Road to Self-Reliance: Skills for Rural Entrepreneurs

• Despite rapid urbanisation, more than half of India's population is projected to be in rural India by 2050. About two-third of rural income is now generated from non-agricultural activities. Thus, quality skill training of the rural workforce and growth of viable employment opportunities in rural India are essential for overall economic growth and inclusive development of the country.

Initiatives for Skilling Rural Youth

• DeenDayalUpadhyay-GraminKaushalyaYojana (DDU-GKY):DDU-GKY has emerged as a demand driven placement-linked skilling initiative which seeks to enable rural poor youth to benefit from national and international employment opportunities.
• Pradhan MantriKaushalVikasYojana (PMKVY):The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has been implementing its flagship scheme Pradhan MantriKaushalVikasYojana (PMKVY) through National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), with the aim to provide skill training to 10 million youth by 2020.
• The scheme promotes skilling of manpower in various sectors including agriculture through the Agriculture Sector Skill Council, thus helping rural youth acquire necessary skills that can lead tosustainable employment.

Promoting Rural Entrepreneurship

• Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP): Implemented by the DeendayalAntyodayaYojana -National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) of the Ministry of Rural Development has been playing a stellar role with the objective to support the rural poor in setting up enterprises mainly in manufacturing, trading and service sectors and providing support till the enterprises stabilize SVEP focusses on providing self-employment opportunities with financial assistance and training In business management and soft skills while creating local community cadres for promotion of enterprises.
• Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme {PMEGP}:Implemented by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), which aims to generate self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro enterprises for non-farm sector, has been a major enabler in helping rural youth find their feet.
• RozgarYuktGaon (RYG), a new component under KhadiVikasYojana, has been introduced to create an additional 12,500 direct employment opportunities in 50 villages, which are deprived of opportunities and sustainable livelihood support systems, in addition to spinning out secondary and ancillary opportunities of employment in a wider sense.
• Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes (RSETls): Skill development through RSETls under National Rural Livelihoods Mission is a bank-led initiative, enabling a trainee to take bank credit and start his own micro-enterprise.
• Pradhan Mantri Van DhanYojana (PMVDY): The Van Dhanstart-ups, established under the scheme initiated by TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, have emerged as a source of employment generation for tribal gatherers and forest dwellers and also the home-bound labour and artisans.
• The slogan "Go Vocal for Local”, has been adapted in these COVID times to include 'Go Vocal for Local Go Tribal - Mera Van MeraDhanMeraUdyam'.

New Initiatives

• MSDE is also implementing a pilot scheme, PM YUVA (PM YuvaUdyamitaVikasAbhiyan) , towards creating an enabling ecosystem through entrepreneurship education, training advocacy and easy access to the entrepreneurship network.
• Recent launch of "TheSaras Collection" on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal. A unique initiative of GeM and the DeenDayalAntyodayaYojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), the Saras Collection showcases daily utility products made by rural SHGs and provides them with market access to central and state government buyers.
• Based on the data of reverse migrants as compiled by Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has already formulated a plan for skill training of reverse migrant under PMKVY2.0 (2016-20) for 116 districts of six states as identified under GaribKalyanRozgarAbhiyaan (GKRA).
• Another major initiative is the launch of MSDE's Aatma Nirbhar Skilled Employee-Employer Mapping (ASEEM) portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities. Managed by the National Skill Development Corporation, this initiative will help accelerate India's journey towards recovery by mapping skilled workforce based on regions and local industry demands and connecting them with relevant livelihood opportunities in the post-COVID-19 era.

Way Forward

• As of today, the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge to India's economy and its workforce. It is the need of the hour to provide adequate skill training to this large workforce in rural India so that they can surmount this challenge and become a significant contributor to the economy. Only then will India be able to expand its talent pool and harness the potential of the rural youth.