Kurukshetra Magazine May 2022 - 3 | Monthly Yojana & Kurukshetra Magazine (English) - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


Kurukshetra      May  2022 39
ndia’s demographic dividend has often 
found a mention in Prime Minister Shri 
Narendra Modi’s speeches in India and 
abroad. Youth constitute the majority 
share in India’s population. This explains why 
the Prime Minister makes it a point to draw the 
attention of world leaders to power of India’s 
youth.
“India considers its youth a demographic 
dividend as well as a development driver.’’ said 
Shri Narendra Modi while inaugurating the 25th 
National Youth Festival in Puducherry via video 
conferencing on January 12, the birth anniversary 
of Swami Vivekananda.
"The Indian youth is a force to be reckoned 
within the unicorn ecosystem all over the world. 
Tripti Nath
The entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 start-ups, India has the third-
largest start up ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth to these start-ups 
in January end, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi acknowledged "India's youth has taken the nation to the top- three in the world 
in terms of creating start-ups."
Rural Youth- Shaping New India
I
Today, India has a strong ecosystem of more 
than 50,000 start-ups. Of these, more than 
10,000 start-ups came up amidst the challenge 
of the pandemic,’’ the Prime Minister noted with  
pride.
 According to the report Youth in India 2017 
(released by the Central Statistics Office), India is 
one of the youngest countries in the world. This 
puts our vast and diverse country in an enviable 
position. While most developing countries are 
facing the challenge of ageing population, India’s 
demographic situation is very favourable.
The National Youth Policy (NYP) 2014 defined 
youth as those in the 15–29 age group but the 
2017 Youth in India report defines the age group 
of 15–34 years as the youth.
Page 2


Kurukshetra      May  2022 39
ndia’s demographic dividend has often 
found a mention in Prime Minister Shri 
Narendra Modi’s speeches in India and 
abroad. Youth constitute the majority 
share in India’s population. This explains why 
the Prime Minister makes it a point to draw the 
attention of world leaders to power of India’s 
youth.
“India considers its youth a demographic 
dividend as well as a development driver.’’ said 
Shri Narendra Modi while inaugurating the 25th 
National Youth Festival in Puducherry via video 
conferencing on January 12, the birth anniversary 
of Swami Vivekananda.
"The Indian youth is a force to be reckoned 
within the unicorn ecosystem all over the world. 
Tripti Nath
The entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 start-ups, India has the third-
largest start up ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth to these start-ups 
in January end, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi acknowledged "India's youth has taken the nation to the top- three in the world 
in terms of creating start-ups."
Rural Youth- Shaping New India
I
Today, India has a strong ecosystem of more 
than 50,000 start-ups. Of these, more than 
10,000 start-ups came up amidst the challenge 
of the pandemic,’’ the Prime Minister noted with  
pride.
 According to the report Youth in India 2017 
(released by the Central Statistics Office), India is 
one of the youngest countries in the world. This 
puts our vast and diverse country in an enviable 
position. While most developing countries are 
facing the challenge of ageing population, India’s 
demographic situation is very favourable.
The National Youth Policy (NYP) 2014 defined 
youth as those in the 15–29 age group but the 
2017 Youth in India report defines the age group 
of 15–34 years as the youth.
Kurukshetra      May  2022 40
To tap this demographic dividend to optimum 
use, the government has to ensure that the youth 
have appropriate education and skills. It was on 
July 15, 2015 that the Prime Minister launched 
the Skill India Mission to empower the youth of 
the country with skill sets and make them more 
employable. Skill India offers courses across 
40 sectors that are aligned to the standards 
recognised by the industry and the government 
under the National Skill Qualification Framework. 
More than one crore youth join the Skill India 
mission every year.
The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra 
(PMKK) is an initiative of the Ministry of Skill 
Development and Entrepreneurship. Such state-
of-the-art training centres have been set up in 
almost every district of the country for imparting 
skill development training. The objective of 
setting up the PMKKs is to help a large number 
of Indian youth take up industry-relevant skill 
training that would help them in securing a better 
livelihood. Launching through virtual mode, the 
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 
3.0 in January 2021 in nearly 600 districts making 
300+ skill courses available to the youth, the then 
Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, 
Mr Mahendra Nath Pandey said, “PMKVY 3.0 will 
take skilling to the remotest of villages and towns 
in India; States and Districts will have an increased 
responsibility’’.
The PMKVY aims to create skilled and 
certified workforce that could contribute not 
only to India’s growth but help it in becoming 
the global skills capital. India skill Report, 2018 
highlighted that these is a clear, structural shift 
from agriculture to non-farm sector, particularly 
construction, trade and transport. According 
to the report, rapid advances in automation 
technologies are affecting India’s information 
technology and business process outsourcing 
sectors. These sectors have remained net job 
creators.
