ABPMJAY: A game-changer in healthcare

 With more than 18 crore golden cards having been issued nationwide so far, Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY scheme has considerably improved accessibility, availability and affordability of healthcare and medicines in India

Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) is a health insurance scheme launched by the Govt. of India with an aim of moving closer towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and providing health insurance cover to about 100 million poor and vulnerable citizens of India. This flagship scheme provides an insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalizations, with no cap on family size and the services are portable all across the country. This scheme was launched by the Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi on September 23^rd, 2018 as a progressive step towards achieving UHC in India. So far more than 18 crore Ayushman cards have been issued nationwide under this scheme. Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted on May 13^th, 2022 that under this scheme, more than 3.2 crore people have availed the benefits of free hospitalization and free medicines worth an amount of Rs. 37,398 crores. This scheme has two interlinked components viz., Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). While on one hand HWCs are intended to progressively expand access to comprehensive primary health care, free essential medicines as well as diagnostics services, on the other hand, PM-JAY aims to provide financial risk protection for secondary and tertiary care to bottom 40% of India’s population besides ensuring improved access to good quality healthcare services through a combination of public and private empaneled providers for everyone without facing any financial hardships. Around 1350 medical and surgical packages are covered under this scheme which include almost all secondary and most of the tertiary care procedures. As a result of Ayushman Bharat scheme access including availability and affordability of medicines and healthcare in India has drastically improved.

As per WHO-World Medicines Situation Reports of 2004 and 2011, almost 65% of Indian population lacked access to medicines during that period. The average cost per hospitalization at present in our country is Rs. 20,000 which is more than annual consumer expenditure of nearly half of our population. Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on health in India is believed to be 62.6% of total healthcare expenditure which is one of the highest in the world and nearly thrice the global average of 20%. OOPE on medicines alone accounts for 70% of total out-of-pocket expenditure on health which is more than twice that of consultation fees and diagnostic services. In India more than 300 million people face catastrophic expenditures and around 50 million people (nearly 4% of total population) are pushed below poverty line every year on account of these out-of-pocket expenditures on health. One of the main reasons for this has been the limited access to healthcare services in public sector which means that the medicines and other healthcare services were either not available or not affordable to 65% of Indian population. Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY was launched with an aim to protect the population against these very financial hardships and catastrophic expenditures on healthcare and medicines. This scheme has successfully averted these disastrous consequences for a large segment of more than 1.3 crore population of India. As a result of AB-PMJAY scheme the access to healthcare and medicines has considerable improved in India now that has been duly acknowledged by reputed, scientific, international journals like Lancet, BMJ etc.

Unlike previous UHC schemes like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Employees Health Insurance Scheme (EHIS) and the Senior Citizens Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIC), the AB-PMJAY has no cap on family size and age. The identification of beneficiaries under this scheme is being done on the basis of socio-economic and caste census (SECC) of 2011. The centre–state financing mode is same as that of the National Health Mission. Various states running similar schemes have been given an option to either merge with PMJAY or run it in a parallel mode. Unlike previous UHC schemes, AB-PMJAY covers larger population, provides more comprehensive benefit package and incorporates a wider network of hospitals for healthcare delivery. HWCs have been upgraded to provide wider range of pre-emptive, preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative healthcare services including treatment and services for non-communicable diseases as well as chronic communicable diseases like tuberculosis. These services have been expanded in view of India’s high out-of-pocket expenditures. The union budget of 2022-2023 has allocated Rs. 6412 crores for AB-PMJAY whereas an amount of Rupees 6400 crores was allocated last year. Further an allocation of Rs. 5156 crores has been made for the newly announced PM-AB Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) in October 2021 with a view to strengthen the health infrastructure of the country in a mission mode and improve primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services. This way AB-PMJAY is receiving a substantial financial package by the Govt. of India for its successful implementation. As on 21st March 2022, a total of 74,947 AB-HWCs were operational which is set to reach a target of 1.5 lakh by December, 2022.

AB-PMJAY was introduced in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir on December 1, 2018, by the Govt. of India. Earlier this scheme was meant to provide health coverage of about 5 lakh rupees per year to each family member of the eligible household that was below poverty line for tertiary and secondary care hospitalization. However, on December 26, 2020 Govt. of India made this scheme universal in J&K under the revised title of Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojana Sehat. As per the data obtained from State Health Agency (SHA) of J&K, number of eligible families covered under this scheme as on September, 2021 were 5,97,801 besides additional families numbering 14, 56,497, thus providing coverage to about 98% of eligible families in J&K. As per official figures under this scheme 33.70 lakh golden or sehat cards have been issued in J&K among 9.57 lakh families out of a total of 14.56 lakh families that are eligible to be covered under this scheme. Since the launch of this scheme in J&K, around 60,594 patients have been treated through 218 empaneled hospitals and an amount of Rs. 60.12 crores has been paid against a total of 123986 claims made. The State Health Agency of J&K has also started an initiative by the name of ‘Gaon Gaon Ayushman’ to reach out to the last mile villages that remain cut off from the rest of the world due to inclement weather conditions so as to percolate the benefits of the scheme down to every beneficiary. In order to ensure hassle-free registration of all eligible beneficiaries under the scheme, the State Health Agency has set up a network of more than 8000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) and virtual learning environment (VLE) Centres in villages for ensuring 100% registration besides awareness activities at the grassroots level in association with PRI representatives and ASHA workers.

Various scientific studies on AB-PMJAY have reported mixed responses on financial risk protection by this scheme. It has been observed that high value claims of greater than Rs. 30,000 and very high value claims of greater than Rs. 1,00,000 make up 32% and 9% of PMJAY claim payouts respectively. This is indicative of the fact that this scheme has enabled access to services that would otherwise be out-of-pocket or catastrophic to the individuals. However, PMJAY does not cover out-patient services that account for around 60% to 70% of the total OOPE in India that needs to be considered in future after its successful coverage among all hospitalized patients. In a retrospective study by Khan A et al (2020, 2021) conducted among 160 patients registered at Ayushman Bharat cell of a Srinagar-based tertiary care hospital namely SKIMS between 26th December, 2020 and 20th February, 2021, every patient was found to have received the benefits of the scheme as a result which they had to pay nothing for their hospitalization and there was no need for them to sell their assets or borrow money for treatment thus bringing the prevalence of distress financing to zero level. This was found to be quite opposite to the observations made by the same authors at the same centre before the launch of this scheme wherein prevalence of distress financing among cancer and chronic kidney disease patients was found to be more than 70%. Similarly, several other studies from different parts of the country have reported findings in appreciation of this scheme though several concerns like the number of hassles/formalities involved for patients and delays in expediting payments to service providers have been expressed as well.

