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A
two-day international convention of FEAST was held at
Chandigarh on October 12-13, 2007,
where more than 300 distinguished academicians,
scholars, visionaries, researchers, HR experts,
diplomats, writers, authors, high government officials, and
eminent persons from the travel & tourism, hospitality,
aviation, MICE industry and other allied activities of the
Service Sector gathered on a common platform to deliberate on
developing quality human resource for this sector which is
fast developing in India and other Asian countries.
The theme of the convention was “ Future Trends &
Challenges in Service Industry -
Academia- Industry
Interface” with second day focus on Mizoram, a state in the
North Eastern Region as the theme state for HRD in India.
More
than 300 delegates deliberated on the current scenario of the Service Sector in the Asian
region and how the human resource development practices and methodologies could
be harnessed to
meet the challenges that the industry would be facing in the new millennium.
The
existing educational systems also came under sharp scrutiny
while many participants suggested to make them more relevant
to the needs and requirements of the industry. How the static organizations could be made more vibrant
in future was also discussed in detail while many speakers,
appreciating the effort of the FEAST in organizing this
convention dwelt on the need for networking of the scholars,
experts, researchers, and others associated with various
segments of the service sector and bringing the existing
training and teaching curricula at par with the international
standards. A strong plea was made to co- relate education with
employment and entrepreneurship. It was suggested that a mechanism
for regular exchange of faculty and students between
different educational and training institutes located in
different could be worked out.
While
providing a platform to the participants to share their
experiences and expertise, the convention suggested a holistic
approach to tourism development
as a total management concept comprising the problems of
design, of product development and management of the services.
The future HRD needs would have to take into account
the ever accelerating information usage in the service
industry.
Inaugurating
the convention, Punjab Tourism Minister, Ashwani Sekhri,
said that human resource was
the most
productive and the highest contributor to ecvonomic ansd
social progress of a country. He said that the service sector
was growing faster than the manufacturing sector and added
that 70 per cent growth in the emplyment opportunities
generated over the next ten years would be in the service
sector including tourism, hospitality, aviation and Transport
services.
Delivering
his keynote address, Governor of Mizoram, invited the private
sector to set up service industry related projects in North
East region of India and assured all possible assistance in
investment facilities He said that the region endowed with
pristine nature and immense untapped potential could become a
role model for developing ecological tourism, solitude tourism
and adventure tourism, which, however, required trained human
capital. He said that the entire northeastern region was
suitable for the development of service industry.
Welcoming
the guests and the participants, President of FEAST, B K
Goswami, who is former secretary of tourism, in the Government
of India, asked for consistency and continuity in the plans and
policies of the government , quoting the example of Kerala,
which had made remarkable progress in tourism promotion. He
said that the participants who had come from many parts of
India and even from some overseas country should consider this
convention as an opportunity to take collaborative initiative
to promote human capital management in their respective field of activity.
Vice
Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, Prof K. K. Aggarwal,
in his multi- media presentation highlighted the importance of customer care in the
service industry and said that the vast resources of population of Asian
region should not be taken as liability, but
as an asset.
Others
who spoke on the occasion were President of the Indian
Association of Tour Operators, Maharaj S Wahi and President of
Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India. An
other highlight of the convention was a colourful cultural
programme which depicted the cultural heritage of both north
and north and north eastern regions of India.
KEYNOTE
ADDRESS BY Mr A.R. KOHLI, GOVERNOR OF MIZORAM
Developing
Human Resources for the North Eastern Region with particular
reference to Mizoram
As
you are aware, the political and administrative history of the
North East has been witnessing dynamic shifts ever since
Independence. It was only by the year 1987 when the
unbundling of Assam into separate constituents, initially as
Union Territories and subsequent metamorphosis into
full-fledged States of the Indian Union, was completed.
Different States through varying degrees of social strife
achieved this political progression. Mizoram as an
example became a Union Territory in 1972, continued to agitate
for autonomy, ultimately attaining Statehood in 1987.
