Establishment of NTTF Technical Training Centre at Dharwad

by HEKS.Switzerland From the book,"THE ROOTS OF NETTUR TECHNICAL TRAINING CENTRE [NTTF]

by Dr.Alfred Frischknech.Fellow NTTF.

HEKS -"Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen der Schweiz"-Swiss Inter church Aid.Rev.Dr.H.C.Heinrich Hellstern,Director of HEKS, from 1945 to 1964 was the patron of NTTF.He brought up the idea of providing Technical Training as a means to improve conditions in a developing country. He organised funding from the Swiss Protestant Churches and commissioned Mr Alfreid Frischknecht to start and organise training centres at Nettur and Dharwad.

Rev.Dr.H.C.Heinrich Hellstern was put in charge of co-ordinating relief actions in October 1945 by the Federal of Swiss Protestant Churches a new organisation HEKS to people suffering in war-torn Europe. After 1956 HEKS extended their service to Third World Countries "Under the development assistance to Third World Countries"and "The Swiss Government Service for Technical Co Operation"now known as Swiss Development Co-operation(SDC) made possible for HEKS to establish its First CSI Technical Training Centre at Nettur in 1959 and later called as NTTF Technical Training Centre,Nettur.

First NTTF Training Centre at Nettur 1959,and Second NTTF Training Centre at Dharwa in 1964,and Third NTTF Technical Training Centre at Bangalore in 1977. First NTTF Tool Room at Katpadi in 1964, and Second NTTF Tool Room at Bangalore in 1977. NTTF Technical Training Centre.Dharwad. In August 1961-two years after the start of the CSI Technical Training Centre at Nettur and later called as NTTF Technical Training Centre Nettur,a delegation of the former United Basel Mission church of India which was joined the CSI in 1958,called on Mr Alfried Frischknecht,the HEKS representative in India. It consisted of.Mr R.S.Banghera and Mr Ammanna,and requested Mr Alfried Frischknecht to visit Dharwad with a view of establishing a similar Technical Training Centre on a plot belonging to the Basel Mission Trust Association adjucent to the Dharwad Hubli Main Road.

Mr Alfried Frischknecht visited Dharwad and submitted a report to HEKS in September 1961.It so happened that The World Council of Churches held its assembly in New Delhi in December 1961 and Rev.Dr.H.C.Heinrich Hellstern,Director of HEKS also attended this. A meeting initiators M/s R.S.Banghera,Ammanna,Bhasme,Jogul and Velon, a missionery of Basel Mission with Rev.Dr.H.C.Heinrich Hellstern,Director of HEKS and Mr Alfried Frischknecht was possible on 26th December 1961.At that meeting Rev.Dr.H.C.Heinrich Hellstern,Director of HEKS pointed out the principles of operation of HEKS:"Open for everybody,admission on merit,independent of Government,priority on quality and a legal solution for all Training Centres."

Mr R.S.Banghera,Chairman of the Basel Mission Education Trust held a meeting on 5th April 1963,in which many prominent persons attended,namely: M/s G.R.Nalawad Mayor, HubliDharwad Corporation,A.M.Shaikh,Commissioner,HubliDharwad Corporation,Corporators,B.B.Desai,proprietor,Dharwad Electricity Supply Co., Industrialist,Journalist,Principals and Mr Alfried Frischknecht HEKS Representative.

The Mayor and Commissioner assured those present that they will do everything possible to bring about this project and exercise their role in providing land,water and electricity.

Mr Alfried Frischknecht explained that the complete course for training in Precision Tool and Die Making will be four years,but split in to two parts. The basic course will be according to the 'National Council for Training on Vocational Trades NCTVT. After 18months training the trainees will appear for an examination conducted by the NCTVT. The next 2 and 1/2 years will be for those who want and are able to continue. It was initially thought that this could be according to new apprentice act,but as later experience showed,it had to be an independent course as prescribed by NTTF.

The District Church Board expressed its happiness and it considered the benefits which the NTTF Technical Training Centre will bestow on the youngsters. Families who can not afford to send their children to private Schools are provided with opportunities to have a better future and the training will be to a great extent similar to that at NTTF Nettur.

Mr.R.S.Banghera confirmed on 19th October 1963 that the Municipality re transferred the plot of land to Basel Mission Propriety Trust, and on 20th January 1964,the Basel Mission Propriety Trust transferred the same to the As no Indian personnel was available with required qualifications to be in-charge of the workshop at Dharwad CSI Propriety Trust.

Mr Kurt Horlacher a Swiss engineer was selected by HEKS. as Principal of NTTF Technical Training Centre,Dharwad. He arrived to Dharwad on 18th February 1964 and on 4th May 1964 the first batch of 18 trainees were admitted. The Basel Mission High school at Dharwad made available its craft section for temporary use until the new building was constructed.