One of the major objectives of the AB PM-JAY is to reduce OOPE and provide financial risk protection against catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) to all its citizens. Secondary and tertiary care accounts for nearly one-third of total OOPE. Therefore, OOPE cannot be reduced only by covering secondary and tertiary services, although, reduction in the incidence of CHE due to sudden hospitalization can be achieved. As India moves on its path towards Universal Health Coverage, emphasis needs to be laid upon reduction of financial burden as a result of OOPE in ambulatory or outpatient care by extending the insurance cover under PM-JAY to out-patients too in due course of time. Further in order to make this scheme long-lasting and sustainable for all times to come, govt. needs to pool available funds from all sources including budgetary allocations, employers, households, individuals, insurance companies and NGOs and thereby derive a suitable mix of trade-off between the extent of population to be covered, extent of services to be provided and the extent of costs to be borne by the govt. though extreme care should be taken not to surrender it to private insurance companies or profit making organizations since that will kill the basic essence and spirit of this scheme. A nominal cess of 2 or 3 percent on total taxable income on account of services to be provided under this scheme could also be helpful in making this scheme sustainable and successful in future, whose ultimate aim is to enforce social solidarity and ensure social security to all citizens of the country by enhancing their access to quality medicines and healthcare services.

(Author teaches at the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kashmir)

Coverage, utilization and impact of Ayushman Bharat Scheme on access to medicines and healthcare in India

 Shafiqa Rasool, Mohammad Ishaq Geer*

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 

University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar-190006, J&K

*For Correspondence: Prof. Mohammad Ishaq Geer (migeer@uok.edu.in)

Abstract

Ayushman Bharat (AB) is a government sponsored health insurance scheme that is aimed to cover about 100 million poor and vulnerable people in India. It provides benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year with no cap on family size and the services are portable across the country. This scheme was launched by the Govt. of India in the year 2018 as a progressive step towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It has two interlinked components, namely Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). The former aims to upgrade sub-centres and primary health centres to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare to the population whereas the latter is a national, publicly-funded health insurance (PFHI) scheme covering secondary and tertiary care hospitalization for the most deprived 40 percent population of the country. Around 1350 medical and surgical packages are covered under this scheme which include about all secondary and most of the tertiary care procedures. As a result of Ayushman Bharat scheme access including availability and affordability of medicines in India has drastically improved.

Introduction

Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on health in India is 62.6% of total health expenditure which is one of the highest in the world and nearly thrice of global average of 20.5%. More than two-third of this OOPE is paid on consultation fees and medicines followed by diagnostic tests. In India more than 300 million people face catastrophic expenditures and around 50 million people are pushed into poverty every year on account of out-of-pocket expenditures (OOPE) on health. One of the main reasons for this is the limited access to healthcare services in public sector. The average cost per hospitalization is Rs. 20,000 which is more than annual consumer expenditure of nearly half of our population (1). OOP expenditure on medicines alone is high and accounts for 70% of total out-of-pocket expenditure which is more than twice that of consultation fees and diagnostic services (2).

Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY was launched with an aim to protect the population against these very financial hardships and has successfully averted these disastrous consequences for more than 1.3 crore population of India. As per WHO-World Medicines Situation Report of 2004, 65% of Indian population lacked access to medicines at that time (3) but as a result of AB-PMJAY scheme the access to medicines has considerable improved in India.

Coverage and utilization of health services under AB-PMJAY

Ayushman Bharat Mission has been advanced as the prime instrument for achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Unlike previous schemes like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme, the AB-PMJAY has no cap on family size and age (4). The identification of the beneficiaries under this scheme is being done on the basis of the Socio-economic and caste census (SECC), 2011. The centre–state financing mode is same as in the National Health Mission. Indian states running similar schemes have been given an option to merge with PMJAY or run it in a parallel manner.

AB-PMJAY covers larger population, provides more comprehensive benefit package and incorporates a wider hospital network for healthcare delivery. The HWCs are committed to provide wider range of preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative healthcare services including treatment and services for non-communicable diseases and chronic communicable diseases like tuberculosis. These services were expanded keeping in view India’s high OOP expenditure. Government of India has allocated Rs. 3,200 crore and also envisages contribution of private sector in the form of corporate social responsibility (5,6). As of 21 March 2022, a total of 74,947 AB-HWCs were operational which is set to reach the target of 1.5 lakh by December 2022.

The other component of Ayushman Bharat covers larger number of population. The number of people benefited are double the number benefited from previously launched health schemes. Once fully functional the benefits of HWCs are expected to be available to 100% of population in India. HWCs together with AB-NHPS will be synergistic in providing healthcare needs across all three levels of care and will also help in increasing accessibility, availability and affordability of healthcare and medicines (7).

Impact of AB PMJAY on access to health services

Various studies on AB-PMJAY have reported mixed responses on financial risk protection. High value of greater than Rs. 30,000 and very high value claim of greater than Rs. 1,00,000 make up 32% and 9% of PMJAY claim payouts respectively. This is indicative of the fact that this scheme has enabled access to services that would otherwise be OOP or catastrophic to the individual. However, PMJAY does not cover out-patient services that account for around 60% to 70% of the total OOPE in India (8).

In a retrospective study conducted among 160 patients registered at Ayushman Bharat cell of a Srinagar-based tertiary care hospital namely SKIMS between 26th December, 2020 and 20th February, 2021, every patient was found to have received the benefits of the scheme as a result which they had to pay nothing for their hospitalization and there was no need for them to sell their assets or borrow money for treatment thus bringing the prevalence of distress financing to zero level. This was found to be quite contrary to studies conducted by the same authors at the same centre before the launch of the scheme wherein prevalence of distress financing among cancer and chronic kidney disease patients was found to be more than 70% (9,10,11).

