How skill development is changing lives in Odisha

Bhubaneswar:It took Poonam Kumari three months to turn her life around from an unemployed high school graduate toan internationally awarded coffee ‘brew-master’.Anr it started when her father, a truck driver,decided tomove his family to Odisha from Bokaro in Jharkhand.

In Jatni, she heard about the state government’s skill programme under DDU-KKY.She trained for three months in 2015  in coffee making  and currently earns Rs 20,000 a month at a Café Coffee Day outlet in Thane.

A 2014 rural youth employment scheme under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD),the DDU-GKY has been spearheading a quiet revolution in Odisha.Poonam is one example among thousands  whose skill development has helped thestate win the best performer under DDU-GKY for two years in a row.