Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana 2.0

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Key takeaways

The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) celebrated its 12th anniversary in 2026.
The upgraded DDU-GKY 2.0 framework, launched in May 2025, extends the minimum job tracking period from three to six months.
The Union Budget 2026-27 allocated Rs 750 crore to boost rural skill development and youth employment.
Since 2014-15, the scheme has trained over 18.47 lakh rural youth and placed more than 12.43 lakh candidates in jobs.
Additionally, 647 Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) have trained 63.47 lakh candidates since 2009.

The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) celebrates its 12th anniversary in 2026.
This scheme helps rural youth find jobs by offering training that matches industry needs.
This milestone matters because India's youth population will likely reach 345 million by 2036.
This means we must quickly expand skill development and job opportunities for rural youth.

The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) on 25th September 2014.
The government started this scheme under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission to provide job-linked training.
The scheme specifically helps rural youth aged 15-35 years who come from poor families.
It ensures social inclusion by reserving 50% of seats for SC/ST communities, 33% for women, and 5% for persons with disabilities.
The government updated the program guidelines in May 2025 to launch DDU-GKY 2.0.
The new framework focuses heavily on high-quality training, sustainable jobs, and helping candidates stay employed.
The scheme now covers diverse fields like aerospace and aviation, agriculture, green jobs, and healthcare.
The Union Budget 2026-27 allocated Rs 750 crore to fund these rural skilling efforts.

The Roshni Initiative provides residential skill training in districts affected by Left-Wing Extremism.
This initiative ensures that at least 40% of the trained candidates are women.
The Himayat Initiative is a special program that supports youth in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
The central government provides 100% funding for Himayat to help youth get jobs or start businesses.
The government reserves 10% of the DDU-GKY budget for the North Eastern Region to tackle regional challenges.
Training agencies working in difficult areas receive a Special Area Allowance equal to 10% of the base training cost.

The upgraded program handles the entire employment cycle from training and placement to career growth.
The minimum training duration remains 576 hours but includes 396 hours of technical domain training.
Candidates also receive 180 hours of mandatory non-domain training to improve their general skills.
The scheme increased the minimum tracking period for job placements from three months to six months.
State missions organize Job Melas at local levels to connect trained youth directly with employers.
The government provides up to Rs 50,000 for village-level job fairs and Rs 1 lakh for block-level fairs.
The government sets up Migration Support Centres to help workers who move to new cities for work.
The annual funding for each of these support centres increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.
The scheme uses an end-to-end digital platform to track everything from candidate registration to final placements.
This digital system uses face-authenticated attendance and connects with the Skill India Digital Hub.
Several states have rolled out the new program quickly during 2025-26.
For example, Goa started the first batches, while Andhra Pradesh trained over 12,000 candidates in three months.

The scheme operates across 31 States and Union Territories through a strong network of training centres.
The ecosystem includes 749 approved projects and 760 active training centres run by 455 Project Implementing Agencies.
Since its launch in 2014-15, the scheme has trained over 18.47 lakh rural youth across 36 sectors.
More than 12.43 lakh candidates have successfully secured job placements after completing their training.
The program has trained over 9.71 lakh women and helped more than 6.34 lakh women get jobs.

The government also runs Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) to encourage self-employment.
These institutes provide free residential training and handholding support to unemployed rural youth.
The program targets youth aged 18-50 years from poor households and DAY-NRLM families.
The government aims to build a dedicated training center in every district of India.
Currently, 647 RSETIs are active across 634 districts in 33 States and Union Territories.
Since 2009, these institutes have trained 63.47 lakh candidates and settled 45.60 lakh into stable livelihoods.

DDU-GKY 2.0 shifts the focus from basic skill training to creating long-term, sustainable livelihoods.
This effort helps build a skilled rural workforce to support the national vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.