US NRI Professor Satinder Dhiman geared job-oriented education to
3 million unemployed youth in Punjab

Chandigarh, January 19, 2005
Express News Service

A CONCLAVE on Education, Capital Management and Employment Generation in service sector was today held where Non-Resident Indian and Indian Corporates participated in discussions over developing avenues in the service sector for the Punjabi youth.

Punjab Minister for Housing and Urban Development Raghunath Sahay Puri, who jointly chaired the inaugural session with Minister for Revenue and NRIs Amarjit Singh, said that the region is ailed by high percentage of unemployed youth despite the fact that one-third of the NRI population was Punjabi. He asked the NRIs to financially aid vocational course in various villages of Punjab.

The highlight of the talk was the keynote address given by Professor Satinder Dhiman, Professor of Management, Woodbury University, USA. Calling the prevalent management education in the country outdated, Dhiman asked the asked the academia to do a reality check and chart out courses which are more quality and value-based.

Pitching the total employment in India at around 35 million in 2002, the speakers concurred that the number of unemployed youth in Punjab was around 3 million.

The panel said the state needs to generate sufficient number of jobs to wipe out the current backlog of unemployment.

Localising the problem of education and unemployment, it was found that despite its economic progression, Punjab is yet to universalise elementary education. Furthermore, the state educational infrastructure was found to be wanting.

As a solution to all the shortcomings, the speakers agreed that the education in the country must be job-oriented and geared towards encouraging students to gain self-employment.

A blue print on Human Resource Development and Employment generation was also released which, if implemented, would create 2 lakh jobs and 1 lakh entrepreneurial ventures.

Deputy Lok Sabha Speaker Charnjit Singh Atwal released a book on Human Resource Development and Service Industry. A web portal for the NRIs was also launched.