Mr Alfred Frischknecht , First Principal of NTTF Technical Training Centre Nettur and First HEKS Delegate in India from 1958-65.

Mr Hans Freudiger Second HEKS Delegate to India from November 1965 to beginning of 1969.

Mr Kurt Horlacher,First Principal of NTTF Technical Training Centre, Dharwad from 1964-69. They were the responsible Swiss Experts to Start and Establish the NTTF Technical Training Centre at Dharwad.

The capital investment for the NTTF Technical Training Centre at Dharwad was estimated as Rs 12,84,302/-. This was the beginning of NTTF Technical Training Centre at Dharwad.From the book "THE ROOTS OF NETTUR TECHNICAL TRAINING CENTRE [NTTF] Mr Kurt Horlacher.First Principal of NTTF Technical Training Centre, Dharwad.1964-69.I was working in a Food Processing Plant in charge of the department of Human Resources and Training. Despite this promising occupation I felt the urge for a new challenge in a foreign countries. I got the offer from HEKS to go to India to build a training centre for Tool and Die Making. I was totally enthusiastic. First Tool and Die Making was my area and secondly India was the country of my dreams since childhood.

On the day of my departure I traveled with my boxes by train to Genoa. There I boarded a steamer to travel Bombay. I still remember the impression I had as I disembarked at Bombay. It was simply overwhelming. I entered a new World. However I did not have much time to ponder. I had to look after my huge boxes. I hired a shipping agent to unload the boxes and clear them through customs. Another agent was responsible for the transport to Dharwad by train. HEKS was generous in putting me up at the Taj Mahal Hotel,I had never experienced such splendour before.

The journey to Dharwad by train was another exciting and unforgettable experience. From Pune on wards I had my own two bed cabin with baths and toilette. To my surprise I was told to close the doors and windows before going to sleep. I arrived at Dharwad on February 18th 1964.Since the railway station at Dharwad had no unloading equipment,the stationmaster had to organise 12 people to unload the boxes and I became the responsible for the train leaving Dharwad 30 minutes behind schedule. With the help of kind people I could organise everything. Within two weeks I could occupy a big house in Saraswatpur which Mr R.S.Banghera had organised for me to settle down.

When I arrived I did not have the least idea about India,its people,their language and their way of life,but I was very lucky to find some very helpful and honest people like Mr and Mrs R.S.Banghera,to name only two,to guide me safely through the life in a strange environment. My wife and my two small boys arrived three months later when the minimal infrastructure required for a family was ready.

The first problem I had to deal with was the actual situation on the building site. Since a distance of 75 feet from the middle of road to the building had to be kept,the site was very small to construct a training centre big enough to train 120 trainees simultaneously as planned. I could not but to give my consent to build the Institute at the proposed site and this despite the fact that the Municipality offered me a much bigger plot at the outskirts of Dharwad.It was an affair of the heart I could not disappoint these people. So I adapted the building plans to the site. Mr Lory Baker,an English architect,living in India,came to Dharwad and the design of the building which was modern in appearance.

As advised by the trustees,I established a local advisory body to understand the Indian Social System,to deal with Government Administration and to have connection with the local industries and Institutions. This local advisory board consisted of two members of the Basel Mission Community and two representative of the local Industries.

Before the building plans were completed I had to organise the function of laying down the foundation stone,a ceremony absolutely unknown to me. The function was success. Honourable Home Minister of Mysore State Shri R.M.Patil was the chief Guest. The foundation stone also blessed me with the experience of Politics in India.

After two months stay at Nettur/Tellicherry,I returned to Dharwad and recruited 20 students for the four years training as Tool and Die Makers. There were not many applications and so no entrance examination was required. As the building and training facilities were not seen,people were sceptical. Another reason was that Tool Making was a profession unknown in India and no degree could be attained. Although Tool Making is a very demanding profession it was considered to be only where hand skills are used and as such had a low social reputation. The boys were ready to join were mostly collage dropouts. They were stubborn boys not easy to handle but they were intelligent,gifted and independent individuals. From the beginning there was mutual respect between the students and the Principal.

In a country with 400 million inhabitants,only twenty had joined this course.I thought this to be nothing but a drop on a hot stone. But after the first batch of students passed out,there was some kind of avalanche effect. As soon as one member of the family climbed up the social ladder his family followed suit. I had,for example,a trainee from a poor family who lived in a tiny village. He went to Canada after the apprenticeship. With the money he sent home his brothers' children were able go to collage and increase their herd of buffaloes .