What is really encouraging is that the 
entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India 
has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 
start-ups, India has the third-largest start up 
ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri-
start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth 
to these start-ups in January end, Prime Minister 
Modi acknowledged that "India's youth has taken 
the nation to the top- three in the world in terms 
of creating startups.’’
All initiatives under the Start Up India are 
inclusive and are implemented across States, 
cities, towns and rural areas. The Ministry of 
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has 
taken several initiatives to mitigate the impact 
of COVID-19 pandemic on skill development 
training. These include special programmes 
for training reverse migrants under PMKVY 
(Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana). This 
component has covered 116 districts of Assam, 
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and 
Uttar Pradesh identified under Garib Kalyan 
Rozgar Abhiyan (GKRA) of Ministry of Rural 
Development. Till November 21 last year, 1.24 
lakh migrants have been trained / oriented 
under this programme.
The Ministry of Rural Development is 
presently implementing three welfare schemes for 
employment generation. These schemes provide 
employment to people in rural areas including the 
youth belonging to scheduled castes/scheduled 
tribes and economically weaker sections.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural 
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a 
demand driven wage employment programme. It 
provides enhancement of livelihood security to 
the households in rural areas of the country by 
providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed 
wage employment in every financial year to every 
household whose adult members volunteer to do 
unskilled manual work.
The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen 
Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is a placement linked 
skill development programme for rural youth 
under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission 
(NRLM). It was launched on September 25, 2014 
on the occasion of 98
th
 birth anniversary of Pandit 
Deendayal Upadhyaya. It aims to target youth, 
under the age group of 15–35 years. The motto 
of this scheme is to “Transform rural poor youth 
Page 3


Kurukshetra      May  2022 39
ndia’s demographic dividend has often 
found a mention in Prime Minister Shri 
Narendra Modi’s speeches in India and 
abroad. Youth constitute the majority 
share in India’s population. This explains why 
the Prime Minister makes it a point to draw the 
attention of world leaders to power of India’s 
youth.
“India considers its youth a demographic 
dividend as well as a development driver.’’ said 
Shri Narendra Modi while inaugurating the 25th 
National Youth Festival in Puducherry via video 
conferencing on January 12, the birth anniversary 
of Swami Vivekananda.
"The Indian youth is a force to be reckoned 
within the unicorn ecosystem all over the world. 
Tripti Nath
The entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 start-ups, India has the third-
largest start up ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth to these start-ups 
in January end, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi acknowledged "India's youth has taken the nation to the top- three in the world 
in terms of creating start-ups."
Rural Youth- Shaping New India
I
Today, India has a strong ecosystem of more 
than 50,000 start-ups. Of these, more than 
10,000 start-ups came up amidst the challenge 
of the pandemic,’’ the Prime Minister noted with  
pride.
 According to the report Youth in India 2017 
(released by the Central Statistics Office), India is 
one of the youngest countries in the world. This 
puts our vast and diverse country in an enviable 
position. While most developing countries are 
facing the challenge of ageing population, India’s 
demographic situation is very favourable.
The National Youth Policy (NYP) 2014 defined 
youth as those in the 15–29 age group but the 
2017 Youth in India report defines the age group 
of 15–34 years as the youth.
Kurukshetra      May  2022 40
To tap this demographic dividend to optimum 
use, the government has to ensure that the youth 
have appropriate education and skills. It was on 
July 15, 2015 that the Prime Minister launched 
the Skill India Mission to empower the youth of 
the country with skill sets and make them more 
employable. Skill India offers courses across 
40 sectors that are aligned to the standards 
recognised by the industry and the government 
under the National Skill Qualification Framework. 
More than one crore youth join the Skill India 
mission every year.
The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra 
(PMKK) is an initiative of the Ministry of Skill 
Development and Entrepreneurship. Such state-
of-the-art training centres have been set up in 
almost every district of the country for imparting 
skill development training. The objective of 
setting up the PMKKs is to help a large number 
of Indian youth take up industry-relevant skill 
training that would help them in securing a better 
livelihood. Launching through virtual mode, the 
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 
3.0 in January 2021 in nearly 600 districts making 
300+ skill courses available to the youth, the then 
Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, 
Mr Mahendra Nath Pandey said, “PMKVY 3.0 will 
take skilling to the remotest of villages and towns 
in India; States and Districts will have an increased 
responsibility’’.
The PMKVY aims to create skilled and 
certified workforce that could contribute not 
only to India’s growth but help it in becoming 
the global skills capital. India skill Report, 2018 
highlighted that these is a clear, structural shift 
from agriculture to non-farm sector, particularly 
construction, trade and transport. According 
to the report, rapid advances in automation 
technologies are affecting India’s information 
technology and business process outsourcing 
sectors. These sectors have remained net job 
creators.
What is really encouraging is that the 
entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India 
has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 
start-ups, India has the third-largest start up 
ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri-
start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth 
to these start-ups in January end, Prime Minister 
Modi acknowledged that "India's youth has taken 
the nation to the top- three in the world in terms 
of creating startups.’’
