Skill enhancement key as Kolkata becomes future destination for jobs

Our State Data Center presently houses implicit 10,000 applications, including public-facing flagship services. Applications similar Karmasathi and Duare Sarkar are accessible with conscionable a click, acknowledgment to this infrastructure. We besides person a full-time catastrophe betterment information centre astatine the Udyog IT Park and are processing a GPU-as-a-service information centre. This volition let schools, colleges, universities, professionals, and adjacent gamers to leverage precocious processing capabilities for assorted applications.

West Bengal is the India of tomorrow. The authorities authorities is investing heavy successful helping students decorativeness schoolhouse by knowing the accomplishment gaps betwixt students and professionals done assorted services it offers. So those accomplishment gaps are being attended to by taking each of them done skill-building activities done the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and BCCI. We person incubation centres. Our Subidha level ensures seamless question done 8 onshore ports crossed 3 neighboring countries.

Leading IT companies similar TCS, which already employs implicit 54,000 radical successful the state, program to grow significantly. Similarly, Cognizant is revamping its infrastructure, and during the pandemic, companies similar CalSoft began operations here. Additionally, Global Foundries and its ancillary industries are showing involvement successful West Bengal. The authorities has 3 large strengths: a highly skilled and affordable workforce, minimal attrition rates, and innovative reasoning among its youth.

On inwards migration successful Kolkata

Sandipan Saha: Kolkata handles astir treble its residential colonisation connected a regular basis. Currently, the city’s nonmigratory colonisation is astir 60 lakh. Each day, different 60 lakh individuals travel into Kolkata for their livelihoods, returning location by evening. This dynamic presents a important challenge, requiring america to guarantee the metropolis functions smoothly during these highest hours.

We person been managing this efficiently. Our Solid Waste Management (SWM) department, liable for keeping Kolkata clean, has been doing an fantabulous job. We’ve introduced respective compactor stations crossed the city, eliminating the unpleasant acquisition of crossing areas wherever garbage vats were erstwhile present. Today, you tin locomotion past these areas without adjacent realizing a discarded presumption is nearby.

Kolkata is simply a metropolis that caters to everyone. While it provides employment opportunities done multinational corporations, it besides supports the livelihoods of thousands of thoroughfare hawkers. Maintaining the roads and spaces wherever hawkers run is simply a changeless challenge, but 1 we are addressing diligently.

Since 2019, Kolkata has been portion of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings, a designation that has importantly boosted the city’s reputation. We’ve introduced galore online services to amended accessibility for residents and businesses alike.

Today, Kolkata is recognised arsenic the 11th fastest-developing metropolis successful the world. What was erstwhile labelled a “dying city” has transformed into a vibrant, promising metropolis. From the infinitesimal you onshore successful Kolkata, you’re greeted by a lively metropolis with opportunities for everyone.

On Migration contented successful Kolkata and its challenges

Anuradha Talwar: When discussing Kolkata and migration, it’s indispensable to bespeak connected the city’s humanities role. About 40 years ago, erstwhile I began moving successful Bengal and Kolkata, the metropolis was considered the hub for the full eastbound region. People from Bihar, Odisha, Assam, and beyond came to Kolkata for education, employment, and healthcare. It served not conscionable West Bengal but an expansive hinterland with its resources and opportunities.

However, if we look astatine the concern today, the signifier of migration has changed significantly. While the MMIC mentioned the regular influx of radical into Kolkata, it is wide that the metropolis nary longer attracts migrants arsenic it erstwhile did. For instance, workers from beverage gardens, South 24 Parganas, oregon Malda are not heading to Kolkata; instead, they are migrating to different states successful hunt of amended opportunities.

Although Kolkata remains an important hub for the region, it has mislaid the prominence it erstwhile held arsenic a halfway for employment and opportunity. It nary longer provides the aforesaid fig of jobs oregon the level of employment it erstwhile did.

Furthermore, adjacent for those who bash enactment successful the city—whether arsenic home workers, rickshaw pullers, oregon hawkers—the moving conditions and societal information enactment disposable to them are acold from adequate. This deficiency of worker-friendly policies and protections undermines Kolkata’s imaginable to beryllium a genuinely inclusive and thriving city.

On technology’s relation successful occupation creation

Sanjoy Chatterjee: We’ve been moving towards leveraging IT to make jobs and reconstruct Kolkata’s prominence—something Anuradha mightiness retrieve from 40 years ago.

Looking astatine it this way, 2 cardinal areas travel to mind. Currently, Kolkata contributes astir 3.2% of India’s GDP, compared to Mumbai’s 6.6%. A World Bank study from 2018, conscionable earlier COVID, identified Kolkata arsenic 1 of 8 planetary cities with the imaginable to go a logistics hub similar Rotterdam. As we know, whether successful IT oregon immoderate different industry, a city’s backbone relies connected robust logistics and proviso chains. With IT enablement, Bengal has the imaginable to alteration this assemblage and make important employment opportunities.

