Following the central government’s vision to make India skillful and create employment opportunities for everyone, the Indian Plumbing Skills Council under the Ministry of Skill Development is organising National Plumbing Skill Conclave and Skill Mela in Delhi on October 22 and 23. The two day event to be held at NSIC Exhibition Ground, Kalka Ji, Delhi, would be inaugurated by the minister of skill development & entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy on October 22. The event would be attended by more than 2000 plumbers, architects, consultants, manufacturers and government bodies. The conclave aims at providing a platform for the plumbers to showcase their talents, learn new skills and technology, interact with industry experts and get due recognition from authorised bodies and government.
Commenting on the Skill Mela, Major General (Retired) P K Chaddha, officiating CEO, Indian Plumbing Skills Council said, “The Plumbing industry faces the mammoth challenge of huge gap between the supply and demand of skilled workforce. A very small percentage of the plumbing workforce is actually skilled in India. It becomes our duty as plumbing professionals, members of the Indian plumbing industry and other various plumbing related organisations and associations to ensure that skilled and certified manpower in adequate number is provided across industries using plumbing skills to raise plumbing standards in India to global levels. About 90 percent of the plumbing industry workforce in India is not professionally trained. Most of the skill learning in the industry happens through unstructured, on-the job training (OJT)”.
In India we are striving to match the standards and change the mind-set towards plumbers because a plumber is a “Nation’s Water Supply Protector”. A plumber is the first soldier in the line of defense against diseases. Through this Skill Mela & Conclave we are creating different types of competitions among plumbers and will select 6 teams from here and 6 teams from Hyderabad event. Out of these teams, one winning team will participate in the World Skills Competition which will be held at Abu Dhabi from October 14 to 19, 2017,” he added.
Lack of professionally trained plumbers is a major drawback for the country’s construction and related sectors. With the objective of addressing these issues, IPSC is making efforts to bring the skill levels of our country to global standards through such events.
With rapid mechanisation of Plumbing/Plumbing related industry, it is important that skilling of manpower focuses on the latest technologies and equipment. IPSC endeavours to create National Occupational Standards (NOS), Development of Training Contents and curriculum, develop the job roles which are in demand in India and globally and also to give the recognition to the Plumbing sector as an individual trade as not the sub segment of construction.
Plumbers and contractors are required in large numbers in the industries such as construction be it for Housing/Commercial, Water Treatment, Gas Supply, Fire Safety etc. The Indian plumbing industry (manufactured products) is estimated at over Rs. 20,000 Crore (G.I, PVC, CPVC & others) and growing at over 15 percent CAGR.