All initiatives under the Start Up India are 
inclusive and are implemented across States, 
cities, towns and rural areas. The Ministry of 
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has 
taken several initiatives to mitigate the impact 
of COVID-19 pandemic on skill development 
training. These include special programmes 
for training reverse migrants under PMKVY 
(Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana). This 
component has covered 116 districts of Assam, 
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and 
Uttar Pradesh identified under Garib Kalyan 
Rozgar Abhiyan (GKRA) of Ministry of Rural 
Development. Till November 21 last year, 1.24 
lakh migrants have been trained / oriented 
under this programme.
The Ministry of Rural Development is 
presently implementing three welfare schemes for 
employment generation. These schemes provide 
employment to people in rural areas including the 
youth belonging to scheduled castes/scheduled 
tribes and economically weaker sections.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural 
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a 
demand driven wage employment programme. It 
provides enhancement of livelihood security to 
the households in rural areas of the country by 
providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed 
wage employment in every financial year to every 
household whose adult members volunteer to do 
unskilled manual work.
The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen 
Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is a placement linked 
skill development programme for rural youth 
under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission 
(NRLM). It was launched on September 25, 2014 
on the occasion of 98
th
 birth anniversary of Pandit 
Deendayal Upadhyaya. It aims to target youth, 
under the age group of 15–35 years. The motto 
of this scheme is to “Transform rural poor youth 
Kurukshetra      May  2022 41
into an economically independent and globally 
relevant workforce”. 
Another initiative of the Ministry of Rural 
Development under the National Rural Livelihoods 
Mission (NRLM) is skill development through 
Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes 
(RSETIs). The Ministry has decided to set up one 
such institute in each district of the country. A 
candidate opting for RSETI can take bank credit 
and start his/her own micro-enterprise or seek 
regular jobs. The RSETIs enable poor youth in rural 
India diversify household income.
While MGNREGS provides direct 
employment, DDU-GKY and RSETI schemes 
promote employability through either wage 
or self-employment leading to economic and 
social development of youth in rural areas of the 
country.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 
February 9 this year, Union Minister of State for 
Rural Development, Mr Faggan Singh Kulaste 
said that 588 RSETIs are functioning across the 
country. These institutes are extending skill 
and entrepreneurship development training 
programmes to rural unemployed youth to 
facilitate them to employ themselves by 
commencing self-employment units/activities. 
This Ministry is reimbursing cost of training 
imparted by the RSETIs to the rural youth 
through the State Rural Livelihoods Missions 
(SRLMs).
RSETI has worked well as three-way 
partnership of the Ministry of Rural Development, 
state government and banks. As many as 39.9 lakh 
candidates have been trained under RSETIs in 64 
courses. Of these, 28.11 lakh candidates were 
self-employed till January 2022.
The programme is currently being 
implemented in 28 States and 7 UTs and the RSETIs 
are sponsored by 23 leading banks. According to 
the Ministry of Rural Development, these banks 
are required to open at least one RSETI in their 
lead district to provide training to rural youth 
to take up self-employment/ entrepreneurship 
ventures. RSETI programme runs with an 
approach of short-term training and long-term 
handholding of entrepreneurs. Rural poor people 
between the age group of 18-45 years are eligible 
to join the training. 
Under the RSETI scheme, 10 training courses 
are exclusively for women candidates. It is therefore 
not surprising that women form 66 percent of 
the total trained candidates under the RSETI 
programme. About 26.28 lakh women candidates 
have been trained and about 18.7 lakh have been 
successfully settled under the RSETI so far.
On the eve of International Women’s Day 
on 8
th
 March, new batches of women-centric 
courses were started by RSETIs (Rural Self 
Employment Training Institutes). The Ministry of 
Rural Development said that it launched fresh 
batches of women-centric courses as part of 
the iconic Week campaign under Azadi Ka Amrit 
Mahotsav. The event titled – Avsar Ki Azaadi– 
launched focused batches for women candidates. 
The batches introduced enrolment in trades like 
making incense sticks, making and selling soft 
toys, Papad, pickle and masala powder, beauty 
parlour management and costume jewellery. 
RSETI programme runs with an approach of 
short-term training and long-term handholding 
of entrepreneurs. The RSETIs have become 
established as pioneers in capturing the 
aspirations of the rural poor youth and turning 
them into profitable entrepreneurs by training 
them in the domain and entrepreneurial skills.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya 
Yojana (DDU-GKY) seeks to place rural youth 
in wage employment across various sectors of 
the economy. DDU-GKY guidelines provide for 
earmarking 50 percent of the funds for those 
belonging to the Schedule Castes and Schedule 
Tribes and 15 percent for minorities. The scheme 
mandates that one-third of those trained must be 
women. Another positive aspect of this scheme is 
that there is an age relaxation for women. Women 
up to the age of 45 can avail of training under this 
scheme.