It was a modest beginning. From Basel Mission Boys High School we got a office,a classroom and their handcraft shop( Carpenter Shop) to use as workshop. The workshop had to be furnished with workbenches and furnitures. In my opinion it was essential for an efficient and controlled training that each trainee has his own workplace with a vice and a drawer containing the required hand tools. At that time only few tools were available locally and that too not of the required quality. The same could be said about furniture. I did bring the most important tools like measuring tools,drills and milling cutters along with me when I came to India. Other toos were sent together with the machine tools and most from Switzerland.

First I was alone with 20 trainees but soon I got an instructor from Tellicherry. His name was Mr Johnson.I put him in-charge of workshop and I conducted the theory classes. It was a very hard life for me. During the day I was in the institute. In the evening I prepared the lesson and wrote the required textbooks. I also drafted the detail plans for the workshop building. After their completion I made the network plan to make sure that the building work could progress within the timetable.

The workshop came in full swing. The trainees made their exercise pieces and as production work we produced hammers,centre punches and other tools as well as the first tool for the industry. We admitted a second batch of 20 trainees. Since the institution had become very popular we received plenty of applications due to which an entrance examination was conducted. The selection procedure consisted of three parts. Due to the big number of applications we could hardly call for an examination. Some kind of pre selection had to be made. In the first round we selected according to the marks in English and Science. A fairly good knowledge of English was essential for the students to follow the training since all the lessons and instructions were given in this language. I was quite aware that this kind of selection was arbitrary. In the second step we called those selected for an aptitude test. Last but not the least we conducted a personal interviewee second instructor arrived from Tellicherry

A suitable person was found to help me supervise the building works. Mr Deshapande was 82 year old building Engineer who had worked under the British. He knew all the tricks used by contractors and was an honest man. He did not claim a salary. We used to honorarium. His reward was the feeling of all being useful at his age. For me he was indispensable.

The angle-iron structure for the roof of the workshop building was manufactured at Coimbatore. It was frightened moment when the structure were about to be mounted on the walls and pillars. But to my big relief every thing was fine.

As soon as the workshop was completed we started shifting the equipment. To shift the machines I designed a trolley with a platform. The distance to the old building to new workshop was about 500m(1/2 a kilometer).We loaded the machine by machine,some of them were quite heavy,and dragged the trolley with the help of ropes on the national highway. It looked like slave work but neither trainees or staff refused to help. I think this mutual venture speak about NTTF Dharwad,they call it out institute. Shortly after occupying the workshop we also shifted class rooms and office.

Once established we could start the production work on the bigger scale for the industries all over Indianian main customers were Tata,Kirloskar,India Aeronotics and Bharat Telephones and Tiwak. We even manufactured the deep drawing tool for the steel helmet of the army. As time went on new batches of trainees were enrolled and the total number went up to 120 trainees.

As the building work came to completion it was time to look for some VVIP to inaugurate the new building,Mrs Indira Gandhi,Prime Minister of India,was visiting Harihar in January 1967.To make her visit to NTTF on this occasion was a political balance act and Mrs Sarojini Mahishi consented to stop at NTTF Dharwad on her way to Kittur. We had decided that the function should be as modest as possible and for our Institute exclusively. It took place in the Workshop in the presence of trainees and staff as well as some dignitaries and the representative of the HEKS,The Ambassador of Switzerland,the home minister and some Industrialists. The Prime Minister mentioned in her speech that the short modest function proved to be the kind of function she liked.Our aim was our trainees should,after a period of four years,reach the same professional standard in Tool Making as that of an apprentice in Switzerland. We also wanted to create in them a sense of responsibility,professional conduct and devotion to work. This goal was attained as the outgoing students proved in many cases. Those who went,for example for example,to Germany could,from the beginning easily join the German Tool Makers. Their commendable conduct was in my opinion equally important as professional skills. It was therefore decisive to insist on the strict observation of the rules and regulations. In this aspect I was uncompromising but at the same time I considered the trainees as equal human beings.

We paid all the trainees a stipend of 60/-per month from the second year onward. Trainees who did extremely well in Manufacturing a particular tool were given as incentive. Prior to the visit of the Prime Minister the trainees collected Rs 1050/-by working over time,and donated this amount to the Prime Minister,s drought relief fund. Along with the drawing,we gave the trainees a limit for finishing the tool. Because first we had to keep the date of delivery and secondly the trainee had to organise his work and coordinate the use of machines with others. In this way we developed in them a sense of teamwork.

After my service from 1964 to 69, HEKS sent a replacement from Switzerland. However,I actually never left Dharwad in my heart.From1972 onwards,we visited Dharwad every second year. In 1993,I retired and settled down at Dharwad again. A lot of time lapsed since I stood hungry and four huge boxes on the railway platform in Dharwad. Looking back I am still proud about the work I have done in Dharwad. I have never regretted going to India. For me the time in Dharwad was an invaluable enrichment of my life. I can proudly say:Mission Successfully Completed. :