Discussion

India, the sixth largest economy and largest democracy of the world has been improving its health-care facilities slowly since last few decades. India has made considerable progress in reducing maternal and child mortality under the national health mission. Ten to fifteen years ago communicable diseases alongwith maternal and nutritional disorders contributed to the major disease burden. Doubling the life expectancy from 31 years in 1947, when India got its independence from the British rule to 68.3 years in 2017, the Indian government has been doing a fairly good job; however, it is still quite less as compared to the western world. In terms of health-care access and quality India still stands at 145th position among 195 countries, lagging way behind than most of the countries like its neighbour Bangladesh which stands at 133rd position (12).

Conclusion

As India moves towards the path of UHC, the focus should be on reduction of burden due to non-hospitalization care. High OOP spending on medicine needs to be addressed. Use of medicines should be rationalized and rational prescribing encouraged. To significantly reduce OOPE, the provision for free medicines should be increased (The Indian Express, 2021). The utilization of manpower under Ayushman Bharat has been proved to be successful by way of engagement and potential usage of nearly 1 million ASHA workers under the National Health Mission (NHM). The programme provides an innovative initiative of building a highly impactful health model with low cost alongwith the utilization of skilled workforce. All these facts prove that Ayushman Bharat is a boon for the country (13).

References

1.Bhardwaj S. A study of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY as an enabler of social upliftment. International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Literature 2019: 7(3); 559-564.
2.  The long road to Universal health coverage. The Indian Express dated April 24, 2022. (Available at: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/the-long-road-to-universal-health-coverage/) (Accessed on 24.04.2022).
3.    World Health Organization. (‎2004)‎. The world medicines situation, 2nd ed. World Health Organization. WHO/EDM/PAR/2004.5. Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/68735/WHO_EDM_PAR_2004.5.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (Accessed on 24.04.2022).
4.   Indrani Gupta, Samik Chowdhury, Abhijit Roy, Ramandeep. Ayushman Bharat: Costs and Finances of the Prime Minister’s Jan Arogya Yojana. Economics and Political Weekly 2020 (4): 36; 56-64.
5. Bajpai N, Wadhwa M. Health and wellness centers: expanding access to comprehensive primary healthcare in India, ICT Indian Working Paper No. 13 dated July, 2019. (Available at: https://csd.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/docs/ICT%20India/Papers/ICT_India_Working_Paper_13.pdf) (Accessed on 24.04.2022).
6. Vitsupakorn S, Bharali I, Kumar P, Yamey G, Mao W. Early experiences of PM-JAY in India: A narrative review. Duke Global Working Paper: 30 march 2021. (Available at: https://centerforpolicyimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2021/02/PMJAY_FINAL.pdf) (Accessed on 24.04.2022)
7. Lahariya C. ‘Ayushman Bharat’ Program and Universal Health Coverage in India. Indian Pediatrics 2018:55;495-506.
8. Garg S, Bebarta KK, Tripathi N. Performance of India’s national publicly funded health insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogaya Yojana (PMJAY), in improving access and financial protection for hospital care: findings from household surveys in Chhattisgarh state. BMC Public Health (2020) 20:949 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09107-4).
9. Abas Khan, Farooq Jan, Haroon Rashid. Prevalence of distress financing and catastrophic health expenditure among end stage renal disease patients attending a tertiary care teaching hospital of north India. Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research 2020: 32(4); 25133-35.
10. Abas Khan, Farooq A Jan, Haroon Rashid, Arshad Manzoor Najmi, Imtiyaz Ahmed Wani. Prevalence of distress financing and catastrophic health expenditure in cancer patients: a study from India. European Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Research 2020;7(12); 384-386.
11. Abas Khan, Yatoo, G. H., Mohd Sarwar Mir. Impact of Ayushman Bharat scheme on the prevalence of distress financing and catastrophic health expenditure among patients attending a tertiary care teaching hospital. Rivista Medicine 2021:1;11-15.
12. Mehta V. Ayushman Bharat Initiative: India’s answer to provide Universal Health Care. Journal of Medical Research and Innovation 2019;3(1):e000148
13. Venkatesh U, Mogan KA, Mukesh Kumar, Preety Doley, Jugal Kishore. Ayushman Bharat is a boon for the country. Motion International Journal of Preventive, Curative & Community Medicine 2019:5(3);31-35.

Preparing Institutional Development Plan (IDP): First step towards implementation of National Education Policy-2020

IDP is a documentary framework through which higher educational institutions can develop their own indicators, fix their achievable targets, prioritize their actions, assess their financial needs and overcome their constraints towards implementation of NEP-2020

It has been almost two years since National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) was launched by the Govt. of India on July 29, 2020, outlining the renewed vision of India's new education system and strengthening its five pillars of Affordability, Accessibility, Quality, Equity and Accountability. Innumerable seminars, symposia, workshops and conferences have since been held all across India with a view to fully understand the provisions, goals and objectives of the new policy. Now it is time for all higher education institutions (HEIs) across India to devise their strategic action plan for the implementation of the policy in letter and spirit. Formulation of Institutional Development Plan (IDP) is one of the first steps towards practical implementation of this policy that has been necessitated for all HEIs in the policy document itself. IDP lays down the roadmap for implementation of various provisions of NEP-2020 in a time-bound manner outlining the needs, constraints, targets and timelines for a particular HEI. IDP seeks to identify achievable targets of a HEI in terms of curricular reforms, infrastructural development, pedagogical innovation, augmentation of human resource, administrative reforms, effective institutional governance, evaluation and examination reforms, research innovation, skill development, community outreach programmes, student exchange programmes, stakeholder involvement, partnering with skill hubs, industry-academia interaction, innovation and start-up incubation, promotion of open learning and workflow automation. While NEP-2020 remains same for all HEIs, IDPS will be customized to their individual needs and specific requirements based on their existing status and future goals.