As part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, 
the Department of Rural Development (DoRD) 
Page 4


Kurukshetra      May  2022 39
ndia’s demographic dividend has often 
found a mention in Prime Minister Shri 
Narendra Modi’s speeches in India and 
abroad. Youth constitute the majority 
share in India’s population. This explains why 
the Prime Minister makes it a point to draw the 
attention of world leaders to power of India’s 
youth.
“India considers its youth a demographic 
dividend as well as a development driver.’’ said 
Shri Narendra Modi while inaugurating the 25th 
National Youth Festival in Puducherry via video 
conferencing on January 12, the birth anniversary 
of Swami Vivekananda.
"The Indian youth is a force to be reckoned 
within the unicorn ecosystem all over the world. 
Tripti Nath
The entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 start-ups, India has the third-
largest start up ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth to these start-ups 
in January end, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi acknowledged "India's youth has taken the nation to the top- three in the world 
in terms of creating start-ups."
Rural Youth- Shaping New India
I
Today, India has a strong ecosystem of more 
than 50,000 start-ups. Of these, more than 
10,000 start-ups came up amidst the challenge 
of the pandemic,’’ the Prime Minister noted with  
pride.
 According to the report Youth in India 2017 
(released by the Central Statistics Office), India is 
one of the youngest countries in the world. This 
puts our vast and diverse country in an enviable 
position. While most developing countries are 
facing the challenge of ageing population, India’s 
demographic situation is very favourable.
The National Youth Policy (NYP) 2014 defined 
youth as those in the 15–29 age group but the 
2017 Youth in India report defines the age group 
of 15–34 years as the youth.
Kurukshetra      May  2022 40
To tap this demographic dividend to optimum 
use, the government has to ensure that the youth 
have appropriate education and skills. It was on 
July 15, 2015 that the Prime Minister launched 
the Skill India Mission to empower the youth of 
the country with skill sets and make them more 
employable. Skill India offers courses across 
40 sectors that are aligned to the standards 
recognised by the industry and the government 
under the National Skill Qualification Framework. 
More than one crore youth join the Skill India 
mission every year.
The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra 
(PMKK) is an initiative of the Ministry of Skill 
Development and Entrepreneurship. Such state-
of-the-art training centres have been set up in 
almost every district of the country for imparting 
skill development training. The objective of 
setting up the PMKKs is to help a large number 
of Indian youth take up industry-relevant skill 
training that would help them in securing a better 
livelihood. Launching through virtual mode, the 
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 
3.0 in January 2021 in nearly 600 districts making 
300+ skill courses available to the youth, the then 
Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, 
Mr Mahendra Nath Pandey said, “PMKVY 3.0 will 
take skilling to the remotest of villages and towns 
in India; States and Districts will have an increased 
responsibility’’.
The PMKVY aims to create skilled and 
certified workforce that could contribute not 
only to India’s growth but help it in becoming 
the global skills capital. India skill Report, 2018 
highlighted that these is a clear, structural shift 
from agriculture to non-farm sector, particularly 
construction, trade and transport. According 
to the report, rapid advances in automation 
technologies are affecting India’s information 
technology and business process outsourcing 
sectors. These sectors have remained net job 
creators.
What is really encouraging is that the 
entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India 
has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 
start-ups, India has the third-largest start up 
ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri-
start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth 
to these start-ups in January end, Prime Minister 
Modi acknowledged that "India's youth has taken 
the nation to the top- three in the world in terms 
of creating startups.’’
All initiatives under the Start Up India are 
inclusive and are implemented across States, 
cities, towns and rural areas. The Ministry of 
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has 
taken several initiatives to mitigate the impact 
of COVID-19 pandemic on skill development 
training. These include special programmes 
for training reverse migrants under PMKVY 
(Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana). This 
component has covered 116 districts of Assam, 
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and 
Uttar Pradesh identified under Garib Kalyan 
Rozgar Abhiyan (GKRA) of Ministry of Rural 
Development. Till November 21 last year, 1.24 
lakh migrants have been trained / oriented 
under this programme.
The Ministry of Rural Development is 
presently implementing three welfare schemes for 
employment generation. These schemes provide 
employment to people in rural areas including the 
youth belonging to scheduled castes/scheduled 
tribes and economically weaker sections.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural 
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a 
demand driven wage employment programme. It 
provides enhancement of livelihood security to 
the households in rural areas of the country by 
providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed 
wage employment in every financial year to every 
household whose adult members volunteer to do 
unskilled manual work.
The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen 
Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is a placement linked 
skill development programme for rural youth 
under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission 
(NRLM). It was launched on September 25, 2014 
on the occasion of 98
th
 birth anniversary of Pandit 
Deendayal Upadhyaya. It aims to target youth, 
under the age group of 15–35 years. The motto 
of this scheme is to “Transform rural poor youth 
Kurukshetra      May  2022 41
into an economically independent and globally 
relevant workforce”. 
