Panel suggests increasing number of seats in mining courses

Updated on: Friday, July 15, 2011

Concerned over skilled manpower crunch in the mining sector, a government panel has suggested increasing number of seats in mining courses in IITs etc besides introducing specialised courses to support its growth with projected 10.60 lakh employment in the space by 2017.

"To bridge the gap between demand and supply of the human resource...in Institutes like IITs, ISM, BHU and other educational institutions, the number of seats for mining courses be increased," a Mines Ministry panel has recommended.

Assessing the manpower requirement for the 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17), the panel said, "the projected figure of employment in mining sector by the year 2017 will be more than 10.60 lakh," adding that there is an immediate requirement to start courses for mining lawyers, mineral financial analyst/economist etc to meet the sector's need.

The current employment in the sector is 9.92 lakh with the maximum 1.16 lakh people employed in the metallic and non-metallic field.

The panel further recommended introduction of new courses for lower grade workers too as "mining industry is currently facing huge shortage of trained manpower such as blaster, shot firer, drillers, heavy machine operators, surveyor, etc."

Further apprehending migration of talented students to sectors offering attractive emoluments and perks it said, "In order to attract the talented students to the mineral sector, it is essential to enhance the emoluments and perks to make the jobs more attractive."

Panel suggests increasing number of seats in mining courses

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