For optimum results a bottom-up approach is suggested for the compilation of IDPs in consultation with various departments, centres and schools of a university or a college. Individual departments can furnish the requisite information on a prescribed format covering all aspects of NEP-2020 after convening their departmental committee meetings, that in turn can be used to consolidate and finalize an IDP for the whole university or college. Bottom-up approach is preferred because faculty of a particular department is the best judge of its needs, aspirations and future programmes. Therefore, brainstorming at the departmental level can be followed by discussions at the level of schools under the stewardship of deans and subsequently by final deliberations at the central level under the chairmanship of institutional heads in order to arrive at the final IDPs. Viewpoints of scholars, students and administrative staff too need to be factored in while projecting departmental needs for preparing IDPs, based on which they can develop initiatives and monitor their progress in achieving the goals set therein. This way most essential and pressing needs and demands of each department and centre could be duly addressed in the IDPs making it inclusive and all-encompassing in nature ensuring wider participation of all stakeholders of the HEI. This way IDPs can be used to suitably assess their human resource requirements such as faculty shortages, ICT related technology requirements, physical infrastructure for teaching-learning, continuous professional development, student support as well as to address the issues related to contractual teachers, tenure track and guest faculty, promotion besides facilitating lateral transfer of HEIs from autonomous to teaching to research universities. The IDP has to be initially prepared for a period of five years and shall also contain a description of measures for sustainability beyond this period. Therefore, the goals need to be categorised as short, mid- and long-term goals. 

The IDP is sought to be a living document, evolving as the strategic planning capacity of the institution increases and shall become the basis for further public funding as evidenced from the policy statements. Various steps involved in developing IDPs are as under: 

1. Clearly define the vision and mission of the department/centre/school.
2. In light of their vision and mission, carry out a needs assessment based on wide consultations with all its faculty members to identify the goals, priorities and commitments of the department/centre/school.
3. Quantify the department’s goals using tailored indicators and time-bound targets on the basis of short, mid and long-term goals.
4. Based on their goals and priorities identify capacity (human, infrastructural and financial capacity and needs) and organizational gaps and steps to bridge these gaps.
5. Develop annual activity plans that result, sequentially, in achieving the goals of the department/centre/school. These activity plans will also serve as a tool for monitoring the implementation of the IDP (Ref.NEP-2020). 

IDPs will describe the department’s vision and expectations for its future, embodying where the department wants to be in consonance with the provisions of National Education Policy-2020 over the next one, three, five and ten years. One of the first steps towards developing IDPs includes conducting “Needs Assessment” of the department/centre/school concerned that mainly includes financial assessment of some of the goals enumerated above. Apart from conducting “Needs Assessment” every department/centre/school has to conduct “Constraints Assessment” for achieving their goals besides conducting their “Gap Analysis” and “SWOC analysis” that includes an assessment of their individual strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. 

In the light of NEP-2020 the departments/centres/schools of colleges and universities can strategize their actions for arriving at a comprehensive and robust framework in the form of IDPs in order to ensure that they have the necessary state-of-art academic infrastructure, including technology-enabled learning ecosystem that is required for effective execution of teaching-learning activities and other objectives of NEP. Accordingly, all departments/centres/schools need to furnish details about their goals, targets, indicators and plans for the accomplishment of following:

 

—  Multidisciplinary Educational Research University (MERU)

—  Contribution towards increasing the GER to 50% by 2035

—  Transformation into research intensive university

—  Instituting Academic Credit Bank

—  Offering 4-year multidisciplinary Bachelor's and/or integrated Master’s degree programmes

—  Establishing start-up/innovation incubation centre

—  Provide exposure to vocational education

—  Establishing smart classrooms and fully automated libraries

—  Providing residential/hostel facilities to staff and students

—  Internationalization (attracting foreign students) of education 

As such, all departments/centres/schools of a university or a college need to take following necessary measures for evolving their departmental IDPs:

 

1. Carry out a situation analysis to identify gaps, barriers, prospects, challenges of the department/centre/school at present.
2. Clearly stipulate short, mid and long-term goals to be achieved over the next one, three and five years respectively.
3. Draw and define a roadmap for action during the next one, three and five years by prioritizing areas and fixing definite timelines for accomplishment of various goals and targets.
4. Identify areas, devise plans and formulate blueprints for human resources development
5. Identify areas and formulate blueprints for curriculum development
6. Chalk out a plan of action for institutional capacity building and infrastructure development over the next 5 to 10 years.
7. Devise objectives, plans and timelines for attainment of goals towards creating state-of-art facilities.
8. Assign roles and responsibilities to faculty members and stakeholders.
9. Monitor progress and evaluate actions at the end of each year.
10. Revise the action plan based on the results and feedback obtained. 

Focus of each department/centre/school has to be on following key objectives while preparing their IDPs:

 

v Revisiting its vision and mission statements in tune with NEP20

v Re-examining and rethinking its future goals, objectives and plans of action

v Redesigning and remodelling its course curriculum in consonance with various provisions of NEP-2020

v Re-assessing its academic and research infrastructure needs

v Restructuring and re-orienting its human resource

v Revamping the organizational structure in tune with NEP-2020

v Reviving and re-energizing its faculty improvement programmes and student welfare measures and practices

v Refurbishing its student and teacher amenities and other facilities

v Re-aligning and repositioning its march towards growth, progress and development

v Contributing towards redeeming and restoring our glorious past in education 

In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir there are 154 government degree colleges, 208 private colleges and 25 professional colleges affiliated to various universities functioning in J&K and 100 new colleges are being established soon to enrol an additional 1.5 lakh students. We have 8 government universities, 3 semi-government universities besides, NIT, IIM, IIT, SKIMS, NIFT, IIMC, 7 autonomous institutions of national importance in J&K. Besides, two cluster universities have been constituted by pooling the resources of 10 prestigious colleges of J&K. Kashmir University is one of the top 50 universities on NIRF ranking while Jammu University ranks 52 and SMVDU 83rd in engineering discipline. Both the state universities are A⁺⁺ while IUST and SMVDU have B⁺⁺ NAAC ranking whereas 48 colleges are NAAC accredited. Under RUSA, Rs.500 crore have been made available for two more cluster universities, two professional colleges, five degree colleges and for the upgradation of infrastructure in 42 colleges. Sarva Shiksha Abyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abyan (RMSA) are two major programmes launched by the government to lay a strong foundation for primary and secondary education. However, in the sphere of higher education, RUSA aims at improving access, equity and quality education. Jammu University is in the process of establishing research clusters as Centres of Excellence in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Centre for Bio-Technology, Centre for Nanotechnology and Material Science, Centre for Climate Change and Sustainable Development and Centre for Global Corporate Governance whereas Kashmir University is establishing Centre for Advanced Instrumentation for Research and Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation (CIRI). An amount of Rs.30 crores is being spent on starting vocational courses in colleges affiliated to both the universities so as to foster employability, innovation and entrepreneurship. Besides, IIM Jammu has been taken as a partner in this area for mentoring and hand-holding for linkages with industries and corporate sectors. So far 40 girl hostels have been established to accommodate 7000 students for equitable participation from hilly and remote regions where girls drop out ratio is significant. Besides, 3.50 lakh students have been enrolled for higher education. GER in J&K is 30.6% which is above the national average of 26% with the distinct feature that girls outnumber boys. Under Technical Education Quality Initiatives (TEQIP), Rs. 40 crores have been provided for professional universities (BGBSU, IUST, SMVDU and GCETs) with an increase of 54 M.Tech. seats in computer, mechanical, electronics and communication engineering for the session 20-21. 

