Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), launched in 2014 and focussed on skill development for rural youth, has been falling woefully short of achieving its targets since inception.
The Aajeevika Skills scheme, launched by the UPA government, was given a makeover and launched in the form of DDU-GKY by the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. In December 2014, then Minister of Rural Development Birendra Singh had told the parliament, “The Government had set a target for training of 10.50 lakh youth under the DDU-GKY in the 12th Five year plan period.”
In 2015, the National Skill Development Council had announced a reduction in the overall skilling target of training 500 million people by 2022. “We don’t want to chase any number. Whether it is 150 million by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and 350 million by ministries—we are delinking it, not attaching any number,” Rajesh Aggarwal, director-general of training and a joint secretary in the skills ministry had said at the time.
By the end of the 2017, the scheme could not even achieve even half of original its target. Only 442,085 people had been trained by 2017.
As per the latest data available on the website, the original target of DDU-GKY appears stretched out over a longer period and hence, effectively reduced. Except 2015-16, the scheme has fallen short of the revised yearly targets each year.
| Year |
Target |
Trained |
| FY 2014-15 |
2,10,000 |
43,038 |
| FY 2015-16 |
1,77,986 |
2,36,471 |
| FY 2016-17 |
2,00,014 |
1,62,576 |
| FY 2017-18 |
2,00,000 |
1,31,527 |
| FY 2018-19 |
2,00,000 |
1,18,405 |
Source: DDU-GKY website
Additionally, not everyone who is trained under the scheme gets placed. As per the rural development ministry, in 2014, the target was to achieve mandatory placement of 75 per cent of those trained. The target has now come down to “placement for at least 70% of all trained with a minimum salary of Rs. 6,000/- per month,” as per the DDU-GKY website.
Data available on the DDU-GKY website shows that even this reduced target of placements is not being met. Out of the 692,017 people trained so far, only 449,643 i.e., only 65 per cent of those trained have been placed.
| Year |
People Placed |
| FY 2014-15 |
21,446 |
| FY 2015-16 |
1,09,512 |
| FY 2016-17 |
1,47,883 |
| FY 2017-18 |
75,787 |
| FY 2018-19 |
95,015 |
Source: DDU-GKY website