DAY-NULM Employment through Skills Training and Placement (EST&P)

What is DAY-NULM EST&P?

DAY-NULM Employment through Skills Training and Placement (EST&P) is the skill development component of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission, run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. EST&P provides free, market-linked, certified skill training to urban poor households so that they can take up salaried jobs or set up their own micro-enterprises.

According to the DAY-NULM mission document published on nulm.gov.in, EST&P focuses on "development / upgrading of the skills of the urban poor so as to enhance their capacity for self-employment and salaried employment", targeting in particular those urban poor who face occupational vulnerability; waste pickers, construction workers, destitute persons and street-based workers.

DAY-NULM EST&P is delivered by the Urban Local Body (ULB), not by the central government directly. Urban poverty alleviation is a state subject; the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs supplements state effort with central assistance, as the Ministry confirmed in a Lok Sabha reply on 25 July 2024.

Key objectives

• Provide salaried employment in the private sector or self-employment through short, structured, certified courses matched to local market demand.
• Fill the gap between the skills employers need in a city and the skills urban poor residents currently have.
• Raise household income and living standards of urban poor families.

Main features

• Training is fully funded, the trainee pays nothing.
• Cost ceiling of Rs 15,000 per beneficiary, or Rs 18,000 for North-Eastern and special category states.
• Courses are aligned to National Occupational Standards and Qualification Packs, and assessed by an independent Certification Agency.
• Skill Training Providers must place at least 50 percent of certified candidates in remunerative jobs.
• Successful candidates are tracked for a minimum of 12 months after training.

Who is eligible for DAY-NULM EST&P?

You can be selected if:

• You belong to an urban poor household as identified by your Urban Local Body, using the BPL list, SECC data or the state's urban poor list.
• You live within a municipal corporation, municipal board or town committee area covered by DAY-NULM.
• You have not undergone skill training under SJSRY or DAY-NULM in the last three years, repeat training is allowed only for advanced courses.
• You meet the entry requirement of the specific job role you choose. The mission document prescribes no minimum or maximum educational qualification for EST&P selection itself.

You cannot apply if:

• You live in a rural area outside any municipal or statutory town. Rural candidates are covered by DDU-GKY under the Ministry of Rural Development instead.
• You are not from an urban poor household: EST&P is a poverty alleviation programme, not an open skilling scheme.
• You have already been trained under DAY-NULM or SJSRY within the last three years for the same or a lower level of skill.

Reservations and earmarking apply within the eligible pool. The mission document requires that women make up not less than 30 percent of EST&P beneficiaries, that a 3 percent provision be made for differently-abled persons, and that at least 15 percent of physical and financial targets be earmarked for minority communities under the Prime Minister's 15-Point Programme. SCs and STs must benefit at least to the extent of their share in the city's poor population.

What documents are required for DAY-NULM EST&P?

How to apply for DAY-NULM EST&P

DAY-NULM EST&P has no central online application form for candidates. Registration is done at the city level through the ULB.

1. Identify your Urban Local Body. The Municipal Corporation, Municipal Board or Town Committee for the town you live in.
2. Visit the City Mission Management Unit (CMMU), which in district headquarters is headed by the Executive Officer or City Project Officer and staffed by City Project Managers.
3. Ask for the current EST&P batch list — the sectors, job roles, course duration and empanelled Skill Training Providers vary by city and by financial year.
4. Submit your Aadhaar card, urban poor proof and residence proof, and give a letter of intent naming the trade you want to train in.
5. Attend the counselling and candidate identification session run by the ULB. Self-Help Groups, area level federations and City Livelihood Centres may also recommend your name.
6. Once selected, report to the empanelled Skill Training Provider for the course, which typically runs for three to four months.
7. Sit the assessment conducted by the independent Certification Agency at the end of the course and collect your certificate.
8. Use the placement support offered by the training provider, or the micro-enterprise support route under the Self-Employment Programme (SEP) component of DAY-NULM.

Some states run their own online portals for EST&P registration through the State Urban Livelihoods Mission. Check the state mission website for your state before travelling to the ULB office.

How much benefit does DAY-NULM EST&P provide?

DAY-NULM EST&P does not pay cash to the trainee. The benefit is the cost of training, assessment, certification and 12-month tracking, which the government pays directly to the Skill Training Provider and the Certification Agency.

The mission document caps that cost at Rs 15,000 per beneficiary, rising to Rs 18,000 for North-Eastern and special category states. The ceiling covers trainee mobilisation, selection, counselling, training material, trainers' fees, certification, toolkit, other expenses of the training institution, and placement or micro-enterprise development expenses. Where a course costs more than the ceiling, the state government or the trainee has to bridge the gap.

Payment to the training provider is deliberately back-loaded: a part of it is released only after the trainee has stayed in the placed job for at least six months, or run the micro-enterprise satisfactorily for six months.

Which sectors and courses are offered under EST&P?

Each state decides the trades relevant to its local economy. State missions commonly run EST&P courses in automotive repair, electrical, electronics, telecom, retail, tourism and hospitality, security, healthcare, beauty and wellness, construction, plumbing, fabrication, apparel and textiles, handicrafts, food processing, IT, media and entertainment, and banking, financial services and insurance.

Alongside the trade skill, DAY-NULM requires soft skills to be taught in the same programme; spoken English or the state language, financial literacy, computer literacy, and life skills including office and social etiquette and punctuality.

How is DAY-NULM EST&P funded and monitored?

DAY-NULM is a centrally sponsored scheme. The funding pattern set out in the mission document, effective from 1 April 2015, is:

Monitoring runs through a Governing Council chaired by the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and an Executive Committee chaired by the MoHUA Secretary at the national level, mirrored by a Governing Council and Executive Committee in each state, and an Executive Committee chaired by the Municipal Commissioner at city level.

Common reasons EST&P applications are rejected

• Applicant is not on the urban poor list maintained by the ULB, and cannot produce a BPL card or an acceptable income certificate.
• Address falls outside the municipal boundary, peri-urban and gram panchayat addresses are routinely rejected.
• Trained within the last three years under SJSRY or DAY-NULM, which bars a repeat claim except for advanced training.
• No batch running in the chosen trade in that city in that financial year.
• Incomplete Aadhaar seeding, which blocks biometric attendance at the training centre.

Help and grievance redressal

DAY-NULM does not publish a single national toll-free helpline for EST&P candidates. Escalation runs through the city and state structure instead:

• City Mission Management Unit (CMMU) at your Municipal Corporation, Municipal Board or Town Committee, the first point of contact.
• State Urban Livelihoods Mission: most states publish a State Mission Management Unit contact list on their own DAY-NULM website.
• DAY-NULM Mission Directorate, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, via the contact page on nulm.gov.in.

EST&P training is free. No training provider, agent or middleman is entitled to charge a candidate a fee for enrolment, assessment or certification under DAY-NULM.