Tech manpower shortage worries HRD ministry

NEW DELHI: There are only 68 seats in technical degree courses for every lakh of population in the country — in Bihar, it’s three for every lakh; in Assam, it’s four, West Bengal 24 and so on.

As India races to become a knowledge hub, it’s feeling the pinch of not having enough scientific and engineering manpower. Worse still, it doesn’t have the infrastructure to produce more technical manpower. Worried about this, Union HRD minister Arjun Singh has written to teh CMs the 12 most laggard states, asking them to shape up to meet the challenge. Technical manpower shortage has been an area of concern for the industry and government.

A review of availability of seats in degree and diploma-level technical education courses revealed that the national average was 68 degree and 31 diploma-level seats in technical education institutions per lakh of population. In 12 major states, the availability of both degree and diploma-level seats is way below the national average.

The states targeted for urgent action include Bihar, which has three degree-level seats and four diploma-level seats in technical institutes per lakh of population. In Assam, it’s 4 and 6, respectively.

Jharkhand, West Bengal, HP, Chhattisgarh, UP, Rajasthan, and Orissa are being asked to shape up. The absence of enabling infrastructure could explain these low numbers. India has only 3.5 science and engineering personnel for every 1,000, as against 110 in Japan, 45.9 in South Korea and 76 in Israel.