Targeted skilling schemes for marginalised communities often run in parallel with general schemes. Evaluate the rationale and risks of subsuming PM-DAKSH under PMKVY.

PM-DAKSH is a Central Sector Scheme of MoSJE, launched in 2020-21. It skills SCs, OBCs, EWS, DNTs and Safai Karamcharis through NSFDC, NBCFDC and NSKFDC. From 2024-25 it has been subsumed under MSDE's PMKVY [1]. The merger makes sense for delivery, but it puts targeting at risk.

Rationale for subsuming

• Duplicate delivery: PM-DAKSH already used PMKVY-empanelled institutes and job roles from the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH). Running two parallel systems added paperwork, not training [1].
• Better monitoring: PMKVY 4.0 now offers Aadhaar-based e-KYC and one-year tracking after certification on SIDH [2]. A small scheme would find this costly to build alone.
• Scheme rationalisation: PM-DAKSH had trained 1,87,305 people by 2023-24 [1]. That is too small a scale to justify a separate structure, and convergence makes fund flow easier.

Risks of subsuming

• Weaker parent record: PM-DAKSH placed about 51% of its trainees (96,162) [1]. The CAG found only 41% placement in PMKVY 1.0–3.0 [2].
• Supply-driven job roles: PMKVY chose job roles without micro-level skill-gap analysis [3], and its courses were not aligned with industry needs [6]. Waste pickers and DNT youth would get whatever the general menu offers.
• Loss of targeted features: PMKVY has no equivalent of these PM-DAKSH features [4]:
• higher stipends for SCs and Safai Karamcharis (₹1,500 vs ₹1,000/month);
• no income ceiling for SCs and DNTs;

• loans from the three corporations.

• Inherited verification gaps: The CAG found the same photos reused as evidence for different trainings [2]. Institutes receive the last 30% of the training cost only if 70% of trainees are placed [1], so they have a reason to over-report placements.

• Occupational lock-in: Upskilling Safai Karamcharis within sanitation work can defeat the rehabilitation aim of the Manual Scavengers Act, 2013.

Verdict Merging how the scheme is delivered is justified. Merging away its purpose is not. PM-DAKSH still has a separate DoSJE budget line in 2025-26 [5], which suggests MoSJE keeps the money while PMKVY does the training.

The merger cuts duplication, but it must not weaken targeting. Four steps would let convergence honour Article 46's mandate to promote the economic interests of weaker sections and SDG 8's promise of decent work:

• keep the higher stipends and the corporation loans with MoSJE;
• publish SIDH outcomes for each social group;
• verify placements through EPFO records;
• adopt employer-first Recruit-Train-Deploy models.