DDU-GKY

DIN DAYAL UPADHYAY GRAMIN KAUSHAL YOJANA

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojna (DDU-GKY)

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojna (DDU-GKY) is a Placement Linked Skill Development scheme for rural poor youth. This initiative is part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). DDU-GKY has its origin in the Wage employment linked "Special Projects" for skilling component of the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), which was subsequently renamed as Aajeevika Skills when SGSY was converted as NRLM. The Placement Linked Skills scheme, Aajeevika Skills, has been recently been further revamped in terms of announcement of Antoydaya Divas on 25th September 2014 as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayaya Grameen Koushalya Yojana (DDUGKY). The skilling program for rural youth has now been refocused and repritorized to build the capacity of rural poor youth to address the needs of global skill requirements.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), the skill training and placement program of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), occupies a unique position amongst other skill training programmes, due to its focus on the rural poor youth and its emphasis on sustainable employment through the prominence and incentives given to post-placement tracking, retention and career progression. Even as India moves towards becoming an international skills hub, there is a need to acknowledge the challenges preventing the rural poor from taking advantage of this momentous economic transition. Lack of formal education, marketable skills and other constraints imposed by poverty place significant entry barriers to today’s job market. DDU-GKY is therefore designed to not only provide high quality skill training opportunities to the rural poor, but also to establish a larger ecosystem that supports trained candidates secure a better future. The design of DDU-GKY, as detailed below, represents the strategy of the programme aimed at making rural India a key partner to India’s growth story.

DDUGKY follows a 3-tier implementation model. The DDU-GKY National Unit at MoRD is the agency responsible for national policy-making, funding, technical support and facilitation. The DDU-GKY State Skill Missions embedded in general within the State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs), are envisioned to play a central role in providing co-funding and implementation support to DDU-GKY in the state; and the Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) who implement the programme through skill training and placement projects.

What is DDU GKY ?

DDUGKY aims to skill rural youth who are poor and provide them with jobs having regular1 monthly wages at or above the minimum wages. It is one of the cluster of initiatives of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India that seeks to promote rural livelihoods. It is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) – the Mission for poverty reduction called Aajeevika.

MoRD pursues its goal of rural poverty reduction by adopting a multi-pronged strategy. This includes programs for rural infrastructure (Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana PMGSY), rural housing (Indira AwasYojana – IAY), employment guarantee (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme – MGNREGS), livelihood promotion (National Rural Livelihood Mission – Aajeevika) and social pensions ( National Social Assistance Programme – NSAP). DDUGKY derives its importance from its potential to reduce poverty by diversifying incomes and reducing their uncertainty.

There is a continuum of skills that are required in an economy and there are various ways in which to acquire them. In India, while higher-level skills have received some attention, the same cannot be said for skills for which formal education is not a prerequisite.This means that the poor are doubly hit – first because of poverty and second because of poor access to formal education. DDU-GKY seeks to fill this gap by imparting specific set of knowledge, skills and attitude needed by the poor to access full time jobs in the formal sector.

What is skilling and placement?

Skilling and placement under DDU-GKY involves eight distinct steps:

  1. i. Awareness building within the community on the opportunities
  2. ii. Identifying rural youth who are poor2
  3. iii. Mobilising rural youth who are interested
  4. iv. Counselling of youth and parents
  5. v. Selection based on aptitude
  6. vi. Imparting knowledge, industry linked skills and attitude that enhance employability
  7. vii. Providing jobs that can be verified through methods that can stand up to independent scrutiny, and which pays above minimum wages
  8. viii. Supporting the person so employed for sustainability after placement

There are six types of interventions that DDU-GKY supports. All are executed with the help of Project Implementing Agency (PIAs)3 and retention is tracked4. The preference is on Placement Linked Skill Development courses which are of longer duration. These interventions are for:

  1. i. Persons who are placed after a training program on skills, soft skills5, English and IT ranging from a minimum of 576 hours to a maximum of 2304 hours.
  2. ii. Persons who are placed after a training program on skills, soft skills, English and IT of 2304 hours which includes a two part training program of nine months + three months. The nine month period is used to enable acquisition of a National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) qualification (8th or 10th class), and the three months period is the standard skills, soft skills, English and IT intervention of 576 hours.
  3. iii. Persons who are placed in a foreign country after a customised training program of not more than 2304 hours duration.
  4. iv. Persons who are placed after a three months (576 hours, six months (1152 hours), nine months (1728 hours) or twelve months (2304 hours) training program with a provision for On-the-Job Training (OJT)6.
  5. v. Persons who are placed in a job with a minimum salary of Rs.10000 per month, after an Industry internship of 12 months duration in entities having a turnover of average Rs.100 crore in previous three years.
  6. vi. Persons who are placed in a job after training in courses of duration of more than 2304 hours (in one year), wherein the Government funding under the program is limited to the approved cost for a 2304 hours course.

DDUGKY supports Job fairs which help in placing people without providing skill inputs.