Another initiative of the Ministry of Rural 
Development under the National Rural Livelihoods 
Mission (NRLM) is skill development through 
Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes 
(RSETIs). The Ministry has decided to set up one 
such institute in each district of the country. A 
candidate opting for RSETI can take bank credit 
and start his/her own micro-enterprise or seek 
regular jobs. The RSETIs enable poor youth in rural 
India diversify household income.
While MGNREGS provides direct 
employment, DDU-GKY and RSETI schemes 
promote employability through either wage 
or self-employment leading to economic and 
social development of youth in rural areas of the 
country.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 
February 9 this year, Union Minister of State for 
Rural Development, Mr Faggan Singh Kulaste 
said that 588 RSETIs are functioning across the 
country. These institutes are extending skill 
and entrepreneurship development training 
programmes to rural unemployed youth to 
facilitate them to employ themselves by 
commencing self-employment units/activities. 
This Ministry is reimbursing cost of training 
imparted by the RSETIs to the rural youth 
through the State Rural Livelihoods Missions 
(SRLMs).
RSETI has worked well as three-way 
partnership of the Ministry of Rural Development, 
state government and banks. As many as 39.9 lakh 
candidates have been trained under RSETIs in 64 
courses. Of these, 28.11 lakh candidates were 
self-employed till January 2022.
The programme is currently being 
implemented in 28 States and 7 UTs and the RSETIs 
are sponsored by 23 leading banks. According to 
the Ministry of Rural Development, these banks 
are required to open at least one RSETI in their 
lead district to provide training to rural youth 
to take up self-employment/ entrepreneurship 
ventures. RSETI programme runs with an 
approach of short-term training and long-term 
handholding of entrepreneurs. Rural poor people 
between the age group of 18-45 years are eligible 
to join the training. 
Under the RSETI scheme, 10 training courses 
are exclusively for women candidates. It is therefore 
not surprising that women form 66 percent of 
the total trained candidates under the RSETI 
programme. About 26.28 lakh women candidates 
have been trained and about 18.7 lakh have been 
successfully settled under the RSETI so far.
On the eve of International Women’s Day 
on 8
th
 March, new batches of women-centric 
courses were started by RSETIs (Rural Self 
Employment Training Institutes). The Ministry of 
Rural Development said that it launched fresh 
batches of women-centric courses as part of 
the iconic Week campaign under Azadi Ka Amrit 
Mahotsav. The event titled – Avsar Ki Azaadi– 
launched focused batches for women candidates. 
The batches introduced enrolment in trades like 
making incense sticks, making and selling soft 
toys, Papad, pickle and masala powder, beauty 
parlour management and costume jewellery. 
RSETI programme runs with an approach of 
short-term training and long-term handholding 
of entrepreneurs. The RSETIs have become 
established as pioneers in capturing the 
aspirations of the rural poor youth and turning 
them into profitable entrepreneurs by training 
them in the domain and entrepreneurial skills.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya 
Yojana (DDU-GKY) seeks to place rural youth 
in wage employment across various sectors of 
the economy. DDU-GKY guidelines provide for 
earmarking 50 percent of the funds for those 
belonging to the Schedule Castes and Schedule 
Tribes and 15 percent for minorities. The scheme 
mandates that one-third of those trained must be 
women. Another positive aspect of this scheme is 
that there is an age relaxation for women. Women 
up to the age of 45 can avail of training under this 
scheme.
As part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, 
the Department of Rural Development (DoRD) 
Kurukshetra      May  2022 42
organised more than 174 ‘women centric’ 
mobilisation camps under DDU-GKY across the 
country on March 7, 2022. The event titled- 
Avsar Ki Azadi- was organised through various 
State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs), State 
Skills Missions (SSM) and Project Implementation 
Agencies (PIAs) to make it a grand success. Over 
4,281 women candidates were successfully 
mobilised through various such camps organised 
across the country for enrolling in courses like 
assistant beauty therapist, self-employed tailoring 
and sample tailoring among others. 
DDU-GKY has helped youth from poor 
rural families in accessing free of cost skilling 
programme. The programme is being implemented 
in 27 states and three Union Territories.  More 
than 871 PIAs are training rural poor youth in close 
to 611 job roles through more than 2,381 training 
centres. Cumulatively, 11.44 lakh youth have been 
trained and 7.15 lakh youth have been placed till 
January 31, 2022. The programme has delivered 
satisfactory outcomes in north-eastern states of 
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, 
Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
In December 2021, the Ministry of Rural 
Development organised 285 job fairs across 
the country under DDU-GKY as part of Azadi ka 
Amrit Mahotsav. Industry leaders from across 
30 major sectors participated in these fairs 
spread over seven days.  Facilitated by various 
State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLM) and PIAs, 
these job fairs drew huge crowds and provided 
rural youth many good job opportunities. Some 
of the participating companies were Amazon 
India, Swiggy, Med Plus, Axis Bank, Kia Motors, 
Innovsource, Flipkart, Nana Bharat Fertilizers, 
Reliance Trends, Westside, Spencers, Leela Hotel, 
JW Mariott, Bengaluru and Teamlease Services.
