Antyodaya Diwas Day is annually observed across India on 25th September to commemorate the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, former leader of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), which was a precursor to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
- 25th September 2023 marks the 107th birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.
The term ‘Antyodaya’ means the “rise and development of the last person in society”, one of the concepts promoted by Deendayal Upadhyaya.
- The aim of the Antyodaya is to uplift the poor in the society.
Background:
i.On 25 September 2014, during the 98th birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, the Government of India (GoI) led by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi declared the 25th September of every year as Antyodaya Diwas.
ii.The first Antyodaya Diwas was observed on 25th September 2014.
Note:
During the 1st Antyodaya Diwas (2014), the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) re-introduced its skill development programme called ‘Aajeevika Skills‘ as “Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)” under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM).
- The programme was renamed “Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana (DAY)- NRLM in November 2015.
About Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya:
i.Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was born on September 25, 1916, in Nagla Chandrabhan (now Deendayal Dham ) in Mathura District, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Ii,He established the publishing house ‘Rashtra Dharma Prakashan’ in Lucknow (UP), and launched the monthly magazine ‘Rashtra Dharma’ in the 1940s to spread the ideology of Hindutva nationalism.
- He started a monthly magazine “Rashtra Dharma”, a weekly ‘Panchajanya’, and a daily ‘Swadesh’.
iii.He started full-time work in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1942.
iv.‘Integral humanism’ was a set of philosophical concepts drafted by him as a political program and adopted in 1965 as the official doctrine of the Jan Sangh.
v.He became president of the Jana Sangh in December 1967. He started as the General Secretary of the BJS in UP and later became the National General Secretary of the party. He held this role for 15 years.
vi.He died in February 1968 near Mughalsarai Junction railway station in UP.
Books: He wrote a number of books including Samrat Chandragupt (Hindi Edition, 2017); Jagatguru Shri Shankaracharya (2017); Political Diary, Integral Humanism: An Analysis of Some Basic Elements (2016);
About Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY):
DDU-GKY is a placement-linked skill development program of the MoRD for rural poor youth under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).
- .The target group for DDU-GKY is poor rural youth in the age group 15-35.
Aim: It aims to skill rural youth who are poor and provide them with jobs having regular monthly wages or above the minimum wage.
