Mapping Change

Subroto Bagchi’s book provides a stimulating account of his role as Chairman of Odisha Skill Development Authority in the era of former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, where he energetically tried to re-engineer the state as a producer of skilled blue-collar workers.

Reading this book leaves no doubt that Bagchi made two significant contributions. He underscored skill development as a serious investment in the economy. He relentlessly motivated the state administrative machinery to develop respect for skilled blue-collar workers.

A defining characteristic of South Asian societies has been the inverse relationship between skills and social status. The most skilled communities in our society—weavers, potters, fisherfolk, and leather workers—continue to languish on the lower edges of the operating caste hierarchy. Essential workers, such as refuse collectors, carcass disposers, and cremation ground or graveyard cleaners, are still deemed untouchable.

Manifest caste prejudices in rural India tend to be more latent in urban pockets of the country. Our white-collared classes consider as necessary evils and treat with resentment the plumber, electrician, tile setter, the air conditioner mechanic, and cooking gas pipe fitter, skilled workers essential to their comfort and security.

Seen in this context, it is admirable that Bagchi strove to cultivate a sense of pride among skilled workers in Odisha. The book lists his efforts towards improving infrastructure meant for students in various skill centres. It describes his honest attempt to widen the horizons of the apprentices through sports, mentorship and competition; his insistence on recognising and honouring alumni who were trained in Odisha and were leading successful lives as skilled workers and entrepreneurs.

However, the author, while building this narrative, could have paid greater attention to three structural barriers that wall off possibilities for the Indian skilled worker. The first one is the Indian state’s general apathy towards blue-collar labour that plays out in many forms, from suppressed wages to unregulated living conditions and unfair work hours. The second barrier is the country’s demographic burden; in a populous country caught in a trap of jobless growth, labour cannot hope for meaningful bargaining power. The third and perhaps the strongest barrier is the stubborn caste prejudice against manual labour.

Any discourse around skilling that does not dissertate on these structural barriers inadvertently ends up suggesting that the individual is largely responsible for his or her economic success or failure. It echoes the enduring myth in American culture—work hard, you will succeed. Meanwhile, the government and society are absolved of their responsibilities.

Bagchi’s narrative tries to convince the reader that a smart uniform or a once-in-a-lifetime trip abroad can confer status in a society riddled with prejudices against the working classes that have hardened and mutated over centuries. The book implies that such fragile and fleeting status markers can compensate for lack of government mandated living wages and decent working conditions.

Moreover, can one motivate the government and the public without coopting politicians and civil society? As per the book, Bagchi’s project of skilling lakhs of young people in a state was propped up by a bunch of IAS officers whose dynamism he extols at great length. Some of them, as per the author’s unintended admission, had abandoned skilled jobs, like mechanical engineering, for which they were trained. They instead opted for a life of presiding over files and memos.

A reader familiar with Bagchi’s distinguished career in the corporate world might also wonder why he has omitted sharing hard data that would map the big picture results of his efforts. Did thousands of Odisha’s skilled workers secure jobs with higher wages and better working conditions? How many careers progressed beyond the journey from labourer to supervisor?

The author has inundated the book with warm anecdotes and individual success stories of skilled workers. With his stature, Bagchi could have influenced readers to think more deeply about systemic problems that hold back millions from securing economic security and social dignity.

booksdevelopmentgrassrootsIndiaskillingSubroto BagchiThe Day the Chariot Moved: How India Grows at the Grassroots