The Union Rural Development Ministry is facing a lukewarm response to its project Unnati, hence it wants to link performances of the States under the Unnati project with its labour budget for the upcoming financial year.
Project Unnati: Features and assessment
- The Project Unnati aims to reduce dependence on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by imparting skill training to its beneficiaries.
- 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 on March 2022 but has now been extended by two years.
- Project Unnati was launched with the intention of upgrading the skill base of the MGNREGS workers to help them transition from partial employment to full employment, thereby reducing their dependence on the employment guarantee scheme.
- At least 20% of the households that complete 100 days of work under MGNREGS are targeted by the States under the Unnati project to fully utilise its potential.
- 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.
- If a household is working for 100 days under MGNREGS that shows that they are completely dependent it for their livelihood and are the poorest of the lot. Thus, this criterion was used as the baseline.
- The selected candidate is eligible for wages on a par with that given under the MGNREGS during the period of the training.
- 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.
(Source: The Hindu)
