The Ministry of Ayush and the Ministry of Rural Development on Thursday signed an MoU to transform the rural youth into economically independent and globally relevant workforce.

The MoU was signed at Transport Bhawan by Manoj Nesari, Advisor, Ministry of Ayush, and Karma Zimpa Bhutia, Joint Secretary, Rural Skills, Ministry of Rural Development in the presence of Union Minister of Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal and Giriraj Singh, Union Minister of Panchayati Raj.

Minister of State for Ayush, Munjapara Mahendrabhai Kalubhai, Secretary Ayush, Rajesh Kotecha, Pramod Kumar Pathak, Special Secretary Ministry of Ayush and Shailesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Prof. (Dr) Tanuja Manoj Nesari, Chairperson of Ayush Sub Sector Skill Council and Director, All India institute of Ayurveda were also present at the occasion.

Sarbananda Sonowal welcomed the Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh and said that both the ministries will collaborate in boosting the spirit of self-employment.

Singh in his speech praised the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ayush Ministry for the growth seen in the Ayush sector, which scaled from $3 billion in 2014 to $19 billion in the year 2022.

The minister also thanked PM Modi for scaling and giving the opportunity.

Talking about DDU-GKY (Deen Dayal Upadhyay-Grameen Kaushal Yojana, he said that he would empower self help groups of women and the collaboration with the Ministry of Ayush will help the achieving growth in self-employment and skill development.

Speaking on the occasion, Director of All India Institute of Ayurveda Prof (Dr) Tanuja Manoj Nesari said that the collaboration between both the ministries will play an important role in enhancing the skill and service sector related to Ayurveda.

Training to Rural Poor Youth will be provided in collaboration with the Ayush Ministry in the following courses on a pilot basis:-

Panchakarma Technician

Panchakarma Assistant

Ayurvedic Masseur

Kshara Karma Technician

Cupping Therapy Assistant

To be a milestone in the history of skill development

The purpose of this collaboration is to help in developing skilled personnel for AYUSH Healthcare system and AYUSH management sectors, training will be benchmarked to global standards, to enable growth of skilled human resources in such sectors, to serve both national and international demand.

The association between the two Ministries will help in providing training to Rural Poor Youth in the National Skills Qualification Framework aligned courses available on National Qualification Register under DDU-GKY Scheme.

Mission of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to skill rural youth from the humble background will combine with the Ministry of Ayush (MoA) through Deen Dayal Upadhyaya-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY) it will open new doors in the horizon of opportunities and development empowering rural youth.