In news– Facing less than a lukewarm response to project Unnati, the Union Rural Development Ministry wants to link performances of the States under the project with its labour budget for the upcoming financial year.
What is Project Unnati?
- Unnati was launched with the intention of upgrading the skill base of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers to help them transition from partial employment to full employment, thereby reducing their dependence on the employment guarantee scheme.
- Since its inception in 2020, just a little over 25,000 persons have been trained under the project, falling far short of its target of 2 lakh. The project was slated to end in March 2022 but has now been extended by two years.
- The aim of the project is to train one adult member (18-45 years) of a household that has completed 100 days of work under the MGNREGS.
- The candidates undergoing training are paid a stipend for a maximum period of 100 days and for one program per household as per the wage rate prevailing in the concerned State/UT as per the provisions of the project.
- Full expenditures towards a stipend, against wage loss compensation, are entirely borne by Central Government.
- Under the project, the selected candidates are skilled using three established training programmes —
- The Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana (DDU-GKY).
- The Rural Self Training Institute (RSETI) and
- The Krishi Vigyan Kendra.
- The Grameen Kaushal Yojana is a placement-linked programme, in which 70% of the trained candidates have to be compulsorily employed with a minimum salary of ₹6,000 per month.
- The RSETI is for entrepreneurial skills where persons in the age group of 18-45 get short-term residential training with long-term hand-holding support for up to two years.
- A Krishi Vigyan Kendra trains candidates in trades related to the agricultural sectors.
Source: The Hindu
