In a recent interview, Pawan Kalyan opined that no individual's occupation/profession must be limited by his caste identity. "Just because someone is born a Nayi Brahmin, it doesn't mean that he must be expected to follow his traditional profession. We have to ask him what he wants to do," Pawan said.
You would think that the Jana Sena Party chief is living in 1924, not 2024, to be speaking in such a naive language. There is no denying that a lot of people in Andhra Pradesh might be sticking to their traditional occupations for want of better opportunities, but it is not the same as saying that they have been forced to do so by society or government.
Skilling and education are a function of accessible, affordable education. Lack of adequate educational and vocational qualifications requires definite interventions for economic prosperity. And most policy-makers are aware of what needs to be done. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Pawan seems to believe that he is the first leader to discover that casteism has been limiting the job profile of people.
Pawan made the remarks in the context of talking about what the proposed Skill Census seeks to achieve. Skilling is a complex process. Youths show interest in upskilling or re-skilling themselves once they believe that better-paying jobs are there in the manufacturing and services sectors. In the absence of a robust ecosystem that creates jobs and wealth, an elaborate Skill Census would be an eyewash.
In the interview, Pawan spoke of the so-called genius of many professionals in rural areas. "Their inventions can be useful. They must be given patents," he said. While it is true that hidden talents are there in our rural areas, not every 'jugaad' thing deserves to be called an invention. We often read in newspapers stories of Engineering students, among others, coming up with cost-saving 'inventions'. Most of them never make the grade. No industrialist shows interest in their useless ideas for the simple reason that they can't be scaled up. They are good only for display at inter-college summits in a globalized world where local-made products compete with the better-quality imports.
Before using terms like 'demographic dividend' and 'knowledge economy', Pawan must understand that reality is far more complex than what he has read in the books written by authors who lived decades ago.