In spite of such landmark progress and developments in the field of higher education there is a lot more that needs to be done. Many newly established degree college in rural areas are still complaining of acute shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff, lack of well-equipped laboratories and libraries, paucity of hostel and transportation facilities besides lack of funds for developmental activities. Such colleges too can project their needs and prepare their IDPs in tune with their shortcomings and requirements and submit the same to higher education department of J&K so that they can be considered for adequate funding with a view to align them to the goals and objectives of new education policy. Once strategic Institutional Development Plans are formulated and submitted by the HEIs to the higher education department and UGC, it will become easier for them to secure substantial financial support and execute the same in a time bound manner. Since public funding to HEIs has been made subservient to the submission of IDPs there is no choice for HEIs but to prepare and submit the same as early as possible. Nevertheless, once submitted IDPs will not be full and final for all times to come. They can be periodically reviewed, revised and resubmitted in tune with continually evolving needs and emerging challenges of the HEIs. However, it is important to take lead and initiate the process of their compilation in compliance with guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission for their preparation. It goes without saying that IDP is the key towards successful implementation of NEP-2020 by HEIs.

 

(With inputs from NEP-2020 document. Author teaches at the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences and holds the additional charge of Director, CCPC, University of Kashmir)

Societal impact and relevance of research

Every piece of research irrespective of its discipline needs to have either social, cultural, economic, environmental, ecological, legal, behavioural, demographic, ethnic or humanistic implications on the society at large 

Universities are established with a primary mandate to create new knowledge through quality and cutting-edge research and through such research make a tangible and sustainable impact on the society. It is imperative for every piece of research irrespective of the field in which it is undertaken to have a significant societal impact in terms of some kind of scientific, social, cultural, economic, environmental, ecological, political, spiritual, technological, legal, behavioural, demographic, ethnic or humanistic implications on the society at large. Research devoid of all of such implications can justifiably be rubbished as good for nothing research. By societal impact of research, we imply the evidence-based improvements experienced by individuals and societies as a result of the transference of findings, outcomes and benefits of good quality research. Societal impact is denoted by the extent to which research contributes to and creates an understanding of the development of various social and economic sectors such as industry, academia, polity, governance, policymaking, healthcare etc. It means the objectives that they aim to achieve and to resolve some of the most intriguing issues, problems and concerns of the society like climate change, food security, sustainable energy, diseased population, equity and social justice, social inclusion and cohesion. Public funding in research is always made on the assumption that it would inevitably have a positive impact on areas such as our means of communication, modes of working, shelter, clothing and food, our methods of transportation and even the length and quality of our life itself. 

As a result of drastic decline in the funding available for undertaking any kind of research clubbed with a constant rise in the global demand for undertaking problem-based, goal-oriented, demand-driven, context-specific, translational, need-based, locally and socially relevant research, the necessity and demand for enhancing and measuring societal impact and relevance of every piece of research has grown shriller than ever. Government and private funding agencies worldwide are seeking returns on their investments and laying huge emphasis these days on the societal outcomes of research and their applicability in resolving day-to-day problems being faced by the mankind. So far researchers have been focussing only upon scientific or academic impact of the research in terms of number and quality of publications in scientific journals having high impact factor. Since journal impact factors were basically designed to assess the quality of a journal by calculating the number of times the articles published in that journal were referenced or cited by others, measuring quality of research solely by the impact factor of the journal in which it is published is fraught with certain inherent flaws owing to the fact that impact factor can inform about the quality of journal but not always about the actual quality of research published. Therefore, there is need to assess and ensure some kind of social impact of the research on ground because at the end of the day it is not the impact factor, h-index or the number of citations received on a publication that matter, what really matters the most is to what extent research has significantly impacted and brought a positive change in the human lives and transformed this world into a better place to live. 

Research can be broadly classified into two major categories of fundamental and applied research, both of them being undertaken in academic institutions like universities and colleges whereas research and development on products and services is usually undertaken in the industries. Research is so intricately interwoven with practice in some disciplines like law, medicine and engineering that any distinction between research quality and societal relevance would be deceptive and would be at loggerheads with accepted views on the quality of research in that field in light of the fact that research in such fields is almost always practice-based and demand-driven. Similarly, research in other areas of applied sciences like computer sciences, information technology, bio-informatics, electronics etc is deeply rooted in professional practice and strongly associated with an application context and therefore inevitably bearing a strong societal impact. In such domains of knowledge, research questions are almost always drawn from practice and consequently the results will have to be directly applicable. However, in case of fundamental research where research is mostly carried out to unravel theories, principles, mechanisms and methods involved in basis sciences, social impact may not be visible soon enough. It may sometimes become apparent after a gap of several years or even several decades when the pieces of a puzzle are joined together by a multitude of research projects in different parts of the world. Therefore, we need to assess the quality or impact of a research ‘in context’. Since the context differs drastically from one area of research, discipline or organization to another, indicators of societal impact and relevance may also differ.   

While the evaluation of academic and scientific relevance of research is of paramount importance and should not be compromised under any circumstances, there is need for more comprehensive evaluation methods that focus not only on scientific quality of research but also on its societal relevance. However, there are certain intrinsic problems confronted in the measurement of societal impact and relevance of research because of the paucity of robust and reliable indicators, tools and frameworks required for the same. Since different stakeholders have different outlooks and expectations from research, it is practically impossible for two different measurements of the societal impact of a certain piece of research to match completely. Unlike scientific impact measurement, there is a lack of well-documented, empirical frameworks with adequate data sets, criteria and methods for the evaluation of societal impact of research and that is the reason why in majority of studies, societal impact of research is more postulated than demonstrated (Niederkrotenthaler et al, 2011). Evaluation of research relevance is quite a challenging job because it is difficult to attribute a certain impact to a specific single piece of work. At times a certain scientific outcome significantly matches with an effect observed in the society and is therefore attributed to it, whereas in actual practice, the relationship is not of a causal nature but caused by mere coincidence. 

