INTRODUCTION

Training is a very important component of Human Resources Development. It is, perhaps the most cost effective method of improving competencies and instill positive attitudes amongst the manpower of any organization. Training has now acquired a paramount significance in the context of the rapid technological changes as well as the economic and social transformation taking place in the country in general and power sector in particular.

The electricity industry is undergoing transformation through paradigm changes in Government policies, economic environment and consumer awareness. Unlike the past, electricity generation, transmission and distribution are now considered as commercial activities.  In this changing business context has emerged a new factor for success: the competitive spirit to achieve higher productivity and customer satisfaction.

In order to survive in this competitive market, organizations will have to change their existing core beliefs, processes and methodologies and focus on hands-on learning to inculcate the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes in their personnel.

POWER SECTOR PERSPECTIVE

The main objective of electricity industry is to achieve customer satisfaction through generation of electricity of the right quality and quantity at an affordable cost and supply to the consumers efficiently whenever and wherever required. This involves planning, design, engineering, procurement, material handling, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of power plants, transmission and distribution, sale of energy and collection of revenue, management of personnel and finance etc., a critical task in its own right. 

Trained manpower is required at every stage of the above-mentioned tasks.  Fast advancement of technology is making every sphere of the electricity supply industry more and more sophisticated, requiring specially skilled engineers, supervisors, artisans, managers etc. to efficiently run the industry. The growing concern over environmental degradation and depletion of the conventional energy sources has made  the task  more challenging. The technical knowledge acquired from engineering colleges, polytechnics, industrial training institutes and other technical institutions need to be supplemented with applied engineering and managerial skills.  These skills are to be regularly updated to cope with the ever progressing and rapidly advancing technologies being introduced in the power sector where the speed of obsolescence often overtakes the pace of acquisition of a particular skill. 

Due to the introduction of more sophisticated technology and automation, the Man/MW ratio is declining. The Man/MW ratio in thermal sector in India has declined from 4.71 in
the Sixth plan to less than 2.0 in the Ninth plan. In the hydro sector too, the Man/MW ratio has come down from 6.04 in the Sixth plan to 2.0 in the Ninth plan. The same trend is evident in terms of the number of personnel/ million units supplied - declining from 4.6 in 1992-93 to 2.5 in 2000-2001, a 45% decrease in eight years. 

This indicates the increasing importance of each individual, which in turn makes manpower quality criteria more demanding. Added to this is the fact that electricity industry is a highly capital intensive industry.  This necessitates the operation of the plants and equipment in the most safe and efficient manner to minimize the cost of supply. 

Power sector reforms in India have gained momentum with the initiative of most of the State Governments in establishing State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) and restructuring the SEBs.  The reforms are expected to change the way the Indian Electricity Supply Industry has been functioning for the last five decades and therefore demands major changes in the roles of technical/managerial personnel at various levels.  As power sector reforms involve a number of complex and intricate issues, the people involved will need to be equipped with specific inputs in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude to enable them to play their changed roles effectively. 

The Report of the Sub-group on Manpower Planning & Training has been prepared under the Chairmanship of the Director General, NPTI for the Working Group on Power for the 10th Plan.  As per the report the additional Manpower requirement for the 10th Plan would be of the order of 4.49 lakhs. The total manpower by the end of the 10th Plan would be of the order of 13.47 lakhs and towards the end of 11th Plan the same would be 15.23 lakhs. The overall training load expected during the 10th plan is 7.4 lakh man-months/year against the available training infrastructure of only 0.7-lakh man-months/year. The Report was submitted to the Ministry of Power during August' 2001.

DEVELOPMENT OF SECTORAL TRAINING POLICY

A large number of Power Utilities have not yet set up the required training infrastructure and adequate importance is not being given to training.  Training is being considered as an optional activity and is taken up in isolation instead of an integral activity to achieve the organization’s goals. 

Decentralization of training, particularly, for operational level staff would be necessary. At the same time expensive infrastructure need not be created at each plant level. There ought to be networking of the facilities for better utilization of the resources.   Resorting to peripatetic training, wherever feasible, may be considered.
 