The participating organisations belonged 
to 30 major sectors/trades including retail, 
construction, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, 
e-commerce, microfinance, manpower 
management, IT-ITEs, automobile, etc. 
On March 10 this year, the Union Rural 
Development Secretary, Mr Nagendra Nath 
Page 5


Kurukshetra      May  2022 39
ndia’s demographic dividend has often 
found a mention in Prime Minister Shri 
Narendra Modi’s speeches in India and 
abroad. Youth constitute the majority 
share in India’s population. This explains why 
the Prime Minister makes it a point to draw the 
attention of world leaders to power of India’s 
youth.
“India considers its youth a demographic 
dividend as well as a development driver.’’ said 
Shri Narendra Modi while inaugurating the 25th 
National Youth Festival in Puducherry via video 
conferencing on January 12, the birth anniversary 
of Swami Vivekananda.
"The Indian youth is a force to be reckoned 
within the unicorn ecosystem all over the world. 
Tripti Nath
The entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 start-ups, India has the third-
largest start up ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth to these start-ups 
in January end, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi acknowledged "India's youth has taken the nation to the top- three in the world 
in terms of creating start-ups."
Rural Youth- Shaping New India
I
Today, India has a strong ecosystem of more 
than 50,000 start-ups. Of these, more than 
10,000 start-ups came up amidst the challenge 
of the pandemic,’’ the Prime Minister noted with  
pride.
 According to the report Youth in India 2017 
(released by the Central Statistics Office), India is 
one of the youngest countries in the world. This 
puts our vast and diverse country in an enviable 
position. While most developing countries are 
facing the challenge of ageing population, India’s 
demographic situation is very favourable.
The National Youth Policy (NYP) 2014 defined 
youth as those in the 15–29 age group but the 
2017 Youth in India report defines the age group 
of 15–34 years as the youth.
Kurukshetra      May  2022 40
To tap this demographic dividend to optimum 
use, the government has to ensure that the youth 
have appropriate education and skills. It was on 
July 15, 2015 that the Prime Minister launched 
the Skill India Mission to empower the youth of 
the country with skill sets and make them more 
employable. Skill India offers courses across 
40 sectors that are aligned to the standards 
recognised by the industry and the government 
under the National Skill Qualification Framework. 
More than one crore youth join the Skill India 
mission every year.
The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra 
(PMKK) is an initiative of the Ministry of Skill 
Development and Entrepreneurship. Such state-
of-the-art training centres have been set up in 
almost every district of the country for imparting 
skill development training. The objective of 
setting up the PMKKs is to help a large number 
of Indian youth take up industry-relevant skill 
training that would help them in securing a better 
livelihood. Launching through virtual mode, the 
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 
3.0 in January 2021 in nearly 600 districts making 
300+ skill courses available to the youth, the then 
Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, 
Mr Mahendra Nath Pandey said, “PMKVY 3.0 will 
take skilling to the remotest of villages and towns 
in India; States and Districts will have an increased 
responsibility’’.
The PMKVY aims to create skilled and 
certified workforce that could contribute not 
only to India’s growth but help it in becoming 
the global skills capital. India skill Report, 2018 
highlighted that these is a clear, structural shift 
from agriculture to non-farm sector, particularly 
construction, trade and transport. According 
to the report, rapid advances in automation 
technologies are affecting India’s information 
technology and business process outsourcing 
sectors. These sectors have remained net job 
creators.
What is really encouraging is that the 
entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas of India 
has significantly improved. With more than 50,000 
start-ups, India has the third-largest start up 
ecosystem in the world. There are about 450 agri-
start-ups. Hailing the contribution of the youth 
to these start-ups in January end, Prime Minister 
Modi acknowledged that "India's youth has taken 
the nation to the top- three in the world in terms 
of creating startups.’’
All initiatives under the Start Up India are 
inclusive and are implemented across States, 
cities, towns and rural areas. The Ministry of 
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has 
taken several initiatives to mitigate the impact 
of COVID-19 pandemic on skill development 
training. These include special programmes 
for training reverse migrants under PMKVY 
(Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana). This 
component has covered 116 districts of Assam, 
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and 
Uttar Pradesh identified under Garib Kalyan 
Rozgar Abhiyan (GKRA) of Ministry of Rural 
Development. Till November 21 last year, 1.24 
lakh migrants have been trained / oriented 
under this programme.
The Ministry of Rural Development is 
presently implementing three welfare schemes for 
employment generation. These schemes provide 
employment to people in rural areas including the 
youth belonging to scheduled castes/scheduled 
tribes and economically weaker sections.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural 
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a 
demand driven wage employment programme. It 
provides enhancement of livelihood security to 
the households in rural areas of the country by 
providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed 
wage employment in every financial year to every 
household whose adult members volunteer to do 
unskilled manual work.
