About Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)

Introduction

Despite urbanization, the majority of youth lives in India’s rural areas. Two-third of the population are engaged in agriculture and the food industry. Youth and women are excessively affected by the poor conditions of employment. They don’t view traditional agriculture of smallholders as their profession.

To aid the rural youth in India, the Government initiated a project in 2014. It was
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana. This scheme was set up at the 98th birth ceremony of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.

DDU-GKY

DDU-GKY is an initiative of the Ministry of Rural development. This scheme aims to develop skills of poor rural youth. It provides jobs with higher minimum or regular monthly wages.

The DDU-GKY is a member of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). This scheme will give advantage to more than 55 million rural youth who are poor.

The DDU-GKY is also a crucial contributor in the “MAKE IN INDIA” campaign.

Note: The NRLM is a mission to reduce poverty. It is also called “Aajeevika”. This mission was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in June 2011.

Objective Of The DDU-GKY

The primary objective of the DDU-GKY is to:

• Reduce the unemployment in the nation.
• Decrease poverty by increasing youth employment based on monthly wages.
• Enhance the work ability of every youth & make them self-dependent.
• Motivate social gathering in the country.
• Assure 70% placement of the trained youth.
• Provide post placement support to every applicant.
• Support training partners for career progression.
• Set up a skill standard needed by the person in and outside the nation.

Key Components Of The Scheme

• A full scheme coverage is given to the people that suffer from any disability.
• 50% corpus of DDU-GKY is given to the youth that belongs to ST/SC category.
• The 15% corpus is set to help minorities.
• 3% corpus is given for the youth that suffered from any ailment.
• One third part of the scheme includes women.
• The Jammu & Kashmir Government has set up a Himayat scheme for its youth.
• The Roshini scheme is set up for the tribal area youth.

Note: The Himayat and Roshini scheme focus on enhancing skills of the youth.

Funding Pattern

DDU-GKY provides support for funds ranging from Rs.25,696 to more than Rs.1 lakh per youth. It is given to train the desirable youth for enterprises all over the globe. The funding depends on the project duration & non-residential or residential project. The fund is given for the projects with training duration from 576 hrs to 2304 hrs.

DDU-GKY fund is given to support a variety of skills training programs that covers more than 250 trade sectors. These sectors are like

• Health,
• Leather,
• Retail,
• Construction,
• Electrical, etc.

The skill training should be based on demand. It should help 75% trainees to get placement.

For capital schemes, priority is given to Project Implementing Agencies that offers:

• Captive Employment
• Placements in Foreign countries
• Champion Employers
• Internships in industry
• Training for highly reputed educational institution

DDU-GKY Implementation Model

DDU-GKY is implemented on a 3-tier model which is as follows-

In the state, the Project Implementation Agency implements the schemes on PPP mode. It is on the basis of market demand that drives the process for targeted sanction.

On a National basis, the Ministry of Rural Development implements the project. The function of ministry is to:

• Make policy,
• Provide technical support and
• Act as a facilitation agency.

Under DDU-GKY, a national portal is set up for PIAs registration. It also enables PIAs to file online project applications. This will enable PIAs to train and give employment to youth.

Coverage Of DDU-GKY Scheme

The DDU-GKY scheme is available for the entire youth of India. It is currently existing in UTs & 28 states. This scheme is across 689 districts of the nation. As on 22nd April 2022, over 11 lakh youth are trained and more than 6 lakhs are placed with jobs.

Special Initiative Under DDU-GKY

ROSHI

ROSHI-a special initiative was launched on 10th June 2013 by the Ministry of Rural Development. It was set up in a bid to later reach out to the rural youth. The initiative was in 27 critical left wing extremism that are affected in 9 states in the country.

The scheme mandated that there should be at least 40% women covered under it. Training will be given in public-public and public-private partnerships that are registered with PIA’s.

HIMAYAT

HIMAYAT is a placement scheme lined with skilled development programmes. This scheme is 100% funded by the central Government of India. It was set up to provide employment for the Jammu & Kashmir youth. This scheme is managed by three institutions, named-

• Himayat Mission Management Unit of JKSRLM.
• Government of J&K, and
• Department of Rural Development.

In this scheme, the applicants are given free training for 3 to 12 months of duration. It includes youth from BPL & non-BPL as well as rural & urban areas.

Conclusion

Thanks to the Indian Government, they have raised employment for poor rural youth through DDU-GKY. This scheme has enabled the youth to earn a good livelihood. They are getting benefits like

• Free training,
• Course material,
• Post material salary, etc.

The Ministry of Rural Development announced the set up of DDU-GKY on Antyodaya Diwas in 2014. This initiative works under NRLM as a demand-driven approach.