Government Accelerates DDU-GKY 2.0 Implementation with New Digital Initiatives and Citizen-Centric Reforms
NEW DELHI, AUGUST 04, 2026: Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is one of the clusters of initiatives under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) aimed at livelihood diversification and poverty reduction. DDU-GKY aims to skill rural youth and promote sustainable livelihoods for rural youth through placement-linked skilling programs.
A review meeting on the implementation of the DDU-GKY was held today i.e. 04.08.2026 at Sanchar Bhawan under the Chairmanship of Shri Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Communication.
The meeting was attended by Ms. M.G. Jayasree, Joint Secretary (Rural Skills-II), Shri Santosh K Tiwari, Director (Skills), Ms. Deepika Aggarwal, Dy. Director, NIC and other senior officials.
Under the scheme, since inception in 2014-15, a total number of 18.45 lakhs rural poor have been trained and 12.35 lakhs have been placed in wage employment in various sectors of the economy. The programme is implemented by State governments through Project Implementation Agencies (PIAs). The scheme guidelines have been revised in the year 2025 to make the programme effective and transparent. For the DDU-GKY 2.0 an end to end digital solution has been developed facilitating all stages of the training and placement like PIA onboarding, Project submission, project evaluation, project onboarding, training centre/ batch/ candidate management, assessment and certification, financial management, project monitoring, placement/employment tracking, etc.
The Hon’ble MoS reviewed the progress of DDU GKY 2.0 and key digital reforms.   It was emphasized that all possible measures need to be taken for timely completion of training and placement as per the targets allocated under DDU GKY 2.0. The discussion points included the following initiatives among others for efficient delivery of the programme:
- Timely commencement of training batches to ensure faster implementation of approved projects.
- Development of advanced dashboards and analytical reports for real-time, granular monitoring of programme performance.
- A public candidate registration portal, enabling rural youth to register their interest online, to search training opportunities and to view the performance ratings of Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs), thereby promoting informed choice and transparency.
- Possible Empanelment of additional appraisal agencies to expedite project appraisal and improve the efficiency of approvals.
- Technology-enabled reforms, including automated PRN generation, online grievance redressal, blockchain-based certificate verification, real-time assessment dashboards and other process simplification measures to strengthen programme delivery.
- Strengthening citizen services through an integrated online grievance redressal mechanism, real-time assessment dashboards, face authentication-based attendance in genuine cases, re-enrolment provisions for eligible candidates and integration with SIDH for automated validation of course details.
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