The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen 
Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is a placement linked 
skill development programme for rural youth 
under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission 
(NRLM). It was launched on September 25, 2014 
on the occasion of 98
th
 birth anniversary of Pandit 
Deendayal Upadhyaya. It aims to target youth, 
under the age group of 15–35 years. The motto 
of this scheme is to “Transform rural poor youth 
Kurukshetra      May  2022 41
into an economically independent and globally 
relevant workforce”. 
Another initiative of the Ministry of Rural 
Development under the National Rural Livelihoods 
Mission (NRLM) is skill development through 
Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes 
(RSETIs). The Ministry has decided to set up one 
such institute in each district of the country. A 
candidate opting for RSETI can take bank credit 
and start his/her own micro-enterprise or seek 
regular jobs. The RSETIs enable poor youth in rural 
India diversify household income.
While MGNREGS provides direct 
employment, DDU-GKY and RSETI schemes 
promote employability through either wage 
or self-employment leading to economic and 
social development of youth in rural areas of the 
country.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 
February 9 this year, Union Minister of State for 
Rural Development, Mr Faggan Singh Kulaste 
said that 588 RSETIs are functioning across the 
country. These institutes are extending skill 
and entrepreneurship development training 
programmes to rural unemployed youth to 
facilitate them to employ themselves by 
commencing self-employment units/activities. 
This Ministry is reimbursing cost of training 
imparted by the RSETIs to the rural youth 
through the State Rural Livelihoods Missions 
(SRLMs).
RSETI has worked well as three-way 
partnership of the Ministry of Rural Development, 
state government and banks. As many as 39.9 lakh 
candidates have been trained under RSETIs in 64 
courses. Of these, 28.11 lakh candidates were 
self-employed till January 2022.
The programme is currently being 
implemented in 28 States and 7 UTs and the RSETIs 
are sponsored by 23 leading banks. According to 
the Ministry of Rural Development, these banks 
are required to open at least one RSETI in their 
lead district to provide training to rural youth 
to take up self-employment/ entrepreneurship 
ventures. RSETI programme runs with an 
approach of short-term training and long-term 
handholding of entrepreneurs. Rural poor people 
between the age group of 18-45 years are eligible 
to join the training. 
Under the RSETI scheme, 10 training courses 
are exclusively for women candidates. It is therefore 
not surprising that women form 66 percent of 
the total trained candidates under the RSETI 
programme. About 26.28 lakh women candidates 
have been trained and about 18.7 lakh have been 
successfully settled under the RSETI so far.
On the eve of International Women’s Day 
on 8
th
 March, new batches of women-centric 
courses were started by RSETIs (Rural Self 
Employment Training Institutes). The Ministry of 
Rural Development said that it launched fresh 
batches of women-centric courses as part of 
the iconic Week campaign under Azadi Ka Amrit 
Mahotsav. The event titled – Avsar Ki Azaadi– 
launched focused batches for women candidates. 
The batches introduced enrolment in trades like 
making incense sticks, making and selling soft 
toys, Papad, pickle and masala powder, beauty 
parlour management and costume jewellery. 
RSETI programme runs with an approach of 
short-term training and long-term handholding 
of entrepreneurs. The RSETIs have become 
established as pioneers in capturing the 
aspirations of the rural poor youth and turning 
them into profitable entrepreneurs by training 
them in the domain and entrepreneurial skills.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya 
Yojana (DDU-GKY) seeks to place rural youth 
in wage employment across various sectors of 
the economy. DDU-GKY guidelines provide for 
earmarking 50 percent of the funds for those 
belonging to the Schedule Castes and Schedule 
Tribes and 15 percent for minorities. The scheme 
mandates that one-third of those trained must be 
women. Another positive aspect of this scheme is 
that there is an age relaxation for women. Women 
up to the age of 45 can avail of training under this 
scheme.
As part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, 
the Department of Rural Development (DoRD) 
Kurukshetra      May  2022 42
organised more than 174 ‘women centric’ 
mobilisation camps under DDU-GKY across the 
country on March 7, 2022. The event titled- 
Avsar Ki Azadi- was organised through various 
State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs), State 
Skills Missions (SSM) and Project Implementation 
Agencies (PIAs) to make it a grand success. Over 
4,281 women candidates were successfully 
mobilised through various such camps organised 
across the country for enrolling in courses like 
assistant beauty therapist, self-employed tailoring 
and sample tailoring among others. 