Therefore from a pre-1972 [position of being a district of
undivided Assam, it became a State by 1987. Such a rapid
political transition is normally not witnessed.
Inevitably there is a time lag for other institutions viz.,
economic, social and cultural to cope up with such a
development. This is just an example to bring home the
point that North East requires to be understood deeply and not
through a remote armchair study before problems are identified
and solutions is prescribed. The States of Nagaland,
Manipur and, to some extent, Tripura are also striving for
political and administrative stability, looking up to Mizoram
as an example. From a distance, some times I find there
is pessimism about the North East, but I can assure you that
it is substantially unfounded, as the region is one of the
best endowed in human talent and natural resources and, if
properly addressed, can contribute very handsomely to national
growth.
The
population of the North East is 3.79% of the national
population while its geographical area is about 8%.
19.39% of India land area is estimated to be under forest
cover. As compared to this, the North Eastern region has
64% forest cover, an extremely major ecological asset, for
which it has been identified as one of the ‘HOT SPOTS’ of
the world in ecological balance. Extremely high rates of
literacy, particularly in States like Mizoram, Meghalaya and
Manipur, low density of population, reasonably high standards
of health and salubrious climate, are important strengths of
the region. Another area worth mentioning is high degree
of social organization with participatory ethic, in States
like Mizoram.
Due
to various reasons, most of the North Eastern States have been
declared as ‘Special Category States’ by the Government of
India, for which they receive over 90% of the Plan size as
assistance from the Government of India. This has
resulted in a tendency to multiply administrative units and
Government employees. No harm in that, but the mind-set
of youth and people has veered around survival with the help
of the Government, taking away their internal initiative to
realize their potential. Inevitably when Government
becomes all pervasive
, the second area of attraction for the unemployed youth is
politics. Failing to make a mark in both these, many of them
take to insurgency mostly for economic sustenance rather than
pursuit of genuine ideology.
These
directional deficiencies indicate that there is an urgent need
to match economic expectations of people with positive
capacity building. The vast potential of the region can
only be harnessed by an extremely scientific approach towards
human resource development linked with identification of
potential areas of growth.
Majority
of the North East offers excellent potential towards
development of ecological tourism, solitude tourism and
adventure tourism. This would require well-trained
professionals for developing the infrastructure as also for
interactive services to the tourists. Training in site
identification, development of sites keeping safety and
conservation regulations in mind, landscaping, proper
architecture, apart from sports and training certifications
would be required.
The
region is highly suited for establishment of environment
friendly industries like electronics, computer assembling,
watch making etc. Within the North East itself, there
are large number of areas where industrialists will find a
very peaceful work environment along with friendly attitude of
Government, a prime example being Mizoram.
Horticulture,
floriculture, aromatic herbs and medicinal herbs are another
area where potential has to be realized. Netherlands,
which is a small country of the size of Haryana, exports
flowers worth billions of dollars. Herbs grown on
commercial basis are providing billion of dollars in foreign
exchange to China. The success of horticulture in the
Mediterranean and Israel is for every one to see. North
East, if tackled with the right professional approach, can
give great dividends through these areas because the climate
is inherently viable. We will not even have to
establish expensive greenhouses or controlled condition
infrastructure. These activities have great potential
for training and effectively deploying human resources.
If
a national task force in conjunction with the private sector
takes up just these three areas, research institutions,
management institutions and training institutions. I
have no doubt in my mind that within the next ten years North
East can easily over take the national averages in economic
development indices.
I
must add here that our own mind-set towards the North East
requires reorientation. No State or its people want to
keep away from development, provided the ideas are presented
palatably and in a dignified manner. The entry-level
institutions must earn the admiration and credibility of local
Governments and people. This is particularly relevant
for Human Resource Development linked institutions that are to
be involved at every stage of development. Human
Resource institutions have to be the interface between the
Government, people and the industry. To this end I
congratulate the management of ITFT for initiating the Human
Resource Development process with Mizoran. I am sure
this vigour and sincerity will be sustained and will be
extremely beneficial for ITFT and the North East, apart from
showing the way to other such institutions. |
