Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon belongs to the 1978 Batch of the Indian Revenue Service, Customs & Excise. He holds a M.A. & L.L.B. Degree, and has a Doctorate Degree in Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances from Mangalore University. He has been awarded certificates in Management Program from Maxwell School of Leadership and Public Management, Syracuse University (U.S.A.), Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. He is a Fellow, James Martin Centre for Non Proliferation Studies, San Francisco, USA, and at University of Georgia, U.S.A. on Commodity Identification (Dual Use Items) with reference to components and parts used in nuclear and missile industry
He has distinguished himself as a renowned international Counter Narcotics Specialist. He has trained hundreds of officers of the Indian Customs, Narcotics Control Bureau, Police, and Central Bureau of Narcotics, apart from Indian Army. He is a regular faculty on Narcotics, Narco-Terrorism and Money Laundering at Military Intelligence School Pune, National Defense Academy Khadakvasala, National Defense College New Delhi, Armored Corps School Ahmednagar, 23 Infantry Division Ranchi, Naval Warfare School Goa, and Coast Guard Academy, Cochin. He has delivered lectures on Narcotics at Russian Customs Academy Moscow, World Customs Organization Brussels, Department of Revenue and Customs Thimphu Bhutan, UNODC New Delhi, and Asia Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building Bangkok,
After retirement as the Director General of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics Academy, Faridabad, NCR, New Delhi, he joined Yenepoya University as the Registrar.
He also served as the HEAD, Centre for Narcotics & Psychotropic Substances, MAHE (Manipal University).
He is presently Director Indian Institute of Infrastructure & Construction, Chavara, Kollam, Kerala
I feel privileged and honored to be in IIIC as Director and thereby be a part of the journey towards Skill India. Human Capital is one of the biggest investments of any industry. It is important that skills development and other investments comprise one of the factors necessary for productivity and growth. Continued improvement of productivity is also a condition for competitiveness and economic growth and therefore poverty reduction. As a country, we indeed face the possibility of a ‘skill divide’, which will be even more threatening to our development prospects than the ‘digital divide’.
At IIIC the focus is to enhance the employability of youth, increase youth workforce competitiveness, increase private sector engagement in and development of youth employment programming and job placement.
India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35%. This untapped demographic dividend of young Indians presents public and private sector stakeholders with both a challenge and an opportunity. At IIIC the students will imbibe the skills and support they need to compete and succeed in the workplace and 21st century employability skills.
Investment in skill development played a very important role in the Asian Tiger economies and the earlier miracles in the development of the Japanese and North American economies. India must create an enabling environment that accelerates our socio-economic development through productivity enhancement. The primary strategy towards this end would be the development of our human resources to achieve a multiplier effect that will expedite economic reforms. Globally, several countries such as Finland Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Netherlands, have taken steps to strengthen policy guidance and regulatory frameworks for technical and vocational education and training. This has also enabled them tackle youth unemployment.
For our nation to realize Vision 2030, there has to be a focused attention towards building the human capital that will drive the industries through skills development. Primarily, the manufacturing sector is the guaranteed provider of productive, sustainable jobs. We cannot solve the unemployment menace in the country with rudimentary skills; we must secure the future of industry through practical cutting-edge skills for job creation.
