National Career Service (NCS)

Latest revision as of 07:22, 24 July 2015

National Career Service (NCS) refers to a national web portal - www.ncs.gov.in - that brings job seekers, employers, career counsellors and skill / training providers on a common platform. In addition to placement services, the National Career Service (NCS) also offers a variety of other services like information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internship, career counselling, etc. free of costs to the beneficiaries. The portal also make available, information on local service providers to household and other consumers, say for services like driving, plumbing, carpentry, etc.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, on 20 July 2015, launched the National Career Service (NCS) Project by transforming the processes in the existing network of 978 Employment Exchanges whereby they also function as career centers. These Employment Exchanges including the 75 University Employment Information and Guidance Bureaux are now transformed into career centers. In fact, the hitherto existing web based National Employment Service comprising of a network of 978 Employment Exchanges is now transformed into National Career Service (NCS) by leveraging information technology to improve the delivery of services. In many states, the previous system still required job seekers to physically visit the Employment Exchanges for registration, verify their records and wait for opportunities to come. Similarly, the employers had to visit Employment Exchanges for posting job vacancies and obtaining a list of eligible candidates, with little flexibility. The NCS portal provides a nation-wide online platform for jobseekers and employers for job matching in a dynamic, efficient and responsive manner.

All registrations are Aadhaar (unique biometric id issued to the citizens by Unique Identification Authority of India) based, with national portability. Data of jobseekers already registered with state /local employment exchanges are made available on the NCS portal which they can activate using their Aadhaar details.  Similarly, Establishments having Labour Identification Number (LIN) are on the NCS portal so that they can post their vacancies. All existing 978 employment exchanges have been given user IDs and passwords for activating their accounts. Several states (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Telangana) having employment exchange data in a database have integrated those with the NCS portal. Remaining states having manual systems can directly log on for new registrations.

Since National Career Service is the transformation of employment exchanges it is also backed up by the provisions of Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 to the extent they are applicable.

NCS would facilitate not just the online matching of jobs, but provide information about opportunities for training and re-skilling also. The career centres are also entrusted with the task of regular organizing of Job fairs, events and workshop for efficient placement. The Government has also approved the establishment of 37 Model Career Centres which is expected to be functional by end of 2015. The NCS is also establishing a network of Career Counsellors where the career centres will become the hub of Career Counselling in their area.

These facilities including career counselling content will be delivered by the portal through multiple channels like career centers, mobile devices, common service Centers (CSCs), etc. Career counselling can be accessed by the citizens either through personal meetings or telephonically or online, as per their choice.

Status of NCS
As on 20 July 2015, the National Career Service (NCS) brings together 1031 Career Centers, 20407548 registered Jobseekers,129 Career Counsellors for career guidance, 23936 Skill Providers with career building courses and 1684 registered Employers with active jobs in 53 sectors. It provides information about 3000 career options spread across these 53 sectors. Further, information on courses of over 11,000 Industrial Training Institutes and 12,000 Vocational Training Providers (VTPs) are made available. Over 14 lakh students from Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 11 lakh from Vocational Training Providers are linked to the NCS. These candidates have been invited to join the NCS through SMS to activate their accounts.

International Experience
The International Labour Organisation’s ILO Convention 88  (which refers to the Employment Service Convention, 1948) mandates the Governments to maintain a free Employment Service. NCS is one such free employment service.India ratified the ILO Convention 88 in the year 1959.

Such a National Career Service exists in United Kingdom too.

Background
Generation of productive and gainful employment with decent working conditions, on a sufficient scale to absorb the growing labour force, is the cornerstone of inclusive growth. Around 58% of the Indian population is under the age of 29 years^[1]. India can capitalize this potential demographic dividend for achieving faster economic growth.

The main thrust of the Government is on creation of jobs and on accelerating the rate of employment growth. To boost employment rate, it is required to minimize the skill mismatch in job market, also by enhancing the skill base of the workforce. For skilling towards employment, a new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was established in November 2014 to consolidate the skilling activities spread across Ministries. (Around 20 Ministries were running skill development schemes across 70 sectors.) Skill India Portal was also launched with the ambition of making India as the Skill Capital of World. National Career Service (NCS) Project complements these skill initiatives by transforming the employment services in the country. The NCS portal was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India in this context, during the inaugural event of 46th session of the Indian Labour Conference held on 20 July 2015.

The NCS portal will play as a focal point for complementing and supplementing the objectives and aspirations of other related Government projects - Make in India, National Skill Development Mission and Digital India. The NCS portal is meant to serve as the one stop shop for job seekers, employers and training providers on a technology driven platform. It is supported by a multi lingual Call Centre/help desk. A knowledge repository of available career opportunities is also available on the portal. The candidates do have access to skill assessment and psychometric tests and would be guided to the right opportunity, whether it is for employment, skill training, apprenticeship training, on-the-job-training, finishing course (gap training) etc. The portal therefore serves as a one point platform for connecting the aspirations of the youth and bridge the gap between job seekers and employers.

Skill India Portal Vs. NCS
In contrast to NCS which is an initiative of Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Skill India Portal was conceptualized by Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and was launched on 15 July 2015 to provide an online collaborative platform to help disseminate reliable information on skill options, opportunities, information on various providers and by providing an interface to enquire, explore, access and engage with various affiliated and accredited training partners and infrastructure providers.

The overall focus of this initiative is to help provide an engaging ecosystem to cater to skilling needs of citizens by publishing and sharing relevant information. Skill India Portal initiative is mainly targeted at citizens seeking to enhance their existing skills. Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship along with National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) has partnered with CMC Ltd. to develop this platform which is completely integrated with NSDC’s Skill Development Management System (SDMS).

Skill India is more industry oriented and caters to their desire to get specifically skilled workers who suit their job requirement. On this portal, Citizens can search for courses, training partner around their area and access e-content/ training material etc. Training providers can post relevant information on courses they are offering, search for consultants or trainers, post infrastructure and equipment requirements. Skill Assessment / testing agencies can post their guidelines. Infrastructure providers and skilled /trained people can post their available resources which can be of demand from assessment agencies or training providers.  Sector Skill councils can post requirements for internship, on the job training etc. Employers can post their job vacancies too. It is also a one-stop information source for all Institutes and courses under the purview of the National Council of Vocational Training.

On the other hand, National Career Service serves as a common platform for job seekers, employers, career counselors etc.

1. Source: Census 2011

Also see

• Employment Exchanges
• National Skill Development Mission
• National Skill Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme (STAR)
• National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)

References

• PIB Release of Ministry of Labour and Employment dated 20 July 2015
• NCS brochure
• NCS launch film

Contributed by

• Ms. Pragyansmita Sahoo (IES 2010)
• Email- pragyansmita.sahoo@gmail.com