Ministry of Rural Development to launch DDU-GKY 2.0 training in October

The Ministry of Rural Development is set to launch the first phase of the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) 2.0 in October 2026. This initial rollout will involve 1,164 training batches, enrolling 34,920 rural youth across 14 states and Union Territories, including Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Puducherry.

As a centrally sponsored programme, DDU-GKY 2.0 provides placement-linked skill training with durations ranging from three to 12 months. The Ministry has sanctioned a cumulative target to train 357,112 underprivileged rural candidates within these 14 jurisdictions by December 31, 2027.

For the broader two-year cycle spanning 2026 to 2028, targets have been issued to all 31 participating states and Union Territories. Currently, 24 states and Union Territories have formally assigned 5.6 lakh targets across more than 1,200 individual projects, while other regions are in the advanced stages of finalizing their quotas.