Realizing the role of training in shaping the future of Indian Power Sector for its human resources, a National Level Conference for evolving a consensus on Formulation of National Training Policy for the Power Sector was conducted during 20-21 April, 2001 wherein a conscious effort was made to pool in all the views of the participants from various Power Utilities, SEB’s, Central Sector Organizations and Autonomous Training/Teaching Institutes. Thereafter the Standing Committee on Training and its Core committee held several zonal meetings convened by NPTI. A National Training Policy document for the Power Sector was conceptualized and prepared by NPTI as the nodal agency of the Ministry of Power, with the basic Philosophy of “Training for All” and was released by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Power on 27th March, 2002.  The same was adopted by the Govt. Of India through Resolution No.3/15/2001-T&R dated 7-6-2002.

Keeping in spirit with the National Training Policy for the Power Sector, NPTI formulated its Training Philosophy as:
 

TRAINING – A BASIC RIGHT 

The basic philosophy on which the guidelines have been devised is:

TRAINING FOR ALL :  EVERY EMPLOYEE HAS A RIGHT TO RECEIVE  NEED BASED  TRAINING  AT  REGULAR  INTERVALS  TO  ENABLE HIM/HER TO DEVELOP  HIS/HER POTENTIAL TO THE MAXIMUM AND CONTRIBUTE HIS/HER BEST TO THE ORGANISATION .

THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF POWER TRAINING IS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION THROUGH REDUCTION IN  COST OF DELIVERED POWER AND ITS  RELIABLE AND QUALITY SUPPLY AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF EFFICIENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY.

Every Organization in the Power Sector should have a written Training Policy Document containing strategies to ensure training for all for a minimum period of one week annually for each employee, spending a minimum of 1.5% of salary budget towards training.

Money spent on training should be treated as an ‘investment’ rather than mere expenditure.

NPTI IN SERVICE OF HRD

National Power Training Institute is the National Apex Body for Training and Human Resources Development in the Power Sector with its Corporate Office at Faridabad. It operates on an All India basis through its Institutes in different Power zones of the country. NPTI, a unique HRD institution with over 37 years of experience in India has a track record of having trained more than 70,000 persons from Power Sector besides over 40,000 in mass education programs on Energy Conservation, Power Reforms etc.

NPTI is totally committed and consciously aware of Manpower Development & Training requirements and has several short-term and long-term Training Programs to meet the urgent, and long term technical needs and objectives of the Power Sector and allied Industries. NPTI through its ‘Centre for Advanced Management and Power Studies' (CAMPS) operates as a nodal institute for Advanced Learning and Management studies for higher echelons of Power Sector blending Management with frontier technologies with accent on strategic management.

NPTI is marching ahead with a clear vision of value orientation & value addition to National and Transnational Power / Energy sectors covering over 6000 trainees per year in its various courses. During the year 2001-02, NPTI has substantiated itself in a ‘turn-round’ performance in all parameters with phenomenal success, as well as ventured into newer domains of Education & Training. The performance parameters viz., Number of persons trained, Trainee-weeks, Revenue Earnings, CBT Packages developed, Corporate Seminars, programs on Power Reforms etc., are the highest ever achieved in any fiscal year in the last 36 years. The most crucial parameters of performance of NPTI have more than doubled in the last two years. The performance of the first half of the on-going financial year is very encouraging with revenue earnings of over Rs 350 lacs which is   Rs 190 lacs higher than earned last year during the same period and Trainee-Weeks     (T-W) over 20,000 which is 3000 T-W more than achieved in the corresponding period during the previous financial year. 

A National Level Hydro Power Training Institute in India to be equipped with requisite laboratories and a Training Simulator at a cost of Rs 14.75 crores is being set up at NPTI’s Corporate Office. The long felt need of systematic training on Hydro Power, which will be the focus of power development in India during X & XI plans will be met through this endeavor.

