Since a while I have been pondering if on this blog, I could cover more of the real things happening in the field. So, writing a few lines on active people or organizations into capacity building works wouldn’t be all bad. Isnt it?.. And without much effort and almost zero cost, I found one. I start with one such guy, name - ‘Dipan’.
Dipan heads an Ahmedabad based NGO, SEP (Society for Environment Protection). One of the core activities conducted by them is of imparting training to the building masons/artisans in the Indian states of Gujarat and Tamilnadu.
Dipan was my undergraduate engineering batch-mate from the school and since then a great friend. Since, I know him since my juvenile ages, let me tell you where it all came from. The lack of quality in construction had concerned and excited him since the college days. Dedicated to his studies and extracurricular activities such as elected post to the academics secretary in senior years, Dipan was close to activism as well as quality engineering.
Now a professional training organization, Dipan’s SEP conducts 5 day training sessions for the skilled and 21 days module for the semi skilled masons. A training batch would include thirty masons, and the skills covered are of masonry, concreting, formwork and bar-bending. A training module in cost-effective technologies is soon on the cards. Conducting these mason training events with assistance or/and coordination from agencies like BMTPC, GSDMA, SWATI etc., SEP provides its own certificate to the attending masons, which the masons really value. But, Dipan echoes that a comprehensive workers certification system in India is the need of the hour, and it is extremely important that is introduced. So, a good quality practice can be ensured from the people involved in construction. This certification, which is not just a mere paper exercise, but regionally evaluated and nationally recognised.
I had asked him to quote some philosophical quote, which I could write when I write about him in my blog. He avoided an answer. So I asked him again, “okay, tell me, what do you think, has the house construction practice in India improved recently?”
To which he replied, “Yes, definitely a lot in the last few years, but still, there is miles to go!”
Here you go a philosophical quote from Dipan.
rather than a philosophical thought, you need a quantitative one.
ReplyDeletethe stakeholders in such an activity/ initiative has to be beyond the masons and only then will this spread as you want it to.
Dear Elephant M,
ReplyDeleteYes, certification surely is.
But, if I am answering your second para correctly, it is not that is a lack of people working on this (surely more efforts are needed) but it is just that every stakeholder here has a different goal. Beyond masons Some think about masons capable to do tradional construction as before; some think about better quality buildings delivered by them; some about their lifestyle, earnings and pensions, and so on. I think getting all these stakeholders (who are already thinking beyond) under one roof is one hell of a challenge, and should be useful. Same thing you wanna say?