Kushal was 1st Runner Up at Construction Week India Awards 2021 in CSR Category
In 1994 I received a phone call from Mr Golani the then President of Builders Association of India that Mr K.P Baney had fallen sick and I was requested to present a paper on skilling of construction workers in the Indian scenario at the IFAWPCA Convention to be held in Seoul.
The said paper was to be presented for the international symposium to be held at Seoul, South Korea (where I had represented Builders’ Association of India) on Education and Training of Technical Manpower and Skilled Workers in India at the International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractor’s Association.
It may be noted that the said presentation was for the Symposium organized by the Contractor’s Association of Korea with CERIK (Construction of Research Institute of Korea) on 24th and 25th Apr 1997 attended by members of 6 countries and also manufacturers like Hyundai and Samsung Daewoo.
I had a few days to prepare the paper which I presented at Seoul, Korea and it was well appreciated and I was further requested to present my thoughts on skilling at Bangkok and Singapore. These countries and companies were looking forward to consider India as a destination for contracts and export of Construction Machinery and with host Koreans looking forward to an experiment for training their skilled and unskilled workers. I met office bearers from Thai Contractors Association and in Bangkok with editor and publisher of Building and Construction Magazine who expressed the strategic importance of publicity in Bangkok as many international construction related companies have an Asian base in Bangkok or Singapore for their operations in India or China.
But as a young Engineer when I joined my father’s contracting business I realized that though being a Gold Medalist from the premier College of Engineering PuneI did not really know much about the site execution modalities site vernacular, sequencing etc and this motivated me to start programmes for Fresh Graduate and Diploma Engineer at the Institute of Engineers Pune and where I had experienced and specialized Faculty in each trade explain the procedure and intricacies of the trade to make Engineers site ready.
In 1997 I was made the President of Abhinav Abhiyantrika Sthapatya Kendra which is primarily into training of 10th to 12th Standard students to learn fundamentals of construction trades so that they could become clerk of works (Mistri) a person who played a pivotal role in the execution and was the crucial entity between the Site Contractors & Engineers.
During my tenure as President of AASK HUDCO headed by V. Suresh was offering funds under Rural Building Programme to set up centres in rural areas to train the youth in various construction trades.
Being impressed by the pioneering work done by Mrs Suman Joag who was the Founder of AASK he sanctioned an amount of Rs 25 lakhs to AASK and Mr Narayan Kanetkar volunteered to give a piece of land on which we set up Rural Building Centre to train the construction workers in Wagholi. The experiment did not receive much initial success.
Further to this the President of Credai Pune Metro Mr Lalit Jain prepared that Credai should start a Management School to train second generation entrepreneurs the nitty gritty of this Real Estate right from interpretation of 7/12 to getting a Completion Certificate of a Project. The Institute was called READ (Real Estate Academy for Developers). This was 2008 and though the idea was unique the 2008 was also the year when real estate was suffering badly due to Swine Flu and other factors and eventually the course and the project was sold to an existing operating College to continue further.
Early in 2009 Kumar Gera was representing Credai on the Board of NSDC. NSDC was a P. P model where Credai had contributed funds. He pitched the idea to the then Credai Pune President Mr Satish Magar to give a proposal to NSDC to give funds to skill construction workers in construction skills. Mr Magar handed the responsibility to me and we submitted a proposal for a grant of 150 crores to train 1 lakh construction workers in 10 years. To understand and plead our case for grant money I was asked to visit North Block Delhi and make a presentation to the Interview Committee of NSDC which had about 10 plus Chief Secretaries of various Ministeries such as HRD, Labour, etc.
When I was asked by the Chairman of the interview committee why we Developers who were wealthy Entrepreneurs needed grant against soft loans. There was an element of sarcasm in her question and they had obviously set their minds to reject our proposal for grant funds to train the workers for 5 skills viz Brick Laying, Tiling, slanting Bar Bending, Shuttering, Plumbing. But on the strong argument that construction workers are 1) migratory 2) are hand to mouth and could not afford to lose their wages and train 3) They being in such short supply they did not see any value in Skilling and Certification and hence Credai Pune with a membership of 400 Credai members out of which 300 had offered their sites for training to make available a workforce of about 2 lakh workers where Credai Skilling Wing which was called KUSHAL could train the workers upgrade skills and certify them. The NSDC gave Credai Kushal a grant of 18.5 Crores to train 20000 workers in 3 years as a pilot project.
In Delhi at the National Conference Mr Satish Magar signed the historic Grant Agreement and we got the 1st Cheque of 10 crores and the story of Kushal started.
Honestly the NSDC and Ministry of Skill Development were all groping in the dark as to how to train workers as it was quite apparent that upskilling could be done after the assessment of existing skills of the worker was done. Kushal helped in evolving a concept called Recognition of Prior Learning-RPL and we developed the course contents the training modules, the training schedules etc. We were fortunate that we were able to get Mr Ramdorai to physically see the skilling that was being done by Kushal impact on the workers, a change in attitude linked with enhancement of their daily wages.
