Journal for Studies in Management and Planning ISSN: 2395-0463

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ Volume 03 Issue 09

August 2017

Impact of DDU-GKY among Rural Unemployed Youths in Punjab:

A Case from Amritsar District
Dr. Shankar Chatterjee
Former Prof & Head (CPME) NIRD &PR, Hyderabad-500 030, Telangana, India
E-mail: shankarjagu@gmail.com
Abstract
Punjab has made considerable economic Punjab has made considerable economic
progress after Independence despite it
suffered in 1947. It contributes nearly 2/3rd progress after Independence despite it
to the total production of food grains and suffered in 1947. It contributes nearly two
1/3rd of milk production in the country. It is
the leading producer of wheat also. The thirds to the total production of food grains
initiative of Green Revolution was and a third of milk production in the
enthusiastically taken forward by the
farmers of Punjab. In spite of all these country. It is the leading producer of wheat,
positive notes, the State has been suffering thereby contributing to the national food
serious unemployment issue particularly in
rural areas. According to the Labour security. The initiative of Green Revolution
Bureau Statistics in Punjab the was enthusiastically taken forward by the
unemployment rate among the youth
(proportion of the labour force between 18 people of Punjab. Punjab is considered to
and 29 years i.e. unemployed rate) was 16.6 have the best infrastructure in India; this
percent while the Indian average was 10.2
percent in 2015-16. Punjab also had Indias includes road, rail, air and river transport
eighth-highest rural youth unemployment links that are extensive throughout the
rate. So the role played by Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana region. Punjab also has the lowest poverty
(DDU-GKY) is praiseworthy as many youths rate in India and has won the best state
are settled through wage employment after
training. In this research article, a case of performance award. According to 2011
DDU-GKY from Amritsar district is Census of India, the total Population of
presented. The data were collected while
visiting the district in the first week of Punjab was 2.77 crore. The decadal growth
August 2017. The case, focused on Orion of population from 2001 to 2011 was 13.89
Edutech which is one of the Programme
Implementing Agencies (PIAs) i.e. training percent (punjab.gov.in/13 August 2017). In
and placements are arranged by them, is spite of all positive notes, the State at
presented here.
Key words: Amritsar, DDU-GKY, present has been suffering serious
Punjab, Rural and Unemployment. unemployment issue particularly in rural
areas.
.

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 Journal for Studies in Management and Planning ISSN: 2395-0463
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ Volume 03 Issue 09
August 2017

According to the Labour Bureau according to the Fifth Annual Employment-

statistics in Punjab, the unemployment rate Unemployment Survey (2015-16), Ministry
among the youth- proportion of the labour of Labour and Employment, Government of
force between 18 and 29 years i.e. India the unemployment rate in Punjab was
unemployed rate - was 16.6 percent while 60 and in rural area the same was 59 against
the Indian average was 10.2 percent in 2015- urban figure of 62 which may be seen from
16. Punjab also had Indias eighth-highest the table-1.
rural youth unemployment rate. And
.Table: 1 Unemployment Rates 2015-16 (per 1000)
Rank State Total Urban Rural
1 Tripura 197 172 203
2 Sikkim 181 168 184
3 Kerala 125 126 125
4 Himachal Pradesh 106 23 117
5 Goa 96 58 150
6 Arunachal Pradesh 89 52 93
7 Nagaland 85 141 69
8 Jharkhand 77 94 73
9 Uttar Pradesh 74 67 76
10 Jammu and Kashmir 72 36 83
11 Rajasthan 71 43 77
12 Uttarakhand 70 32 81
13 Assam 61 101 55
14 Bihar 60 74 59
14 Punjab 60 62 59
16 Manipur 57 70 49
17 Odisha 50 47 51
India 50 49 51
18 Telengana 49 56 47
19 Meghalaya 48 134 28
20 Haryana 47 39 53
21 Madhya Pradesh 43 40 44
22 Tamil Nadu 42 36 45
23 Andhra Pradesh 39 44 38
24 Mizoram 30 49 15
25 West Bengal 28 62 13
26 Maharashtra 21 23 20
27 Chhattisgarh 19 68 11
28 Karnataka 15 19 13

