Ayush Ministry & Ministry of Rural Devt Signs MoU for Skilling of Rural Youth & Empowering Women

A course for training rural youth as panchakarma technicians/assistants will also be launched on a trial basis. The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Minister of Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Giriraj Singh, Minister of State for Ayush, Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai, Dr. Manoj Nesari, Advisor (Ayurveda), Ministry of Ayush, and Karma Zimpa Bhutia, Joint Secretary, (Rural Skills), Ministry of Rural Development.

P.K. Pathak, Special Secretary, MoA, Dr. Tanuja Nesari, Director, AIIA, New Delhi, Shailesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, and other officials from both ministries were in attendance.

In his address, Sarbananda Sonowal said," Both the ministries will collaborate in boosting the spirit of self-employment. This will allow rural youth and women to be empowered. This will result in more job opportunities in rural areas. I hope that both ministries will continue to look into similar collaborations where we can work together to improve society."

"This MoU will be a landmark in empowering women's self-help groups and rural poor youth," Giriraj Singh said. The initial goal is to train a large number of women, which will be increased in the future. We will prioritise self-help groups."

The training programme under this MoU will be funded in accordance with DDU-GKY cost norms. NRLM and DDU-GKY will inform States/UTs about the courses and training provided by Ministry of Ayush institutes in order to recruit willing SHG members and rural poor youth. Whereas, the MoA will make available its institutes for the purpose of conducting courses, training, and certification of aspirants/candidates.

The ministry will also appoint nodal agencies across the country to ensure mobilization, counselling, training, placement, and tracking of candidates in their respective designated states in accordance with DDU-GKY standards.

Apart from that, both ministries will work on developing a system in which technical assistance will be provided in identifying permissible medicinal plantation activities, plant protection, and intercropping in order to generate additional income streams under relevant Ministry of Rural Development schemes. The Ministry will also organise training and orientation for plantation beneficiaries and other community-level workers.

The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is the flagship programme of the Government of India's Ministry of Rural Development. DDU-GKY aims to transform rural poor youth into economically independent and globally relevant workforce as part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).

This MoU is expected to foster synergy and convergence between both ministries, allowing for the achievement of the larger goal of rural community development and poverty alleviation. Both parties also agreed to establish a Joint Working Group through which other activities of mutual interest could be identified and jointly worked on by the Ministries of Rural Development and Ayush.