DDU-GKY has helped youth from poor 
rural families in accessing free of cost skilling 
programme. The programme is being implemented 
in 27 states and three Union Territories.  More 
than 871 PIAs are training rural poor youth in close 
to 611 job roles through more than 2,381 training 
centres. Cumulatively, 11.44 lakh youth have been 
trained and 7.15 lakh youth have been placed till 
January 31, 2022. The programme has delivered 
satisfactory outcomes in north-eastern states of 
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, 
Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
In December 2021, the Ministry of Rural 
Development organised 285 job fairs across 
the country under DDU-GKY as part of Azadi ka 
Amrit Mahotsav. Industry leaders from across 
30 major sectors participated in these fairs 
spread over seven days.  Facilitated by various 
State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLM) and PIAs, 
these job fairs drew huge crowds and provided 
rural youth many good job opportunities. Some 
of the participating companies were Amazon 
India, Swiggy, Med Plus, Axis Bank, Kia Motors, 
Innovsource, Flipkart, Nana Bharat Fertilizers, 
Reliance Trends, Westside, Spencers, Leela Hotel, 
JW Mariott, Bengaluru and Teamlease Services.
The participating organisations belonged 
to 30 major sectors/trades including retail, 
construction, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, 
e-commerce, microfinance, manpower 
management, IT-ITEs, automobile, etc. 
On March 10 this year, the Union Rural 
Development Secretary, Mr Nagendra Nath 
Kurukshetra      May  2022 43
Sinha chaired a webinar promoting the 'Captive 
Employer' initiative under the DDU-GKY. More 
than 16 Sector Skill Councils and 180 stakeholders 
participated in the webinar. ‘Captive Employer’, 
is a first of its kind initiative aimed at addressing 
the vision of a dynamic and demand-based 
skilling ecosystem catering to the requirements 
of industry partners assuring sustainable 
placements for rural poor youth. The initiative 
assures post-training placement of candidates for 
a minimum of six months with a minimum CTC  
(Cost to Company) of Rs. 10,000/-.
The model will allow the industry to source 
trainees as per their requirement with active 
support from States/UTs and will also allow 
employers to select rural youth and employ them 
in one of their establishments/subsidiaries.
A Request for Expression of Interest (REoI) 
was floated on February 1, 2022, to empanel 
such ‘Captive Employers’ and the first Pre-
proposal meeting was chaired on February 21 
by Joint Secretary (Rural Skills), Ministry of Rural 
Development (MoRD). Over 125 prospective 
employers attended the pre-proposal meeting.
The sky is the limit when it comes to 
schemes to empower the rural youth. The 
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare 
has operationalised skill training (min 200 hrs.) 
to impart training to rural youth and farmers. 
This was done following the Gazette Notification 
issued by Ministry of Skill Development and 
Entrepreneurship in July, 2015. These courses are 
conducted through National Training Institutes, 
State Level Training Institutes, Krishi Vigyan 
Kendras and State Agricultural Universities. The 
skill trainings are imparted on the Qualification 
Packs developed by Agriculture Skill Council 
of India (ASCI) in agriculture and allied areas in 
compliance with the National Skill Qualification 
Framework. The major areas of skill trainings 
include mushroom production, bee-keeping, 
micro-irrigation, maintenance and repair of farm 
equipment, nursery management, vermicompost 
production, animal husbandry, dairying, poultry, 
fishery among others.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and 
Farmers’ Welfare, the 'Skill Training of Rural Youth' 
(STRY) of 'Sub Mission on Agriculture Extension' 
(SMAE) is being implemented since 2015-16. Short 
term skill training of seven days (15 trainees per 
batch) is imparted to rural youth and farmers on 
specific vocational areas in agriculture and allied 
areas through public and private/non government 
training institutes including Krishi Vigyan Kendras 
and State Agricultural Universities. 
Recognising the competitive nature of the 
job market and expectations of employers, the 
government launched DigiSaksham - a digital skills 
programme, on September 30, 2021. Launched 
by Minister for Labour and Employment, Shri 
Bhupender Yadav, the skills programme is aimed at 
enhancing the employability of youth by imparting 
digital skills required in an increasingly technology 
driven era. This joint initiative with Microsoft 
India is an extension of the government’s ongoing 
programmes to support the youth from rural and 
semi-urban areas. The DigiSaksham initiative will 
equip more than 3,00,000 youth in technical skills 
in the first year and will enable jobseekers access 
Microsoft learning resources such as programming 
languages, data analytics, software development 
fundamentals and advanced digital productivity 
on the National Career Service (NCS) Portal. 
The initiative gives priority to job-seekers from 
semi-urban areas who belong to disadvantaged 
communities and those who have been displaced 
or lost jobs due to COVID-19.  
Lastly, the Government of India is running 
several schemes to increase participation of the 
rural youth in sports. The Khelo India Scheme 
implemented by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and 
Sports promotes sports among entire population 
including rural youth. The scheme has a dedicated 
vertical for promotion of rural and indigenous/
tribal games by providing financial assistance to 
National Sports Federations/ Non Government 
Organizations (NGOs), etc for promotion of sports 
in the country. 
 (The author is a senior Delhi based journalist. 
Views expressed are personal. Email tripnath@
outlook.com)