PM-DAKSH: a skilling scheme folded into a larger one
Written by Shishya with AI on 27 Oct 2026 from one official release: 1, 87,305 Candidates Trained and Placed 96,162 During 2020-21 to 2023-24 under PM-DAKSH Scheme ↗ (Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (PIB), 22 Oct 2026, pib.gov.in). Answers checked against the passage. A practice passage, not official CLAT material; read the release for the full official text.
PM-DAKSH, a Central Sector Scheme started in 2020-21, offered skill training to Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, Economically Weaker Sections, De-notified Tribes and Safai Karamcharis, including waste pickers. Training was given through empanelled institutes, with the aim of helping trainees earn wages or start their own work, and so improve their social and economic position.
Three corporations under the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment ran the scheme: the national finance and development corporations for Scheduled Castes, for Backward Classes and for Safai Karamcharis. According to an official of the Ministry, the department releases money to these corporations, which then repay institutes for the cost of training; the institutes are ones on the panel of the skill development ministry's Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).
From 2024-25, PM-DAKSH was merged into PMKVY. The reason given is duplication: PM-DAKSH was an addition to PMKVY, and every job role it trained for came from the Skill India Digital Hub portal and was already covered by PMKVY. Keeping two schemes for the same courses was therefore seen as unnecessary.
The scheme also tied payment to results. After training, an institute must place at least 70 per cent of its trainees in wage employment or self-employment. If it falls short, it loses the third instalment, which is 30 per cent of the training cost. Institutes must also keep links with industry, and the corporations offer loans and handholding to eligible young people who want to set up projects of their own.
The figures given are these: ₹276.47 crore was allotted from 2020-21 to 2023-24, while ₹309.5 crore has been spent so far; 1,87,305 candidates were trained and 96,162 placed in those years. An evaluation study, the official said, found that more than 90 per cent of beneficiaries felt the training matched their career goals and local job markets, and it found gains in confidence, self-esteem and social recognition.
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