Industry leaders from across 30 major sectors participated in job fairs organised across the length and breadth of the country over a period of seven days between 17^th – 23^rd December, 2021, as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Campaign. These job fairs, organised under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) programme by the Ministry of Rural Development, were facilitated by various State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLM) and Project Implementation Agencies (PIA).

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) was started with an ambitious agenda to benchmark wage placement-linked programs to global standards. Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) revamped the placement linked skill development program under National Rural Livelihood Mission as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) on the 25^th of September, 2014. DDU-GKY is a nationwide placement-linked skill training program funded by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India (GoI).

The program is currently being implemented in 27 States and 4 UTs and has over 2369 Training Centres in 1891 projects, in partnership with over 877 Project Implementing Agencies conducting training across 57 sectors, and over 616 job-roles. A total of 11.15 lakh candidates have been trained and 7.13 lakh candidates trained since inception under the DDU-GKY programme.

Lakhs of job seekers, both trained under the DDU-GKY programme and otherwise, participated in the job fairs. Close to 285 such fairs were organised across the country with participation from about 278 plus organisations. Some of the participating companies include Amazon India, Swiggy, Med Plus, Axis Bank, Kia Motors, Innovsource, Flipkart, Nana Bharat Fertilizers, Reliance Trends, Westside, Spencers, Leela Hotel, JW Mariott, Bengaluru, Teamlease Services etc. to name a few.

The participating organisations belonged to 30 major sectors/trades including retail, construction, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, e-commerce, microfinance, manpower management, IT-ITEs, automobile etc. The job melas were a huge success with thousands of rural youths being provided opportunities to work with some of the most prominent companies of the country.

Job seekers in the age groups of 18-35 years having completed basic schooling between 5^th-10^th standards and senior secondary or ITI, were provided free counselling at the venues. Eligible candidates were also selected for prior training in various trades with direct employment post trainings. Participating companies were also advised to ensure proper food and stay facilities for candidates selected for employment outside their home states.

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APS/IA