A state level workshop on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gramin Kaushalay Yojna (DDU-GKY) was held here today. Secretary, Rural Development Dr. R.N. Batta speaking on occasion said that DDU-GKY was being implemented in Himachal Pradesh since 2016-17 to provide training to candidates under different trades and it was also mandatory to training partner to provide 70 percent placement.He said that DDU-GKY aims to skill rural youth who were poor and provide them jobs having regular monthly wages at or above minimum wages. He said that it was a national flagship programme for skilling under the Ministry of Rural Development. The programme focuses is on skilling and placement in the formal sector for poor rural youth.Dr. Batta said that this workshop was organised to get feedback from agencies implementing this programme besides the trained youth and to fill up the gap between trained candidates and placements. He said that it would provide a platform to know the demand of industries and the training providers to understand the supply challenges.Director, Rural Development Lalit Jain said that an action plan under DDU-GKY was submitted to Government of India in July 2016 with target of 15000 youth to be trained with in a period of three years. He said that there should be a simple platform where complete bio-data of trained youth could be uploaded so that industries and other persons could employ the person as per their requirement.Alumni's of DDU-GKY and training providers shared their experience on the occasion and also gave suggestions for making this programme more beneficial to the youth.Deputy Commissioner Mandi Rugved Thakur, CEO Himachal Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (HPSRLM) Sachin Kanwal, Deputy CEO HPSRLM Latika Sehwal and other officers were present on the occasion.