NPTI is taking a number of innovative endeavors with a view to enlarge its operations and also earn more revenue on its drive to self-sustenance. Tapping the potential available for training of personnel from foreign countries at the institutes of NPTI may also help in realizing the goal of enlarging the operational area and earning more revenue in foreign exchange.  In the previous fiscal year 2001-2002 a 15-week training program on CCGT Power Plant for a batch of Engineers from M/s AES Barka, Sultanate of Oman and a  special program of 3-week duration on Gas Turbine Power Plants for Trainees of Bangladesh were conducted, earning foreign exchange of more than $ 40,000.

NPTI and IEEMA are pioneering a 3-day Training Seminar for the Senior Engineers and Executives of the Ministry of Electricity, Govt. of Iraq at Baghdad during 15-17 Dec’ 2002, to upgrade the quality and system of Electric Supply in Iraq. This seminar would also showcase the Indian Power Industry, its capability in technologies, equipment, power training and research and India’s specific inputs in the Transmission and Distribution sectors. 

A team from Oman, which visited NPTI during August 2002, is expecting to further their discussion by involving NPTI in their nation building exercise chalking out Road maps for HRD for their engineering professionals.   Further discussions will be held with the Ministry of Housing, Electricity & Water and the Self-Employment and National Autonomous Development (SANAD) programs launched in Sultanate of Oman for preparation of a Roadmap for the Development of their Human Resources. 

NPTI is fully equipped with Hi-Tech ‘Training Infrastructure’ viz., Conference halls, Audio-Visual aids, Workshops & Laboratories, Hostels, Three Simulators, CBT-Open Learning Centers, Internet facility, Libraries, Working Models together with Specialist Core Faculty with long years of professionally Competent Industry interfaced Expertise and international exposure in the field of Training and HRD and is the only Institution of its kind in India catering to the core Power and allied Energy Sectors. Also NPTI's forte in training lies in its state-of-the-art Training Support services such as Audio-visual Aids, Computer Compatible Projection Systems, Electronic Board, Slide and Film Projectors, VCRs, Recording Decks, Synchronized Projection Systems, Video recording for mirroring technique etc. together with Graphic and Photographic Studios for development of training materials. 

A strong Publications and Training Resources Unit functioning at NPTI's Corporate Office has produced more than 45 manuals covering a wide-range of activities in Operation, Maintenance and Managerial practices in the Power Sector. Also O&M manuals have been published in Hindi for Supervisory and Operational level personnel.

CENTRE FOR ADVANCED MANAGEMENT AND POWER STUDIES  (CAMPS)

The Centre for Advanced Management and Power Studies is operating at the Corporate Office with the aim of interfacing frontier technologies with management. CAMPS launched its first ever MBA (Power Management) program in the current session, unique in the sub-continent to meet the huge requirement of Power Managers in the Power Ministry’s massive efforts of attaining self-sufficiency in Power Sector and run the Indian Power Sector on commercial lines. Shri Suresh P. Prabhu, Hon’ble Union Minister of Power, inaugurated this MBA program in the distinguished presence of Shri Om Prakash Chautala, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana and Smt. Jayawanti Mehta, Hon’ble Minister of State for Power on 27th March 2002.

CAMPS has been developing comprehensive capsule courses covering areas of Hydro, Thermal, Power Systems, Total Quality Management, Executive Development Training etc., covering technology-management interface, power-environment interface, power financing, privatization and regulatory issues through Workshops, Seminars, Conferences for dissemination of latest information to blend Technology with Management in order to create systems of excellence in the Power Sector.

MASS EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Energy Conservation

With an unflinching commitment towards sensitizing the young minds, an Energy Consciousness campaign was also organized covering as many as 26,782 pupils all over the country, for spreading awareness amongst the student fraternity on Energy Conservation, need for switching over to Renewable forms of energy, Fly ash utilization etc. Forays into newer domains have also been made to meet the requirement of the nation as a whole. In this regard, its efforts on weaving formal education with Industry interfaced skills and backward integration of Power Training experience with academics are noteworthy.

