80% Indian engineers unfit for any job: Study
New Delhi: It's been nearly a decade since career assessment and research solutions firm Aspiring Minds first published its annual employability report in 2010.
According to one of its early reports published in 2011, 82 per cent Indian engineers were unemployable.
In 2012, the report further noted that 50 per cent Indian engineers lacked basic English skills.
The latest Annual Employability Survey 2019 (external link) report released by Aspiring Minds reveals that "80 per cent Indian engineers are not fit for any job in the knowledge economy."
According to the same report, only 2.5 per cent of them possess industry relevant tech skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The findings are based on data collected from 1,70,000 students from across 750 plus colleges in India.
For the first time, the employability report includes comparitive data with inputs from engineers in the US and China.
The 2019 survey states that only a handful of Indian engineers possess coding expertise.
"Good coding skills are possessed by 4.6 per cent of Indian job applicants."
It says that Indian engineers (4.6 per cent) can code correctly compared to their Chinese counterparts (2.1 per cent) but lag behind American peers (18.8 per cent) who can write codes correctly.
The annual report also identifies some of the reasons why there is a skill gap.
"Engineering is an applied discipline. Engineers learn primarily by doing, not only by reading and listening."
"Only 40 percent of engineering students in India perform internships and only 36 per cent undertake projects outside their assigned coursework."
It stresses on the lack of industry relevant curriculum and exposure.
"Students are trapped in a college bubble," it points.
"Sixty percent of faculty do not discuss how engineering concepts apply to industry. Only 47 per cent of students report the opportunity to attend a talk by industry personnel during their college career. Most talks that students attend are intra-departmental, rather than seminars, workshops, conferences or webinars that typically feature outside experts and scholars who present complementary or alternative perspectives."
Engineering students in India further struggle during their placements.
Approximately 40 per cent of students reported that their primary challenge is finding the right company or the most suitable job profile to apply.
Their second challenge was to secure and pass an interview.
"Our students need counseling to understand the kinds of jobs that are available; how to determine which job profiles match their interests and skills; the skill gaps that may disqualify them; and how to address those skill gaps," the report suggests.
courtesy: rediff.com
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National Herald case: ED issues notices to take possession of assets in Cong-linked AJL
New Delhi, Apr 12 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate Saturday said it has served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore that it had attached as part of a money laundering probe linked to Congress-controlled National Herald newspaper and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
The federal probe agency said in a statement that it has served the relevant documents to the respective registrar of properties where the assets are located.
Simultaneously, the notices have been affixed at "conspicuous part of these properties" located at Herald House at ITO (5A, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) in Delhi, in the Bandra(E) area (Plot No 2, Survey No 341) of Mumbai and the AJL building located at Bisheshwar Nath Road (Property No.1) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday.
The notices primarily seek vacation of the premises to be taken over by the ED.
"A notice... has also been served to Jindal South West Projects Limited which occupies the 7th, 8th, and 9th floors at Herald House, Bandra (E), Mumbai, to transfer the rent/lease amount every month in favour of the director, Directorate of Enforcement," it said.
The action has been taken under Section (8) and Rule 5(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that talks about the procedure of taking possession of assets attached by the ED and then confirmed by the adjudicating authority (of the PMLA).
These immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore, apart from shares of AJL worth Rs 90.2 crore, were attached by the ED in November 2023 to "secure the proceeds of crime and to prevent the accused form dissipating the same."
The Adjudicating Authority confirmed this order in April last year. According to the ED, the total "proceeds of crime" in the case was Rs 988 crore.
The Congress had earlier termed the investigation "petty vendetta tactics" and dubbed the ED a "coalition partner" of the BJP.
The ED investigation began in 2021 after the Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House Courts in Delhi took cognisance of a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on June 26, 2014.
The complaint, the ED said, highlighted a "criminal conspiracy" by several prominent political figures, including the first family of the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi, her MP son Rahul Gandhi, apart from late Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes and also Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and a private company Young Indian for alleged involvement in a money laundering scheme related to the fraudulent takeover of properties valued over Rs 2,000 crore belonging to the AJL.
"The legal proceedings against the accused have faced challenges but have been upheld by both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India, allowing the investigation to proceed," the ED said.
AJL is the publisher of the National Herald news platform (newspaper and web portal) and it is owned by Young Indian Private Limited.
Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian with 38 per cent shares held by each one of them. They were questioned for hours by the ED in this case a few years back.
The ED claimed its investigation has "conclusively" found that Young Indian, a private company "beneficially owned" by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, "acquired" AJL properties worth Rs 2,000 crore for a mere Rs 50 lakh, significantly undervaluing its worth.
"Young Indian and AJL properties were used for generation of further proceeds of crime in the form of bogus donations to the tune of Rs 18 crore, bogus advance rent to the tune of Rs 38 crore and bogus advertisements of Rs 29 crore," the ED has alleged.