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 Journal for Studies in Management and Planning ISSN: 2395-0463
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August 2017

29 Gujarat 9 7 10
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_states_ranked_by_unemployment/13 August
2017 but main source is the Report on Fifth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey
(2015-16), Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

Although the table is self explanatory but
the points to be noted are Tripura has the
highest unemployment rate, while Gujarat
has the least unemployment rate among the
states of India as higher ranks represents
higher unemployment among the
population. While considering the states
having better performance meaning, less
unemployment rate than national average of
50, it is observed that Punjab is not better
placed as in the list Punjab even does not
stand in between 18 and 29. Rather rural
unemployment is very high and rate is equal
to Bihar and also higher than Assam and
Manipur. We know Assam and Manipur had
insurgency problem at high level once upon
a time inter alia because of unemployment.
In view of this the Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana
(DDU-GKY) is having tremendous scope in
Punjab. Interestingly while discussing with
the villagers and the officials of rural
development department in Amritsar all in
unison informed that in case of Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in many
places of rural Punjab local laborers are not
available in the existing wage rate as market
rate is much higher. Even the local guide
Harpreet Singh Happy of Wadala Johal
village of Amritsar who was for a short
period in army emphasized the same, as he
hails from rural area and widely travelled in
many villages of Punjab. On the other hand,
rural youths who have at least passed out
school examination are interested for wage
employment like DDU-GKY.
About Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-
GKY):
The Ministry of Rural Development
(MoRD) announced the Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana
(DDU-GKY) on 25th September 2014.
DDU-GKY is a part of the Deen Dayal
Antyodaya YojanaNational Rural
Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM). DDU-
GKY launched with the objective of
providing wage employment to the trained
youths who mainly hails from Below

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 Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
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Poverty Line (BPL) families and age should
be between 15 and 35 years from Below
Poverty Line (BPL) families. As per the
statistics of Government of India little more
than 180 million or 69% of the countrys
youth population between the ages of 18 and
34 years, live in rural areas. Out of these
youths, the number of youths having no or
marginal employment were about 55 million
(ddugky.gov.in). It is pertinent to mention
that the National Policy for Skill
Development & Entrepreneurship, 2015 has
identified a skill gap of 109.73 million in 24
key sectors by the year 2022. This number
cannot be achieved without addressing the
55 million youths from rural India. Also
FICCI and Ernst Young Study published
in 2013 identified a shortage of over 47
million skilled workers across the globe by
2020. Thus there is great opportunity for
India to train the youths and place them in
jobs across the world and realize its
demographic dividend.
DDU-GKY takes pride in its partners and
their ability to add value. Innovation from
partners is encouraged to build scale and
capacity. Its unique implementation
structure involves partners, who are by
nature, committed to changing lives and are
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ISSN: 2395-0463
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August 2017
experts in their areas; they form a part of the
skilling ecosystem integrated by DDU-
GKY. Partners are supported through
investment, capacity building, strategies for
retention, linkages to international
placement and technology support for
training purposes. DDU-GKY has been
functioning in 21 States and UTs, across 568
districts, in 6,215 development blocks and
having 690 Centers with little more than 300
partners, in more than 330 trades from 82
industrial sectors. The data reveal that little
more than 2.7 lakh youths have been trained
and more than 1.34 lakh persons have been
placed in jobs. From 2012, DDU-GKY has
invested more than Rs. 5,600 Crore (ibid).
Further, from the data of DDU-GKY it is
observed that during 2017-18 up to 31st May
altogether 23, 723 persons were trained in
655 centers across the country in 329 trades.
Of which 13,891 youths were placed
through wage-employment indicating
around 59 percent achievement. It is
pertinent to mention that data were only up
to May 2017. During 2016-17, altogether
162,586 persons were trained in 654 centers
of India in 329 trades. Of which 84,900
(52%) were settled through wage
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 Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
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employment activities (ddugky.gov.in/12
August 2017).
As DDU-GKY is the placement-led skill
training initiative working in Public Private
Partnership (PPP) mode in DDU-GKY, a 3-
tier implementation structure is followed as
mentioned below.
The National Unit (NU) at the Ministry of
Rural Development acts as the investor,
policy maker and technical support provider.
State Skill Missions manage and monitor
implementation and Training Partners
(called Programme Implementation
Agencies or popularly known as PIAs)
implement projects in specialist trades in
compliance with norms and standards set by
DDU-GKY. The partners/employers can be
engaged directly in three ways a) Champion
Employers, b) Captive Employers and c)
through Industry Internships.
Champion Employers: Employers who can
train and place 5,000 or more rural BPL
youths in two years are eligible to partner
with DDU-GKY as 'Champion Employers'.
Subsequently, during the tenure of the MoU,
they need to train and employ or place a
minimum of 2,500 rural youth annually.
Captive Employers: In this case the
organization who can employ 500 or more
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ISSN: 2395-0463
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August 2017
in their own organization or one of their
subsidiaries and have suitable in-house
training facilities, are eligible to partner with
DDU-GKY as Captive Employers
Industrial Internships: Businesses that
employ a large number of skilled workers,
and need to rapidly increase their workforce
to grow their businesses can engage with
DDU-GKY using the Industrial Internships
approach. In this case DDU-GKY offers an
easier engagement where the business needs
to assure absorption of candidates
(ddugky.gov.in/12August 2017).
DDU-GKY in Amritsar district of
Punjab:
To get an idea about the functioning of
DDU-GKY in Amritsar district of Punjab
the study was conducted in the first week of
August 2017 by staying in Amritsar city.
Thus the author had the opportunity to visit
holy Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib). As
is known to all, Amritsar city is an old city
and popular in the world because of Golden
Temple (Harmandir Sahib) which is the
holiest Gurdwara (religious place) of the
Sikh religion. So the authors first visit to
Golden Temple has created a different
environment as everywhere one can find
selfless service whether serving of food,
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water, cleaning of utensils, making of roti Government Senior Secondary

