Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI)

Key Priorities under Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI)

Lakhs of youth are entering the job market every year in this country but are unable to find suitable employment. Non-availability of adequate employment opportunities in the organized & unorganized sectors is one of
the serious challenges the country is facing.

In such a scenario, the need for promoting self employment for the unemployed rural youth, particularly those below the poverty line, and periodic skill up gradation to keep them abreast of latest technologies, need not be overstated. Once trained appropriately, the youth will launch profitable micro-enterprises and enhance their own standards of living and thereby contribute to the overall national economy. They can also feed the services sector, both within the country and abroad.

The Government of India is already implementing the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) aimed at providing sustainable income to rural BPL families, largely through the process of formation of Self Help Groups that are provided with credit linkage with Banks and subsidy for creation of income generating assets so as to bring them above the poverty line.

However, due to lack of necessary skills for undertaking particular enterprises and also their lack of capacity to access the formal vocational training institutions due to lack of basic entry qualifications, it is difficult for the BPL youth to take up any trade for self employment. Even if they are already engaged in some trade they need some hand holding in the form of periodic doses of skill up gradation training for making their initiative viable and sustainable in an increasingly competitive environment.

With the aim of mitigating the unemployment problem among the youth, a new initiative was tried jointly by Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Educational Trust, Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank in 1982 which was the setting up of the “RURAL DVELOPMENT AND SELF EMPLOYMENT TRAINING INSTIUTE” with its acronym RUDSETI near Dharmasthala in Karnataka. Several centers of the RUDSETI are already operating successfully now.

However, there is an urgent need for up scaling the operations in this area keeping in view the mammoth requirements in the country. Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) is convinced that there is a need for a dedicated structure to ensure necessary skill up gradation of the rural BPL Youth. Since the RUDSETI has today become a replicable model, the MoRD proposes to support establishment of one RUDSETI type of Institution in each district of the country to tap the rural BPL youth from the rural hinterland. These will be bank led institutions i.e. will be managed and run by the Public Sector/Private Sector Banks with active co-operation from the State Governments.

RUDSETI’s core offering includes its free, unique and intensive short-term residential self-employment training programmes with free food and accommodation, designed specifically for rural youth. Another important feature of the RUDSETIs is its vision statement which differentiates this institution from the normal run of the mill vocational training centers and has established them as a unique brand. All these are proposed to be replicated in the RUDSETI type of Institutions to be aided by GoI.

• The trainings offered will be demand driven
• Rural BPL youth will be given priority
• Area in which training will be provided to a particular rural BPL youth will be decided after assessment of the aptitude of the candidate
• Hand holding will be provided for assured credit linkage with Banks
• Escort services will be provided for ensuring at least a two year followup to ensure sustainability of micro enterprise undertaken by the rural
  BPL youth.
• Provide intensive short-term residential self-employment training programmes with free food and accommodation to rural youth for taking up self employment initiatives and skill up gradation for running their micro-enterprises successfully.