Jaipal Tiwari, Deputy Project Manager, Structures at BSCPL Infrastructure Ltd. at Indore project site, had one worry in life – How to spot talent in a sea of unemployed youth, all of whom were clamouring for work at his factory. But if he went right down to the local Gram Panchayat naka and selected workers at random who appeared able-bodied and employed them for BSCPL Infrastructure Ltd in which he worked, his normal experiences was that at the end of the day there were more than 40% rejects of steel bars bent wrongly, steel bars of the wrong gauge used, improper reading of the drawings as per which the steel had to be bent. But Jaipal considered himself to be lucky when only these things happened, as more than once a week, with street labor that was hired, the casual laborers would disappear with some bars of steel.
The second option for Jaipal was to use labor contractors (Mistrys) to get batches of laborers from the villages. This led to an advantage of getting a steady supply of workers as needed. Also Jaipal can allot work to these contractors on the tonnage basis or Piece Rate Work (PRW) basis. But the workers were still unskilled, and the Mistrys were more interested in collecting advance payment. Once payment is made they will start the work, do some part of the work and while the work is half done then will disappear with their cellphones switched off to prevent being saddled with Jaipal’s complaints. These Mistrys would again approach Jaipal only when they wanted more money. Also the Mistrys were not in the least interest in ensuring if the workers they supplied were working as per the Company’s requirements and the quality standards. In some cases the Mistrys had even collected their commission in advance against a promise that they would complete the work faster and decamped with the money, never putting in an appearance again. The company had been cheated on more than one such occurrence by these nefarious tendencies of the labour market in rural India. The net effect of using Mistrys was the same as when daily wage labourers were hired directly from the Nakas.
Jaipal was looking for redemption from these ongoing aches. This is when he met Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Pipal Tree Ventures Pvt Ltd (PTVPL), - a social venture for imparting skills for opportunities. PTVPL is an organization in the field of providing vocational training to aspiring youth in the ages 18 to 35 and provide vocational training in skills required in the construction industry. Preliminary discussion between PTVPL and Jaipal, gave Jaipal the impression that here was a source that in a short time could ensure a constant supply of labour that would also be skilled in the trades of bar bending, steel fixing, reading simple drawings, and other auxiliary functions. This service would also not require Jaipal’s company to spend anything much upfront. Only when the batch of workers was trained, would they have to be hired. PTVPL also gave performance guarantee for all the youths provided by PTVPL. That means Jaipal no longer need to worry about the productivity of these youths.
