DDU-GKY PROGRAMME

DDU-GKY aims to skill rural youth who are 1 poor and provide them with jobs having regular 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). DDU-GKY 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.

Rural youth who are poor

The target group for DDU-GKY is poor rural youth in the age group of 15-35. However, the upper-age limit for women candidates, and candidates belonging to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), Transgender and other Special Groups like rehabilitated bonded labor, victims of trafficking, manual scavengers, trans-genders, HIV positive persons, etc shall be 45 years. The poor will be identified by a process called Participatory Identification of Poor (PIP) which is an important component of the NRLM strategy. Till the time poor are identified through the use of PIP, apart from the existing list of Below Poverty Line (BPL) households, youth from MGNREGA worker household with at least 15 days work in the previous financial year by any of its family members, or a youth from a household with RSBY card wherein the details of youth is mentioned in the card, or a youth from households who have been issued Antyodaya Anna Yojana / BPL PDS cards, or a youth from a household where a family member is a member of SHG under NRLM, or a youth from a household covered under auto inclusion parameters as per SECC, 2011 (when notified), shall also be eligible to avail the skilling program even if such youth are not in the BPL list. It is expected that they will be identified during the PIP.

Capacity enhancement of the PIAs

Universe The capacity requirement to meet the skilling targets for the next 10 years is immense. While a substantial part will come from growth and capacity development of existing PIAs, the development of new PIAs by encouraging institutions engaged in rural development, education and large employers to take up skilling as a new or supplementary venture will need to be given a specific thrust.