etc are concerned. It is heartening to School Tapiala ,Block Chogawan
mention by quoting Hindustan Times, 19th Government High School Cheema
May 2016, epaper, that The Golden Temple Bath, Block Rayya.
(Harmandir Sahib) in Amritsar has been Government Senior Secondary
ranked number 3 in the country on the School Harsha Chhinna, Block
travelers choice landmarks list of a leading Harsha Chhinna
travel planning and booking site It may be mentioned that Orion Edutech
TripAdvisor. Surrounded by a holy Private Limited has been relentlessly
sarovar, its construction was completed in working to develop the skill of the rural
1604 and presently runs one of the largest youths of India with the assistance of
free kitchens in the world, which serves an Ministry of Rural Development under DDU-
average of 1,00,000 people daily. GKY. Further, DDU-GKY has been getting
The author while visited some of the momentum in the district because inter alia
villages observed that unemployment in of two dynamic officers namely, Sri
rural area is a major issue in Amritsar Ravinder Singh , Additional Deputy
district. So role played by DDU-GKY is Commissioner (Development) and Ex
praiseworthy. And it is also suggested that Officio Chief Executive Officer of Zilla
the Government of Punjab should prepare a Parishad, Amritsar who belongs to Punjab
road-map to address the unemployment Civil Service and Sri Surinder Singh, Block
issue otherwise frustrated youths may be Thematic Manager (Mobilization & IECM),
misled. Under DDU-GKY, in Amritsar Punjab Skill Development Mission,
district - Orion Edutech is one of the PIAs Amritsar.
functioning in the following places. . The Case of Training and
Government Senior Secondary Placement of youths:
School, Ramdass, Ajnala
The data were collected while visiting the
Government High School
district in first week of August 2017. Thus
Preetnagar, Block Chogawan
the study portrays the latest data available
with the district officials.

