Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand driven wage employment Scheme which provides for the enhancement of livelihood security of 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.

In order to upgrade the skill base of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS’s workers, Government of India launched “Project UNNATI” in December 2019. By upgrading skill base of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS workers, the project intends to improve their livelihoods, so that they can move from the current partial employment to full employment through either self-employment or wage employment. The Project aims to enhance the skill base of 2 lakh Mahatma Gandhi NREGS workers. So far total of 82,799 Mahatma Gandhi NREGS workers have been trained (as on 31.12.2024).

In addition, this Ministry also implements the following two welfare schemes in the field of skill development for rural poor youth for their gainful employment with a view to eradicate poverty in the country under the umbrella scheme of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM):

1. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY): DDU-GKY is a placement linked skill development program for rural poor youth in the age group of 15-35 years. DDU-GKY guidelines provide for earmarking 50% of the funds for SCs and STs and 15% for minorities. Further, one third beneficiaries of the respective categories including general category, covered under the scheme, should be women.
2. Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs): RSETI is a Bank lead- MoRD funded training institutions established by the Sponsor Banks in their Districts, to provide training for Skill and Entrepreneurship Development. MoRD extends financial support for the construction of RSETI buildings and also bears the cost of training the Rural Poor candidates. Any unemployed youth in the age group of 18-45 years having an aptitude to take up self-employment or wage employment and having some basic knowledge in the related field can undergo training at RSETI. Some of the trained candidates may also seek regular salaried jobs / wage employment.

This information was given by Minister of State Rural Development, Shri Kamlesh Paswan in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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