It was at the behest of Shri Ramdorai that I was nominated on the board of CSDCI & headed by Shri Ajit Gulabchand and Credai Kushal paid a pivotal role in changing the training from training in Institutional Buildings to on job training. In Credai Kushal then started training in earnestness created details of every job roles which have now become National Qualification packs. And also experimented with skill competitions to skill specific dressing to improve the working comfort and add aspirational value to the workers.
Two periodicals were published called Kushal Varta which periodically spoke of work done by Kushal team every month and Safal Kushal a Hindi vernacular page that highlighted the achievements of skilled workers which strangely became a very appreciated effort by the workers who would send the publication to their villages with great pride.
The construction worker being migratory a new concept to track their location was developed. A Rs 50 top up time was added to every worker’s mobile who send a preaddressed post card to Kushal about his location pay and other details.
Technology in Training
We utilize State of the Art Mobile Van equipped with Big Screen etc to address large audience which goes from site to site. The Van is equipped with Flat Screen TV, DVD Player, PAS- Public Address System which doubles as audio Output for addressing large crowds, Projector, Pull down Mega-screen (mounted on side of Van) this feature helps address large crowds of 500 coupled with PAS trade film, Films on health, hygiene and safety can be shown-viewed. Trade Videos are in Hindi and English and are prepared in manner which shall be quickly understandable keeping in mind literacy and intellect level of the audience.
As far as having Flat Screen TV inside the Van s it serves the purpose of conducting refresher courses for the Trainer on the go. The Protab a unique audio visual portable aid is used extensively on site for training.
Financial Inclusion
This initiative has helped in inculcating habit of Saving ad Banking created awareness about having funds saved for a medical emergency and/ or for ther children’s education. This scheme was started in 2012 and so far 50000 accounts have been opened.
KPCL
An Annual Feature, a tournament that brings together people from across the spectrum in construction industry. A unique concept to create a bonding between all the stakeholders right from the Developers, Contractor, Trainees is Kushal team, Credai, Estate Agents Association of India, Marathi Bandhkaam Vyavsayik Association Bankers all come together to play the game of cricket at the Pune Club. Formal Indians skipper Chandu Borde conducting the toss for the first KPCL held in January 2013. Sports is a great leveller at KPCL construction workers get an opportunity to rub shoulders with Developers so do Contractors and Estate Agents. The only thing that distinguishes them from each other is the coloured attire which symbolises the team they represent. Unique opportunity for developers to showcase the CSR side as the tournament is sponsored by Developers.
During the course of the next 10 years aggressive training was taken up and the Kushal programme became a recipient of 21 National and International awards namely:
Exit grid
- Kushal was 1st Runner Up at Construction Week India Awards 2021 in CSR Category
- UK India Skill Forum Awards 2011
- CIDC Vishwakarma Awards 2012
- NSDC Awards- Business Innovation Award 2013
- NSDC Awards- Best Compliant Training Partner 2014
- Leapvault CLO Awards in both 2013 and 2014 (Tata Institute of Social Sciences)
- eIndia Award 2013
- Financial Inclusion and Payment System Award 2014 (In CSR Category)
- Assocham India Commendation Certificate on Skilling India 2014-15
- The Golden Globe Tigers Award 2015
- 7th CIDC Vishwakarma Awards 2015
- Government of India e-Governance Award 2014-15
- World Skills Medallion of Excellence in Bricklaying at Sao Paolo 2015.
- World Skills Medallion of Excellence in Bricklaying at Abu Dhabi 2017.
- World Skills Medallion of Excellence in Tiling at Kazan 2019.
Kushalta Diwas 2015
Also during this period a unique concept of having Kushalta Diwas on 4th of July every year was celebrated (4th July- specially because we got a grant of money from NSDC) in which we felicitated the yeomen work done by developer, contractors, and workers in skilling and also t encourage entrepreneurial spirit in them.
World Skill
In 2015 NSDC threw a challenge to Kushal if we could participate in 2 construction skill viz Tiling and Bricklaying at the World Skill Competition being held at Sao Paulo Brazil. And with virtually no Experience and tools we began our journey to train 2 young 21 years boys Parshuram for Brick Laying and Tikamsingh for Tiling. Tikamsingh and Parshuram won a Bronze at World Skill Oceania, New Zealand. Under intense competition wherein 32 countries participated Parshuram was able to win Medallion of Excellence at Sao Paulo Brazil.
We continue that winning streak by winning medallion of excellence in Abu Dhabi for Bricklaying in 2017 and medallion of excellence in tiling in 2019 at Kazan making Kushal one of only organization that has won medallion of excellence in 3 consecutive World Skills.
Under intense competition wherein 32 countries participated Parshuram was able to win Medallion of Excellence at Sao Paolo Brazil.
We continued that winning streak by winning medallion of excellence in Abu Dhabi for Brick Laying in 2017 and medallion of excellence in Tiling in 2019 at Kazan making Kushal one of only Organization that has won medallion of excellence in 3 consecutive World Skills.
