First batch of 3 Indian construction workers arrive for Japan’s paid internship program

When early Indians came to Japan, the main occupation they were involved were businesses like spice traders, gems & Jewelery related businesses and restaurants.  Then with era changed from analog to digital where white-collar jobs related to IT & services started to open from the 90s onwards. And now this attempt by Raj Group Pvt. Ltd. in Tokyo and its associated organization CHI-SKILL,, are making it possible for blue-collared construction workers to come on a special Visa where interns can work and also earn considerably, is a new chapter in Indo Japan cooperation.

This is being done under what is referred to as Technical Internship Training Program (TITP). The TITP agreement was signed between the two countries in October 2017, under which India can send blue-collared workers to Japan.

The TITP scheme includes 14 categories of blue-collared workers and this visa is meant for non-graduates and school dropouts. The program is for a 5-year duration after which the workers can either apply for a visa in another category to extend their stay in Japan or return to India. 

Till now workers for factory and nurse categories have come from India but this is the first time blue collared worker for the construction sector has come to Japan.

Anil Raj said that the first batch is a trial batch of three people since a lot of documentation was involved and it took almost 6 months to get everything ready. There is no previous experience of organizing this and all the documentation is in Japanese. 

He added, “If this is successful, we can bring thousands of Indian workers here because there is a big shortage in Japan. The workers’ saving potential in Japan is 3 times more than what they are earning currently in India.”

Our Honourable Ambassador H.E.Mr.Sanjay Kumar Verma received the TITP candidates at our Indian embassy and wished them luck. He also advised and guided them about the challenges they could face and how they could overcome them. On behalf of the embassy, he also offered full support to make their stay comfortable.

Our Honourable Ambassador also congratulated the team behind the success of this mission. He inquired about the challenges that the team faced in the whole process and also assured full support from the embassy to sort out any issues.

The following people attended the meeting along with our Honourable Ambassador and Mr.Karan Yadav (Third Secretary, Indian Embassy).

1) Mr. Anil Raj, President of Rajgroup.Pvt.Ltd.
2) Mr. Nityanandan Balakrishnan, In-Charge of TITP, Rajgroup Pvt.Ltd.
3) Mr. Koichi Abe, Deputy Chief Director, COOP. Kigyo Kouryu Center (Supervising Organization)
4) Mr. Toshihiko Yamaguchi, Team Leader, COOP. Kigyo Kouryu Center (Supervising Organization)
5) Mr. Rajesh, President Ambitious Pvt.Ltd. (Receiving Organization)
6) Mr. Manojit Biswas (TITP Candidate)
7) Mr. Sudip Biswas (TITP Candidate)
8) Mr. Ranit Gohil (TITP Candidate)

Terms you must know:
People interested in this area should be aware of the following terms

1. Sending organization (SO) – which identifies the candidate, prepare them for interviews, trains them and Japanese and does documentation

2. Japan representative of SO – responsible in Japan and gets business

3. Supervising Organization (SVO) – monitoring organization over RO

4. Receiving Organization (RO) – where candidates will exactly work in Japan

Why is this happening ?
The reasons behind this program are very open and there are lot of other countries in it participating. Japanese society is aging and is lack of labor forces in all sectors involving both brain and muscle power. This is related to the construction area where manual work needs more hands from across the world. On the other hand, if people come from India, the youth gets to work and earn. If eligible can also continue in Japan later, if he/she decides to go back, in that case also they take this experience back and can utilize it while working in India.

Of course, there are risks involved since people coming from outside Japan have to align themselves with the cultures and rules applicable in Japan. It becomes the responsibility of individuals to be law-abiding during their internship period here and take back the valuable skills which can be utilized for enriching the motherland. The organization and embassy are also in support and are promoting this passage, hence individuals can also turn to them for support and help.

for more info on TITP, we encourage you to detach this portal IndoJapanPulse.com with the term TITP and explore more.

Alternatively, please mail at contact@indojapanpulse.com in case of any queries about TITP program with subject “TITP Query”.

Additional Reading & Caution:

There has been cases of misbehavior with employees by the employer and that is totally problem-related to organizations & not the country as a whole.

We share the concern and are aware of incidents which has happened with members from other countries(covered in our past posts) and even people doing it are also aware of it including Embassy of India in Japan.

Fortunately, there have not been a single incident reported yet from nurses and Factory workers coming from India (that does not mean it will not happen.)

Hence with caution, this has stated on trial basis and feasibility would be measured as it goes ahead.

Apart from just IT, we need to think in holistic way and we still we have these problems
– Shrinking employment options in India
– Fast-growing population
– Lack of higher skill levels we need back home even in other sectors

What we can do is
– Support diverse employment options for our countrymen
– Increase the awareness amongst them so they get it right in its first time itself.
– Become a support system for people coming through this passage and raise an alarm if something wrong is happening with them.
– Rectify for doing it right for future

Not trying at all in not an option for a huge nation like ours.

More readings
– Guidebook for Trainees:

https://www.jitco.or.jp/download/data/guidebook_english.pdf

– NSDC

https://nsdcindia.org/titp-home

– JITCO

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