The Union Rural Development Ministry is set to reduce dependence on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) as a means to provide livelihood to rural masses and link people relying on the UPA flagship scheme with skill-based job-oriented training programme to pull them out of poverty by making them part of the organised sector.
The Ministry will soon issue guidelines to encourage people to go for a long term solution for livelihood by being part of the skill-based job-oriented training programme conducted under Deen Dayal Upadhaya-Gramin Kaushal Yojna (DDU-GKY). The ministry is likely to promote the skill enhancement programme and encourage rural masses to cross the poverty line by equipping themselves with market oriented skills.
“We will soon issue guidelines to pull people out of MNREGA, upgrade their skills and send them to organised sector. Getting 100 day job is their legal right but it is important to pull them out of this and need to bring them above the poverty line. We will upgrade their skills so that they can go to other sectors also,” Union Rural Development Minister, Chaudhary Birendra Singh.
Notably, MNREGA is a major component of RD ministry accounting for nearly Rs34,000 crore of the total budget of the ministry. Although the colossal scheme provides job guarantee it does not create a workforce skilled enough to ensure livelihood beyond 100 days of employment provided to an unemployed rural youth. Singh was in Jharkhand to distribute completion certificates to 230 candidates trained under ‘Roshni’ — a subcomponent of DDU-GKY — and also to award job offer letters to 150 candidates of extremism-affected areas trained under ‘Roshni’.
The Union Minister praised Jharkhand for living up to the expectations of skill development programme —Deen Dayal Upadhaya- Gramin Kaushal Yojna — and promised more assistance to the State for the skill development scheme especially for even better implementation of skill-based training programme — ‘Roshni’, which is being implemented in rural pockets of six Naxal-affected districts of Jharkhand.
Singh said: “Jharkhand has made a very good beginning under DDU-GKY. We have implemented this scheme on a grand scale in six Naxal-affected districts,” and the Ministry earmarked Rs101 crore for training 21,511 people hailing from extremism-affected areas. The Union Minister pointed at rolling out skill enhancement programmes for people migrating out of Jharkhand for jobs and assured financial assistance for the programme.
“There is no dearth of funds. Your (Jharkhand) unspent funds are still there,” added Singh. Significantly, the State Government requested the Central Government to increase the target of the skill based training programme to help it control large scale migration of people in search of job and fuel transformation of Jharkhand into a model State.
“I would request the Minister to increase the target for Jharkhand to three times. If it happens then migration of people will stop and this State will establish itself as a model State,” said Minister, Rural Development department, Nelkanth Singh Munda. The DDU-GKY was launched in Jharkhand in 2013 and envisages preparing rural population skilful for the organised sector. The scheme makes it incumbent upon agencies selected to provide training to ensure job to the trained workforce and make them employed for a salary not less than Rs6,000.