Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)

Ministry of Rural Development

Context:

More than 15 lakh candidates trained under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya – Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI)

About DDU-GKY:

• DDU-GKY was launched on 25 September 2014 by Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Venkaiah Naidu on the occasion of 98th birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
• It is centrally sponsored scheme
• The Vision of DDU-GKY is to “Transform rural poor youth into an economically independent and globally relevant workforce“.
• It aims to target youth, in the age group of 15–35 years.
• DDU-GKY is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), tasked with the dual objectives of adding diversity to the incomes of rural poor families and cater to the career aspirations of rural youth.
• It supports the social and economic programs of the government such as Digital India, Make in India, Smart Cities, Start-up India and Stand-up India, as part of the Skill India campaign.
• The scheme is under the Ministry of Rural Development, GOI.
• A corpus of Rs 1,500 crore is aimed at enhancing the employability of rural youth.
• Under this programme, disbursements would be made through a digital voucher directly into the student’s bank account as part of the government’s skill development initiative
• The scheme can trace its roots to the ‘Special Projects’ component of the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) of 2004. It was revised and repositioned as DDU-GKY in 2014.

Project Funding Support

DDU-GKY provides funding support for placement linked skilling projects that address the market demand with funding support ranging from Rs. 25,696 to over Rs. 1 lakh per person, depending on the duration of the project and whether the project is residential or non-residential.  DDU-GKY funds projects with training duration from 576 hours (3 months) to 2304 hours (12 months).

Beneficiary Eligibility

• Rural Youth:15 – 35 Yrs
• SC/ST/Women/PVTG/PWD: upto 45 Yrs

Why this scheme needed?

According to Census 2011, India has 55 million potential workers between the ages of 15 and 35 years in rural areas. At the same time, the world is expected to face a shortage of 57 million workers by 2020. This presents a historic opportunity for India to transform its demographic surplus into a demographic dividend. The Ministry of Rural Development implements DDU-GKY to drive this national agenda for inclusive growth, by developing skills and productive capacity of the rural youth from poor families.

There are several challenges preventing India’s rural poor from competing in the modern market, such as the lack of formal education and marketable skills. DDU-GKY bridges this gap by funding training projects benchmarked to global standards, with an emphasis on placement, retention, career progression and foreign placement.

Features of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

Enable Poor and Marginalized to Access Benefits

• Demand led skill training at no cost to the rural poor
• Inclusive Program Design
• Mandatory coverage of socially disadvantaged groups (SC/ST 50%; Minority 15%; Women 33%)
• Shifting Emphasis from Training to Career Progression
• Pioneers in providing incentives for job retention, career progression and foreign placements
• Greater Support for Placed Candidates
• Post-placement support, migration support and alumni network
• Proactive Approach to Build Placement Partnerships
• Guaranteed Placement for at least 75% trained candidates
• Enhancing the Capacity of Implementation Partners
• Nurturing new training service providers and developing their skills
• Regional Focus

• Greater emphasis on projects for poor rural youth in Jammu and Kashmir (HIMAYAT),
• The North-East region and 27 Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) districts (ROSHINI)
• Standards-led Delivery
• All program activities are subject to Standard Operating Procedures that are not open to interpretation by local inspectors. All inspections are supported by geo-tagged, time stamped videos/photographs.
• Multi-Partner Approach: In order to energize and build mass support as well as create awareness amongst the rural youth, The DDU-GKY projects are market-linked and implemented in PPP mode. The involvement and partnership between civil society organizations, educational institutions, apex skill partners and regulating organizations, the Government and Private organizations, ensure that DDU-GKY can leverage on the strengths of all and achieve transformative change. Curriculum framing and assessment support is through NCVT (National Council on Vocational Training) or SSCs (Sector Skills Councils). Industry partnerships allow access to new technology and on the job training
• Focus on sustainability:  To ensure that candidates can perform in their work areas as well as assimilate into the organization and society, DDU-GKY has mandated a minimum of 160 hours of training in soft skills, function English and computer literacy. Additionally, a finishing module called Work Readiness training is suggested to ensure that trained candidates hit the ground running wherever they join.
• Quality Assurance Framework: Introducing predictability in government process by defining minimum service level benchmarks and standards, controls & audits, defaults and remedial actions to reduce Inspector Raj in an all-pervasive quality assurance framework comprising of the Guidelines & Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The high point of the framework is inclusion and self-regulation, with assigned role and responsibilities for Q-Teams within the PIAs. Additionally, transparency and accountability is fostered through the end-to-end implementation of Public Financial Management System (PFMS) as the channel for fund disbursals and audits. 
• Employing Technology in implementation: DDU-GKY through its training partners has employed the following
• A Geo-Tagged Time Stamped Biometric Attendance Record: similar to what the candidates will eventually find in most organizations. This serves a dual purpose of being a monitoring tool, and also it also making candidates familiar with modern technology.
• Provision of a Tablet PC per candidate at the training centre. This enables candidates to learn at their own pace.
• Presence of Computer Labs and e-Learning at Training Centres, to ensure that all candidates have access to wider curricula and adequate learning opportunities.

