ABSTRACT
The Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushalya Yojna (DDUGKY) is one of the most important flagship schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development (MORD), Government of India. The main aim of the DDUGKY is to impart skills to the rural population, specifically youth in the 15 to 29 age group, in India so that they can earn their livelihood and live with dignity. This scheme operates in a public–private partnership (PPP) model where the MORD works with private skilling partners across various states to achieve India’s skilling goals. Data analysis showed that the higher the proportion of a district’s urban population, the more targets are allocated for the rural skilling program. To rectify this bias, an index was created using the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 and Census 2011. A district is rewarded if it caters to a higher number of deprived households and negative reinforcement for a district based on urbanisation. This index formed the basis for further allocation of youth for the rural skilling program. The implementation of the index in practice highlighted the role of socio-political considerations and practical tooling in the process of everyday data science within the public sector.
