58% trained youth placed under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

The scheme plans to train and place 28.82 lakh rural youth by March 2022.

As many as 6.28 lakh rural youth have been placed as per the data on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) website.

Out of the 10.80 lakh trained rural youth, 6.28 lakh have been placed suggesting a placement rate of 58 percent as of December 15. As many as 4.52 lakh trained youth are yet to get jobs under the scheme.

The data on the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana website also suggests that 1,50,002 rural youth were placed in FY20.

Prashant Singh, Vice President and Business Head-Compliance and Payroll Outsourcing, TeamLease Services noted that the migration of the youth due to the COVID-19 pandemic along with the safety restrictions has resulted in lesser placements. Singh also noted  that various other initiatives and schemes by states may have contributed to a lesser number of placements under the DDU-GKY scheme.

Central, state, and the overall banking infrastructure too has witnessed a delay in execution of funds and other priorities resulting in lesser number of people getting placed, Prashant said.

As per the data on the website, Odisha has placed the highest number of youth at 1,33,853 placements, followed by Andhra Pradesh (67,128), Jammu and Kashmir (60,433), Tamil Nadu (44,445), Telangana (36,306). Together the states account for 54 percent of all the placements till date.

The DDU-GKY, a skill development programme, was launched in September 2014 by the Ministry of Rural Development. It is a part of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission offering placements to the rural youth.

The scheme focusses on rural youth between the ages of 15 and 35 years from poor families.

For social inclusion, DDU-GKY also provides a mandatory coverage to socially disadvantaged groups (SC/ST 50 percent, minority 15 percent, women 33 percent) and 3 percent for persons with different abilities.

The overall target of the scheme is to train and place 28.82 lakh rural youth by March 2022.