72000 J&K rural youth trained under DDU-GKY: Centre

New Delhi, Mar 10: The Government of India on Tuesday said that more than 72,000 rural youth from Jammu & Kashmir have been trained under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), while over 45,000 of them have been placed in jobs since the inception of the scheme.
According to the information shared in Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Rural Development, said that a total of 72,602 candidates from J&K have been trained and 45,618 placed under DDU-GKY till January 2026.
Replying to an unstarred question in the Parliament, Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said that the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) is implementing skill development programmes for rural youth through DDU-GKY and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI).
The DDU-GKY is a placement-linked skill development programme aimed at empowering rural poor youth aged between 15 and 35 years by equipping them with employable skills and linking them with regular wage employment.
The Minister said the programme ensures social inclusion with provisions for participation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women and persons with disabilities.
The government further said that under RSETI, a total of 1,22,400 candidates have been trained in Jammu & Kashmir since inception till January 2026, while 89,915 of them have been settled in self-employment or micro-enterprises.
RSETIs function as training institutes aimed at promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship among rural youth through short-term training programmes along with post-training support.
The scheme is implemented through a partnership between the Ministry of Rural Development, sponsor banks and State/UT governments, with a mandate to establish one RSETI in each district. (KNO)