In order for the research to have some meaningful impact on the society, there has to be some quality interaction between a research group and its societal stakeholders. Such interaction can take place either when the research agenda is determined or during the research process itself, or even afterwards, when the results are communicated to the stakeholders. A productive interaction with stakeholders is vital for collecting information on a research group’s performance. In many of the western universities, research shops, fairs and exhibitions are organized on regular basis to collect information and feedback from the communities on their issues, problems and concerns and subsequently evolve tangible solutions to them through problem-based research. Modes of interaction with stakeholders may include personal contact, as in joint projects, networks, consortiums, consultancy relationships, part-time practitioner work; through publications such as papers in journals, reports, protocols and educational material; through artefacts, such as exhibitions, software, websites, models, musical scores; through stakeholder contributions to the research: financial, direct involvement, or by facility sharing (Spaapen et al, 2010). Stakeholders can be involved in the evaluation of societal relevance of research, either in the self-assessment phase or by including stakeholders in the external evaluation committee. Societal relevance of research can also extend beyond its immediate importance for primary stakeholders to its secondary stakeholders in order to ascertain whether the research has a broader relevance that is not reflected by the primary stakeholders. 

As a result of the inadequacy of tools required for measuring societal impact, the idea of using knowledge transfer capabilities as a tool has been widely promoted worldwide. The underlying thought and rationale behind this idea is that it is more effective and valuable to measure the ability to communicate with society because only through communication it will become possible that scientific ideas find an application in society. In a survey conducted in June 2019 by the Association of Universities in the Netherlands, with more than 9,000 active researchers responding from across a broad range of regions, career stages and subject fields, more than half (52%) of the respondents reported promoting their research on scientific and social networks sites. The interaction between science and society has been ever increasing in the twenty first century in the light of a fast-shrinking and rapidly changing global economy (Crespi and Geuna, 2004) and this explains the emphasis that is being laid upon “knowledge valorisation”. It is a French term used for the transfer of knowledge from one party to another with the aim of creating economic and societal benefits (Feldman and Kelly, 2006). “Valorisation” is a term mainly used in European countries, which means ‘to make useful, to use, to exploit’. Essentially, it should be understood as the process of making use of knowledge. 

In conclusion every single piece of research necessarily needs to deliver some benefits to the society. Social benefits may indicate the contribution of the research to the social capital of a nation (e.g., stimulating new approaches to social issues, informed public debate, and improved policymaking). On the other hand, cultural benefits are additions to the cultural capital of a nation (e.g., understanding how we relate to other societies and cultures, contributing to cultural preservation and enrichment) whereas ecological/environmental benefits add to the natural resource capital of a nation (e.g., reduced waste and pollution, uptake of recycling techniques). Economic benefits denote contributions to the economic capital of a nation (e.g., enhancing the skills base, improved productivity) (Donovan, 2003;2011). A consortium between five Finnish public research organizations involved in R&D activity has developed methods and indicators needed to analyse the socioeconomic impacts of research and has proposed five dimensions of impact with certain examples of indicators that include impact on economy, technology, and commercialization (e.g., patent applications, entry into new markets); impact on knowledge, expertise, human capital, and management (e.g., improved research methods, strengthened expertise); impact on networking and social capital (e.g., improved networking between research partners, firms, etc.); impact on decision making and public discourse (e.g., participation in legislative and strategy planning); and impact on social and physical environment (e.g., promotion of safety, development of infrastructure) (L-Smith et al., 2006). There is need to study all such innovative methods, tools and frameworks available in literature and apply them in our local contexts for improving the societal impact and relevance of research, leading to what the scientists call ‘knowledge valorisation”, which means to make it beneficial and useful for the society.

(Author teaches at the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences and is also Director, Centre for Career Planning and Counselling, University of Kashmir)

Establishing Career Planning and Development as an Academic Discipline

Science of career planning and development is primarily aimed at capacity building, professional and personality development of youth in consonance with their interests, aptitude and personality traits that leads to their transformation as proficient workers ready to serve the society in diverse capacities

Post-pandemic world is throwing up a career landscape that is immensely turbulent, unpredictable, diverse and challenging. Factors that have contributed to this drastically changed environment include economic slump, technological advancements, workforce diversity, market demand, revised policies, changing lifestyles and other societal influences. Technological advances in particular have ushered into an ever-rising knowledge economy and have influenced not only the types of jobs available but also how work is done (e.g., virtual teams, online meetings), where work is done (e.g., telecommunicating from home, office or public places like parks), and the scope of work (e.g., global access to potential buyers and suppliers). All this has resulted into a less stable and more uncertain career environment that presents significant challenges for career development. Under these circumstances we need to keep pace with the fast-changing times and global trends and accordingly align the career goals and objectives of our students to suit the needs and demands of contemporary job markets and help them build the flexibilities that they need to thrive in a constantly changing work ecosystem. We need to continually evolve our career development science and its knowledge to meet the challenges of the global, technologically advanced, demand-driven career landscape. 

Career development is not just about counselling, placement and job selection. It needs to be studied as a science and established as a full-fledged academic discipline since it is based upon well studied psychosocial development theories and concepts like person-environment interaction including work adjustment theory and Holland’s Model, Social Cognitive Models including Social Learning and Social Efficacy Theory, Decision-making Models including personality approaches, Roe’s personality theory and other psychodynamic perspectives on career development including issues related to gender, culture and ethnicity. Holland’s RIASEC Conceptual Framework that was put forth way back in 1958 by the American psychologist John Holland classifies personalities into six categories of Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional and accordingly describes their suitable choices for career selection commensurate to their personality, temperament, interests and inclinations. If we follow such a logistic model, the possibilities of making errors in career selection will be drastically minimized that can otherwise prove disastrous for the person if not done in an appropriate manner. Since work encompasses more than just financial security, our students need to seek occupations that enhance their sense of self-awareness and aptly define them who they are owing to the fact that so much of a person’s self-esteem depends upon his success at work. 