Power Sector Reforms

A unique scheme for educating all the stakeholders about the need and process of power sector reforms was entrusted to NPTI by the Ministry of Power during the year 2001-2002, with a target of covering as many as 10,500 people.

The scheme was sanctioned at the behest of Hon’ble Minister of Power, who believed that there was an urgent need to train and sensitize people from Central & State Power Utilities, Parliamentarians, Policy Makers, Opinion Makers, Public representatives, Media persons, Consumer forums, Trade Unions, Industrial Organizations etc. NPTI took this mammoth challenging task and interacted with as many as 14,093 people in little over 8 months enabling them to participate proactively in the change process and at the same time appreciate and take care of consumer interests and improve the organizational performance. 

QUALITY CONSCIOUSNESS

Commitment to quality is an on-going process in NPTI, with a focus on being client friendly. NPTI has been certified for ISO 9001:2000 by DET NORSKE VERITAS (DNV) Norway and the surveillance audit in March, 2002 revealed that NPTI outshined ISO 9001:2000 certified institutions in terms of very strong orientation and commitment to ever extending targets of performance maintaining high quality. 
 
 

IN TOUCH WITH TOMORROW’S HUMAN RESOURCES - MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER BASED TRAINING

NPTI has been in the forefront of Power Industry, in developing Hi-Tech Training facilities such as Multi-media Computer Based Training (CBT) Development Centres and state-of-the-art Full Scope Training Simulators.

Identifying Computer Based Training Packages as one of the most cost effective means of delivering consistent high quality training, NPTI has developed over 30 CBT self-learning packages on various Technical areas concerning Power Generation – Thermal, Hydro, T & D and has been marketing them at reasonable prices. These packages are Interactive, Self-paced & Learner Driven.

These packages have been procured by NPC, WBSEB, OHPC, NTPC, MSEB, PSEB, BSES, TNEB, APGENCO, DVB, BBMB, TATA Power and NHPC etc.

Also understanding the impact of quick learning and to help trainees go through at their own choice and pace without any help of Subject Experts, Open Learning Centres (OLCs) have been established at NPTI's Regional Institutes with Multimedia Computer Based Training Packages. Efforts are on to augment CBT to WBT i.e., Web based Training to cover a larger canvas of learning on a global basis.
 
 

THE WORLD OF SIMULATION - A STEP AHEAD IN TECHNOLOGY

NPTI has been making consistent attempts to improve training methodologies for the betterment of plant operation standards. NPTI was the first and foremost Institute in India to realize the tremendous impact of Power Plant Off-Job, Hands-On, Operation Training through Full Scope Digital, Real-Time Training Simulators and commissioned a Fossil Fuel Fired 210 MW Simulator as early as 1983 in NPTI (NR), Badarpur, New Delhi. 

NPTI has also established two more high-quality, high fidelity Full Scope Hi-Tech Real-Time Simulators. These Simulators are capable of Training Shift Charge Engineers/Unit Controllers/Operators in both the `Conventional Panel' and `CRT Keyboard' (Video Process/DDC) Modes of Unit Operation catering to the futuristic demands of Operational expertise. 

More than 250 emergency situations have been captured in an integrated plant process operation scenario. Engineers can experience a full range of operations together with stress situations to become better troubleshooters where it matters the most. More than 5,500 Shift Charge Engineers, Unit Controllers & Operators have been trained on these Simulators.
 

The economics of training reveals that cost of non-training is always higher than the cost of training. Training though does not show up direct calculable tangible results it effectively contributes and,  NPTI in a modest way can claim that the year from which the Post Graduate Diploma Course in Thermal Power Plant Engineering commenced induction of qualified Engineers into Thermal Plant Operation, the all India PLF of Thermal Power Plants has improved from 63% in 1996 to 70 % in the year 2002. During this period as many as 1900 operation engineers were trained on NPTI’s Simulators whose sharpened reflexes also contributed to this improvement.

