunity to learn according to his/her capabilities. Today upper middle class is able to provide education to their off springs, but a majority is still deprived of the education, especially from private sector institutions. We will have to ensure education for all; then only we can ensure inclusive development.

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