Washington: India, the US and other countries in the West are facing the problem of unemployment while China isn't as it is dominating global production, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said, underscoring the need to focus on manufacturing in India.
During an interaction with students at the University of Texas in Dallas on Sunday, Gandhi said there is no shortage of skills in India and the country could compete with China if it starts aligning itself for production. He also stressed the need to encourage vocational training to bridge the gap between the business system and the education system and flagged the "ideological capture" of the latter.
Gandhi is on a four-day unofficial trip to the US during which he will interact with the members of the Indian diaspora and youths with stops in Dallas, Texas and Washington DC. He also plans to meet lawmakers and senior officials of the US government during his visit to Washington DC beginning Monday.
He arrived in Dallas on Saturday night and was welcomed by dozens of members of the Indian-American community led by senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda and president of Indian National Overseas Congress, USA, Mohinder Gilzian.
"The West has an employment problem. India has an employment problem... But many countries in the world don't have an employment problem. China certainly doesn't have an employment problem. Vietnam doesn't have an employment problem," Gandhi said.
"If you look at the United States in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, they were the centre of global production. Anything that was made, (be it) cars, washing machines (or) TVs, all was made in the United States. Production moved from the United States. It went to Korea and it went to Japan. Eventually, it went to China. If you look today, China is dominating global production," he said.
The West, America, Europe and India have "given up on the idea of production" and they've handed it to China. "The act of production creates jobs. What we do, what the Americans do, what the West does, is we organise consumption... India has to think about the act of production and organising production..."
"It's not acceptable that India simply says, okay, manufacturing, what you call manufacturing or production is going to be the preserve of the Chinese. It's going to be the preserve of the Vietnamese. It's going to be the preserve of Bangladesh," Gandhi said.
He underlined the need to encourage manufacturing. "Until we do that, we will face high levels of unemployment. And frankly, it's not sustainable. So, you're going to see that if we carry on down this path of forgetting about manufacturing, you're going to see massive social problems coming in India and in the United States and Europe. The polarisation of our politics is because of this..." he added.
According to the leader of opposition, there is no shortage of skills in India. "Many people say that India has a problem with skills. I don't think India has a problem with skills. I think... India does not have respect for people who possess skills," he said.
Gandhi said there is a need to link the education system with the business system through vocational training. "Bridging that gap or linking these two systems, skills and education, through vocational training is fundamental. I think currently the huge problem with the education system is the ideological capture, where ideology is being fed through it...," he said.
He said he is convinced that India can take on China if it starts aligning itself for production and starts respecting skills. "I'm absolutely convinced of it. States like Tamil Nadu have already shown it. It's not that Indian states have not done it. Pune has shown it. Maharashtra has shown it. So, it is being done but it's not being done at the scale and with the coordination that it needs to be done," Gandhi said.