BACKWARD INTEGRATION OF POWER TRAINING EXPERIENCE WITH ACADEMICS

Post Graduate Diploma and Post Diploma Courses In Power Plant Engineering

NPTI interfaces formal education with industry oriented specialized skills to cater to the needs of Power Sector.  In one of its most successful attempts to create a pool of Technically trained manpower for ready availability for recruitment by PSUs/SEBs/Power Utilities, NPTI launched a one year `Post Graduate Diploma Course in Thermal Power Plant Engineering', in 1996 recognized by AICTE, at all its four Institutes. 

The PG Diploma has had an overwhelming response and the trained manpower are being recruited by various Public and Private Sector Organizations through Campus interviews.  Around 800 engineers having completed the PG Course are a boon to the Power Industry.

In order to meet the need of trained personnel in the supervisory cadre, NPTI launched the first ever Post Diploma Course in Thermal Power Plant Engineering designed for diploma holders in engineering at all its Regional Institutes. The successful participants were recruited by various power and process industries. The course had an exceptionally encouraging feedback and is in demand.  So far 214 students have passed out from this course and are serving the power sector.

B.Tech. (Power)

The 4-year B.Tech. Power Engineering (Mechanical / Electrical) course being offered by NPTI is the first of its kind in India. The program is directed at the young aspirants who are looking for a bright career in the Power Industry, the backbone of all industrial activity. The program coverage includes the regular inputs provided generally in B.Tech programs besides power technology specific inputs. The curriculum is also designed in such a way that by selecting Mechanical / Electrical Electives the final awarded Degree can be B.Tech. Power Engineering (Mechanical / Electrical). The Institute is recognized by AICTE to conduct the program from 2001-02 onwards. The objective of the course is to create a pool of committed and competent professionals equipped with the appropriate technical skills to steer the Indian Power Sector and run it on techno-commercial lines.

BLENDING FRONTIER TECHNOLOGIES WITH MANAGEMENT

MBA (Power) 

The MBA in Power Management program is targeted towards fresh and practicing engineers and is a unique golden opportunity for the management of Power Utilities to groom their bright executives with engineering background who are expected to move to key positions. In addition to the inputs provided in regular MBA programs run by the reputed Business Schools like IIMs/MDI, this  ‘Program with a Difference’ lends special emphasis on specific power sector issues and ethos to give extra strength to the Indian Power Sector engineers to steer Power Sector of the country in these challenging times. 

The curriculum design and the learning process emphasize the development of students’ skills and abilities to apply management theories and concepts to live problems of electricity industry to create a pool of committed and competent professionals equipped with the appropriate managerial and technical skills to steer the Indian Power Sector and run it on business lines. The program also aims at developing future world class business leaders and decision makers who can think innovatively, duly sensitized to social and environmental interface and are capable of searching alternative solutions and to imbibe basic values and ethos with in-depth understanding of Indian realities.

RECOGNITIONS

The “Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial National Award 2002’ for Excellence in Energy Conservation was conferred upon NPTI by the International Greenland Society, Hyderabad, recognizing NPTI’s Herculean efforts in carrying out excellent Energy Consciousness campaign, covering as many as 26,782 pupils during 2000-2001. 

The ‘Best Training & HRD Institute of the Millennium Year’ NAFEN award bestowed upon NPTI by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Power Shri Suresh P. Prabhu  on 5-Dec-2000 was only a testimony of NPTI emerging as a Centre of Excellence during the millennium year. 
A couple of ISTD National Awards 2002 for Best Training & HRD practices were bestowed on NPTI.

LOOKING AHEAD

In order to set new standards of training in the power sector, the following fresh activities have been envisaged: 
 

• Franchising for increasing the canvas of Power Training
• Obtaining ISO 14001 Certification for NPTI
• Stepping up transnational training for revenue generation in foreign Exchange & International image building
• Establishing and maintaining Small Hydro Power Project for Training and self-sustenance.
• Setting up of Training Institute in the North Eastern Region.
• Setting up of T&D Resource Centre.
• Setting up of Power Environment Resource Centre.
• Energy Audit in Power Plants and Industries.
• Acquiring Deemed University Status for NPTI