A whole lot of assessment tools and instruments are available online/offline to help career counsellors identify talent of their students, develop their potential and enhance their occupational/organizational performance. Some of them include Myers Briggs Assessment, Psychometrics 360, Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) Assessment, Strong Interest Inventory Assessment, FIRO Assessments, Work Personality Index, Job Match Assessment, Employee Reliability Inventory etc. Psychometric testing and analysis is one such significant and useful tool used for ascertaining the psyche and personality traits of an individual for selection of a suitable career in tune with his likes and dislikes, interests and beliefs, inborn characteristics and most compatible personality traits. Advantages of psychometric testing are that it allows a holistic psychological profiling and objective assessment of candidates that can be followed by an efficient counselling process. It is a reliable and credible method of assessing all career options, prioritizing and comparing them with each other and finally selecting one out of a whole lot of them for accomplishment of one’s career goals and ambitions. Apart from psychometric testing a whole gamut of activities can be undertaken under the domain of career planning and development to help the students choose the best career option that include Career Mapping, Career Indexing, Skill Gap Analysis and Collaborative Context Analysis. 

Career mapping 

It is important for our educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities to track and map the career of all their students not only for maintaining connectivity and collecting constant feedback from them but also to learn from their decisions and experiences and to analyse the effectiveness and appropriateness of their choices vis-à-vis their career and jobs so that valuable lessons could be drawn for future. Usually, students tend to forget their colleges and universities and the institutions too tend to forget their students once they get their degrees and pass-out from them whereas it would have served the mutual interests of both of them to maintain a constant rapport and communication between them for assisting each other in improved decision and policy making. Every educational institution needs to maintain a logbook and a complete database with all requisite details of their alumni besides having a fully functional alumni association since the alumni can serve as dependable mentors and do the hand-holding of existing students by providing them necessary support in terms of information, guidance, counselling, financial assistance or by simply extending their intellectual and moral support to them as and when needed. 

Career indexing 

A paradigm shift has occurred in the number and type of career choices available to students in the contemporary times. A whole lot of new choices have emerged and a vast number of old choices have become obsolete and redundant. Under these circumstances when thousands of career choices are available to students at every stage of their career and even greater number of job opportunities are available to them after they graduate, there is need for a vibrant and user-friendly portal that lists all career choices and job opportunities for easy browsing of the aspirants. There is need to index all upcoming and current career options at school, college and university levels so that the students could utilize the same at their own convenience from the comforts of their home. Career and job opportunities should be classified at such portals into local, national and international level apart from giving full information about the colleges and universities, scholarships and fellowships, subject combinations and other available facilities. These portals can also facilitate psychometric testing of students with a view to select a career that suits their personality, interests, values and insights. Career Indexing tool must allow the students to shortlist suitable career options, prioritize their chosen options, compare them with other options available, consider non-personal and external factors like demand in the job market and finally after goal-defining devise appropriate strategic action plan for achieving those career goals. 

Skill-gap analysis 

Though huge armies of students are passing out successfully from our higher education institutions every year, mostly it has been found that they lack the necessary skillsets, mindsets, abilities and competencies that are required and demanded by the job markets. While they possess impressive merit and credentials, that does not stand them in a good stead while searching for a job of their own choice because they lack the necessary communication skills, IT proficiency, computational and quantitative skills, business and foundational skills that are essential in the modern times. Therefore, there is need to undertake a comprehensive skill-gap analysis of our youth and identify areas of insufficiency as well as the areas needed for their upskilling that would enhance their employability in the job markets. Our career counselling centres need to have such experts who are well-trained in undertaking skill-gap analysis. 

Collaborative context analysis 

Once we are done with career mapping, indexing and skill-gap analysis we need to undertake a context analysis of the local job markets, their demand analysis, qualification, training and experience requirements, pay packages offered and sustainability in collaboration with local industry partners and other stakeholders. By maintaining a constant liaison with the local and national industry our career counselling centres need to have a readymade list of job opportunities available alongwith their essential and desirable requirements. Accordingly, our education needs to be made practice-based, demand-driven, locally and socially relevant, context-based and skill-enabled. 

There are very few higher educational institutions in India that offer career planning/development/guidance as a diploma or a degree course. However, owing to its long-term implications on the individuals and societies there is need to establish it as a full-fledged academic discipline and thoroughly study all its dimensions. In fact a lot of research can be done on the psychosocial, cultural, ethnic, demographic, geographical, anthropological and economic factors that affect career development of individuals and on the instruments needed to assess their personalities, choices and interests essential for guiding them in making appropriate career choices at different stages of their lives. Precision, reliability and effectiveness of such instruments needs to be measured statistically leaving little scope for making errors in career guidance. Career development as an academic discipline can help us dwell into various aspects like career development models and theories, career resources including organizations and other sources of information, career assessment and ethical career counselling practices, technology related to career planning, developing and implementing a career development programme for diverse populations. As narrated by B.C. Forbes, the founder of Forbes magazine, “Think of yourself not as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiselling and scraping and polishing”. This is exactly what career development discipline will be expected to do. 

(Author teaches at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and is also Director, Centre for Career Planning and Counselling, University of Kashmir) 

Enhancing youth employability through CSR initiatives

An overview of the agreement signed between Tata Consultancy Services and University of Kashmir for strengthening employability, skill enhancement and entrepreneurship development among youth of Jammu and Kashmir

A landmark agreement was signed between University of Kashmir and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on February 18, 2022 for launching collaborative skill building and entrepreneurship development programmes for the youth of J&K in general and the students of Kashmir University in particular through various corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and programmes of TCS. These programmes include Youth Employment Program, goIT & Ignite My Future Program, Adult Literacy Program, Bridge IT Program that has been specially curated on Tourism and Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Skill Development Program. These programmes are primarily aimed at helping our youth to develop twenty first century skills like communication skills, language and IT proficiency, digital and financial literacy skills that they essentially need to possess in order to be successful in the contemporary digital economy and post-pandemic world. While on one hand University of Kashmir is a NAAC A+ accredited institution ranking among top 50 universities of NIRF in India, on the other hand TCS is India’s top-ranking IT and digitally enabled company. Together they have embarked upon this noble mission to empower the youth of J&K over the next three years through these capacity building and skill-enhancement programmes.

