New Delhi: Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Civil Aviation reviewed the status of Skill Development in Aviation Sector and the progress being made on developing National Air Cargo Policy, here today. He directed the concerned in the Ministry to come up with a comprehensive development plan for skilling the people in the aviation sector.
During the review meeting, the Minister stated that the demand for aviation skilled personnel has been rising commensurately with the boom in the civil aviation sector witnessed in the last 3-4 years Recognizing this demand and to bolster the Skill India Mission, Shri Suresh Prabhu made the following observations:
- Steps must be taken so as to have skill development centres across all States.
- Institutional strengthening – In the context of training, the existing institutional structure should be strengthened further to ramp up the training. The business model of the Aviation University should be re-looked keeping in mind the vast demand for the human skilled resources in the coming years. As per a study, by 2035, the Indian Civil Aviation sector would require 0.8 to 1 million personnel directly and another 3 million indirectly.
- Training process re-engineering – outline actionable ideas to modify the existing training process to enhance the quality of the output as well as to make the system more efficient
- A comprehensive development plan on skill development should be prepared along with funding related strategies that will aid the capacity building required in the sector
Shri Suresh Prabhu also reviewed the progress being made on developing National Air Cargo Policy. Recognizing the need for increasing air cargo industry size in India, the Sh. Prabhu made the following observations:
- Sufficient land should be earmarked in the upcoming airports for cargo operations.
- Should create air cargo trans-shipment hubs in India – sourcing cargo from neighbouring states and partner countries.
- The policy should aim at creating inter-modal hubs and should have air-sea, air-road, air-inland waterways connectivity
- Geographical location and distinct products related to that location should be kept in mind while developing the cargo policy
Stressing on the need for skilling the people in aviation sector and to have national air cargo policy in place, Shri Prabhu directed the concerned in the Ministry to work on the observations made in the review meeting and come up with actionable items soon.