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Altogether 63 persons both male and female
were placed by Orion Edutech under DDU-
GKY, of them eight cases are presented to
get a practical idea. All in unison informed
that after the training they were endowed
with different skills such as practical Ruby
knowledge, motivation, how to talk with
others etc., among all these, greatest
advantage of the training was that hailing
from rural areas they all were empowered
with self confidence.
Cases:
meals were provided, as well as, an
amount of Rs.12475 was paid to him as
monthly wage. He was happy as his
father was a laborer as sequel they had to
struggle to eke out their livelihood.
Sharma, (born 1992, father
Ramesh Kumar) was trained at
Government Senior Secondary School
Tapiala in Food and Beverages service
and after successful completion of
training the person joined as Steward, at
Noida in the organization called Sodexo

Hardev Singh (born 1996) son of at the salary of Rs. 8000 per month with

Harbhajan Singh was trained in free lodging and two times free meals. It

Customer Care is pertinent to mention that job of

Executive programme at Government Steward in general is serving food ,

Senior Secondary School Harsha arranging utensils, serving to the

Chhinna Center in 2017. After customers, helping in the catering

successful completion of training, he services etc.

was posted at Mohali in a private As father was earning as wage labouer

company (name of the company so the income greatly helped the family

Competent) as Customer Support to live in descend way.

Representative (CSR). His job was Like Ruby Sharma six others were given

taking customers call vis--vis resolving employment after successful completion

the issues, promote new products into of training and joined same organization

the market by calling process, verifying that is, Sodexo, Noida in the same terms

customer documents and handle queries and conditions with a monthly wage of

pertaining to the bills, etc. For rendering Rs. 8000. The name of the persons and

his service, free lodging and two times fathers name with year of birth are

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presented below. It is pertinent to
mention that fathers of all the youths
were earning by working as wage labour
indicating all had economic problem so
such job for the youth has brought a new
ray of hope in their lives.
a) Prabhdial Singh, (born 1998), son of
Gursharan Singh and Navjot Kaur ( born
in 1990, father Lakhdev Singh) were
trained at Government Senior Secondary
School Tapiala Center of DDU-GKY.
b) The other persons who were trained in
2017 at Government High School
Preetnagar Center of DDU-GKY and
placed at Sodexo, Noida at the monthly
salary of Rs. 8000 with free lodging and
two times meals were Gagandeep Kaur
(born 1997, father Mukhtar Singh);
Gurpreet Kaur (born 1994, father
Kuldeep Singh); Money (1998, father
Narinder Masih) and Palwinder Kaur
(1996, father Sukhdev Singh).
These eight cases have been highlighted to
get an idea how DDU-GKY has created an
impact among the youths in rural areas of
Amritsar. It was observed that DDU-GKY
was at nascent stage in the district as
literally all Centers were functioning from
2016-17 even then 63 youths have been
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August 2017
settled by one PIA only. So DDU-GKY is
having enormous scope to usher a ray of
hope to rural youths of Punjab.
Conclusion:
With lot of hope, hype and hoopla the
youths in Amritsar district have been
coming forward to undergo training at
different centers in Amritsar under DDU-
GKY, as observed during field study. It is
suggested that the Government of Punjab
should design more such wage employment
as well as self-employment training
programmes (as done by RSETI for self-
employment). While interacting many
youths in Amritsar, it was observed that
rural unemployment was a serious issue,
particularly for those youths who do not
have any agricultural land or marginal
agricultural land. If the youths are
productively employed Punjab will not
prosper but country will also prosper.
Before concluding the discussion, Swami
Vivekanandas message to the youths may
be quoted here, All power is within you;
you can do anything and everything. Believe
in that, do not believe that you are weak;
Stand up and express the divinity within
you. Therefore, arise, awake, and stop not
till the goal is reached.
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(The author expresses his deep sense of

gratitude to Sri Ravinder Singh , Additional
Deputy Commissioner (Development) and
Ex Officio Chief Executive Officer of Zilla
Parishad, Amritsar a Punjab Civil Service
officer and Sri Surinder Singh, Block
Thematic Manager(Mobilization & IECM,
Punjab Skill Development Mission,
Amritsar for their whole-hearted cooperation
to carry out the study).

Reference:

[1] http://ddugky.gov.in/content/about-
us-0/12 August 2017
[2] Ibid
[3] http://ddugky.gov.in/content/employ
/12 August 2017
[4] http://punjab.gov.in/know-punjab/13
August 2017
[5] Hindustan Times, Golden Temple
ranked 3rd on countrys tourist
attraction list, 19th May 2016,
epaper.

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