Coronavirus pandemic has thrown all new challenges to the graduating youth who are finding it increasingly difficult to find new jobs as a result of serious dent caused to the global economy by the pandemic. As per International Labour Organization, the economic backlash of COVID-19 pandemic has wiped out some 114 million jobs in 2020 alone with millions of other workers having been asked to either reduce the number of work hours or have no work hours at all. Under these circumstances it becomes imperative upon our youth to mould themselves as per the prevailing situation and build their qualifications, competencies, skills and capacities as per the emerging needs and ever-evolving demands of the industry and job markets failing which they will be left behind in the fierce competition for timely placement and career progression. Onus of responsibility also lies upon the higher educational institutions to make their graduates market ready by strengthening their employability and building their skills to suit the contemporary needs of the industry for which they may even need to substantially innovate their curricular content and teaching pedagogies. 

With these very objectives in mind the said agreement was signed between TCS and KU for education, training, skill-enhancement and entrepreneurship development of the youth of J&K over the next three years. Meeting held in a hybrid mode at KU in this regard was organized by the Centre for Career Planning and Counselling of the University, chaired by Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor, KU and attended by the representatives of both the collaborating institutions. Representatives of TCS among others included Mr. Ganapati Balaji, Global Head, CSR, Mr. Sunil Joseph, Head, CSR (India), Mr. Monimoy Dasgupta, India Head, Communications and Community Relations, CSR and Mr. Anurag Krishna, Regional Manager (North India), CSR whereas the team of Kashmir University was led by its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Talat Ahmad and represented by Prof. Farooq A. Masoodi, Dean, Academic Affairs, Dr. Nisar Ah. Mir, Registrar, Prof. Gowhar Bashir, Dean, School of Engineering, Prof. Geer M. Ishaq, Director, CCPC, Dr. Ghulam Hassan Mir, Director, DLL, Dr. Reyaz Qureshi, Head, Dept. of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure Studies and Prof. Mohammad Shafi, Head, Dept. of Commerce. 

Prof. Talat Ahmad, who was the Chief Guest at this occasion said in his presidential address that such collaboration between academia and industry shall go a long way in fostering strong linkages for skill enhancement, proper placement and entrepreneurship development among students. He called for strengthening such relationships between academic institutions and industry for enhancing the competencies, skills and industry orientation of students that in turn will pave way for their timely placement, seamless growth and greater work efficiency. Prof. Talat applauded the initiatives taken in the past and offered at present by TCS under its CSR scheme and called for other corporate houses too to come forward with similar packages that will benefit our student community and our society. 

A brief summary of various programmes included in the signed agreement is provided as under: 

1.          Youth Employment Program: This flagship programme aims at improving employability skills of engineering and non-engineering graduates as well as undergraduates by imparting training in English communication skills, corporate etiquette practices, analytical thinking, problem-solving techniques, basic computer skills, technical skills, confidence building skills and so on. 

2.      goIT Program: This programme seeks to increase interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) including Computer Science through design thinking, mobile app development and mentorship from TCS trainers. goIT offers a free and flexible training program for school, college and university students as well as teachers to design thinking as a problem-solving framework, acquire critical thinking experience while troubleshooting designs, improve their ability to work in teams and refine their communication skills through public presentations. 

3.      Ignite My Future Program: It is a pioneering, transdisciplinary educator training and resource program which aims to transform the way students learn. The program ignites the spark of curiosity and problem solving through “Computational Thinking”, a twenty first century foundational skill for successful career in every sector. Under this programme, TCS shall provide training to the teachers and students and prepare them for digital age where they can apply Computational Thinking concepts to the trans-disciplinary, real-world problems and situations. 

4.      Adult Literacy Program: It is meant to augment the Government of India’s efforts to address the momentous challenge of educating adults. Under this programme, TCS shall provide training to identified trainers for an adult education programme to accelerate adult literacy. This initiative supports non-literate adult learners to easily achieve literacy in their native language. 

5.    Entrepreneurship Development Program: This programme is aimed at supporting committed and passionate youth towards their entrepreneurship journey through skill development, market mobilisation and mentorship to achieve their goals, leveraging digital technologies and platforms. Given the potential of J&K in the Tourism & Hospitality sector, TCS envisages to execute a pilot project on Entrepreneurship in Tourism, in partnership with the University of Kashmir and other relevant partners like Dept. of Tourism. 

These CSR initiatives of TCS are ultimately aimed at ensuring continuous availability of talent pool for the industry. Millions of people have benefited so far through these programmes throughout India. Relying on its strong team of 2531 trainers, TCS has trained 11 lakh beneficiaries in functional literacy and more than 130 thousand youth under its youth employment programme so far. Lasting impact of these programmes has been observed upon social inclusion, financial stability, gender equality and in spurring economic activity and growth in the country across diverse populations. Special emphasis is being laid in these programmes upon equal involvement of rural youth from socially and economically marginalized communities, thereby promoting an inclusive culture in the society. Primary objectives of all these programmes continues to be to expose youth to industry needs and make them eligible to take up employment in the corporate sector, public sector and other MSMEs. Leveraging the 4Cs of intellectual capital, technological capital, financial capital and human capital has been the key focus of these CSR initiatives of TCS. 

Centre for Career Planning and Counselling of the University of Kashmir will devise a well-thought-out strategy and action plan in consultation with TCS to execute these programmes in a phased and time-bound manner and transfer their benefits to the youth of Kashmir. Attempts will be made to provide training and services to the meritorious and zealous aspirants absolutely free of cost through these initiatives so that their employability gets enhanced and their chances of recruitment by the corporate houses get multiplied manifold. Only thing expected from the students would be enthusiasm and commitment to learn and build their capacities though their hard work and dedication. Centre will extend all possible help and assistance to the aspirants in this regard. Pertinent to mention that the Centre is already engaged at present in providing counselling and placement services besides free coaching to the meritorious civil service aspirants through a reputed coaching academy of the country and will continue its relentless efforts to empower the youth in their march towards building a successful career and thereby serving the nation. Centre stands fully committed to extend necessary support to students in their all-round development and self-actualization. 

(Author is Director, Centre for Career Planning and Counselling, University of Kashmir)