DDU-GKY Significance

By 2022, there is a skills gap of 109.73 million in 24 key sectors as identified by the National Policy for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship 2015. Additionally, a FICCI and Ernst & Young study (2013) identified a shortage of more than 47 million skilled workers across the globe by 2020. Considering this and taking advantage of the demographic dividend in India, there is immense potential for India to train its bottom of the pyramid (BoP) youth population and place them in jobs across the world.

• Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana has played a significant role in the context of Atmanirbhar Bharat through skilling.
• DDU-GKY along with integrated farming initiatives for rural development across the country is important for greater success in skilling and placing the rural youth.
• DDU-GKY plays an instrumental role in supporting social and economic programs, as a part of the Skill India campaign.

Appraisal of the scheme:

• Fills Gap of Skill-deficit: It is estimated that only 4.69% of the total workforce in India has undergone formal skill training as compared to 68% in UK, 75% in Germany, 52% in USA, 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea. On the other side, there is a demand of 109.73 million skilled manpower by 2022 in twenty-four key sectors. Therefore DDU-GKY seeks to fill this gap by imparting specific set of Modular Employable Skills (MES) needed to access full time jobs in the formal sector.
• Inclusive: All candidates who hail from poor families, and are between the ages of 15 and 35 years, are eligible for the training programs. For women and other vulnerable groups like persons with disabilities, the upper age limit is relaxed to 45 years.
• Diverse: DDU-GKY is industry agnostic. That said, its current training partners offer training programs in over 82 sectors, covering over 450 job-roles or trades. Candidates can only choose from skills offered in their vicinity/ assigned projects in their district
• Free-of-Cost: DDU-GKY subsidizes 100% cost of skill training of candidates at its approved training centres implemented by its PIAs in sanctioned projects. There are no fees. There are no registration charges. There are no examination or certification charges. There are no placement charges. However, candidates are required to attend all classes and OJT, put in hard work and effort to learn a trade and achieve a minimum of 70% marks in the final exam to pass.
• Certificates after Completion: a government recognized certificate upon successful completion of the training will be provided. In the case of training programs implemented under NCVT curricula, NCVT through its accredited assessors will perform the external assessment on completion of the duration of the course and provide the necessary co-branded certification upon passing.
• Placement Guarantee: Under DDU-GKY, the training partners are mandated to place atleast 75% of the successful candidates in jobs, offering a minimum salary (CTC) of Rs. 6000 per month. This amount will include any incentive or facility the company will provide you with like transport or meals or accommodation etc. Else, the applicable charge may be deducted from your monthly salary.

Some Other Initiatives Related to Skill Development:

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0:
  • It was launched in 2021 in a bid to empower India’s youth with employable skills by making over 300 skill courses available to them.
  • It was launched by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

• Atmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM):
  • Launched in 2020 (by MSDE), it is a portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities.

• Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS):
  • The scheme is to provide industry apprenticeship opportunities to the general graduates exiting in April 2019 through the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS). It was launched by the Ministry of Education.

• Kaushal Acharya Awards:
  • Launched (by MSDE) to recognize the contribution made by skill trainers and to motivate more trainers to join the Skill India Mission.

Source: PIB

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