Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana launched

To impart skills to rural and urban poor, the Government on Thursday announced Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana, which would work towards empowering the population through enhancement of livelihood opportunities. M Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, said, “Under the current urban poverty alleviation programmes, only 790 cities and towns are covered and the Government has decided to extend these measures to all the 4,041 statutory cities and towns.” He added that September 25 will be celebrated as Antyodaya Diwas every year to mark the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. Under the scheme, ₹1,000 crore has been provisioned for urban poverty alleviation during 2014-15, out of which ₹500 crore will be spent on skill development of over 5,00,000 urban poor.