At present, Kolkata’s multimodal proscription utilisation — spanning road, rail, and waterways — is lone astatine 3%. This is contempt having an unthinkable resource: a immense stream web with 700 miles of upstream connectivity and hinterlands connected some sides. This concern mirrors palmy logistics hubs similar Rotterdam oregon cardinal ports successful China. Bengal besides has 15% of India’s full waterways, making it uniquely positioned to pb successful logistics and proviso concatenation development.

The task for the authorities is to standard up multimodal transport utilization from 3% to 30%. By doing so, Bengal tin unlock its imaginable and make a transformative impact.

Beyond logistics, different important facet is Kolkata’s thriving MSME sector, the backbone of galore Bengali livelihoods. Kolkata ranks archetypal successful jute production, and 2nd successful leather, tea, and textiles. By improving logistics, and proviso chains, and integrating integer transformation, these industries tin execute caller heights. Digitisation is key, and it’s acold from intolerable to implement.

Based connected the information and our findings, these 2 absorption areas — logistics and MSME empowerment — tin redefine Kolkata. Once the metropolis strengthens its infrastructure and empowers MSMEs, 90% of the enactment to elevate its presumption volition beryllium complete. Kolkata tin reclaim its erstwhile glory.

On the IT front, there’s been singular growth. In conscionable the past 2 years, the fig of companies mounting up operations successful Kolkata has been unprecedented—something we haven’t seen successful decades. Another beardown indicator of Kolkata’s advancement is reflected successful its existent property market. Office abstraction leasing successful Kolkata surged by 33% successful Q2 of 2024, a phenomenal summation that straight mirrors the city’s maturation trajectory.

On challenges faced and government’s role

Sanjay Kumar Das: The archetypal situation is not conscionable the government’s work but a situation for nine arsenic a whole: embracing innovation and technology. Technology is fundamentally a fusion of method and logic. To leverage it effectively, we indispensable beryllium logical and admit that each occupation tin beryllium solved utilizing the techniques and tools disposable to us.

A captious starting constituent is fostering a civilization of punctual engineering. This involves teaching our children—and ourselves—how to inquire the close questions to bots and automated solution providers. Prompt engineering should beryllium introduced arsenic aboriginal arsenic learning the alphabet, arsenic it volition beryllium foundational successful navigating the aboriginal of technology.

The 2nd situation is the acceptance that alteration is inevitable. However, I’m highly optimistic. Many organizations that erstwhile near this authorities are present returning. For instance, a globally renowned institution that exited 18 years agone is coming back, focusing connected analog plan for chipset manufacturing. Why? Because galore of the world’s champion analog designers are Bengalis.

Bengalis, known for their adjacent ties to home, often similar to enactment successful oregon instrumentality to the state. This creates a unsocial accidental to harness section endowment by offering them due upskilling opportunities.

If you inquire me, the top situation for the authorities close present is ensuring robust upskilling initiatives to conscionable this request and capitalize connected the immense endowment excavation we already have.

On imaginable solutions for migration

Anuradha Talwar: In India, a important information of the workforce — 93% — comprises individuals engaged successful informal sectors specified arsenic home work, hawking, rickshaw driving, and construction. Unfortunately, this ample radical often remains excluded from the discussions and scenarios presented by panellists successful forums similar these.

While it’s encouraging to perceive astir imaginable occupation instauration and reduced migration retired of the state, the minimum that Kolkata’s medication tin and should bash is to guarantee due moving conditions for these workers. This includes just wages and broad societal information measures.

Social information should screen captious aspects similar healthcare, illness, and workplace accidents. The existing ESI (Employees’ State Insurance) system, which is simply a authorities initiative, could beryllium expanded and strengthened to see these protections much effectively.

On the aboriginal of Kolkata

Sanjoy Chatterjee: The concern is not arsenic bleak arsenic it whitethorn seem. According to the latest UNDP report, Bengal’s unemployment and poorness complaint stands astatine little than 12%, compared to India’s nationalist mean of astir 15%.

The authorities has made important strides successful accomplishment development, with implicit 70 polytechnic institutes presently operating and enrolling much than 72,000 students done ITI (Industrial Training Institutes) and Polytechnic programs. These initiatives are increasing regular and are offered wholly escaped of cost, providing a beardown instauration for accomplishment enhancement.

With specified initiatives, we tin make a amended situation for economical maturation and concern development. This, successful turn, volition positively interaction the underprivileged groups—those surviving beneath the poorness enactment and the labour class—helping to amended their conditions implicit time.

That said, we indispensable admit that these issues cannot beryllium resolved overnight. Challenges persist, and they are not unsocial to Bengal but are prevalent crossed India to varying degrees.