Editor,
The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Swavalamban Yojana (DDUSY), launched by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh in 2017, was conceived as a visionary and transformative policy intervention aimed at empowering unemployed graduates through front-ended subsidised loans of up to Rs 50 lakh.
The scheme sought to foster innovation, promote entrepreneurship, and decisively shift the mindset of educated youths away from the over-dependence on government employment. Its guiding principle – ‘Be a job giver rather than a job seeker’ – encapsulated a progressive and forward-looking philosophy.
The policymakers and officials who conceptualised the DDUSY deserve due recognition for attempting to address the rising unemployment-induced frustration, economic insecurity, and social stress among educated youths in the state.
However, as an applicant under the DDUSY, it is deeply distressing to witness the systematic erosion of the scheme’s founding objectives. What was envisioned as a merit-driven entrepreneurial support mechanism appears, in practice, to have degenerated into a personalised benefit distribution system favouring ministers, MLAs, politically connected individuals, and influential families. Selection, alarmingly, seems to be driven more by political patronage and personal recommendation than by innovation, feasibility, or merit.
The DDUSY beneficiary interview conducted on 23 January, 2026 in Upper Subansiri district starkly exposed multiple procedural loopholes and serious irregularities. Most notably, mandatory spot/location verification of proposed business units and project-based PowerPoint presentations were entirely bypassed. These components are fundamental to objectively evaluating the authenticity, preparedness, financial prudence, and operational feasibility of any proposed enterprise.
Instead, applicants were subjected only to a brief and superficial verbal interaction by the screening committee at the office of the ADC, Upper Subansiri. Such an approach strongly suggests that beneficiary selection had been predetermined, rendering the interview process a mere procedural façade rather than a genuine assessment exercise.
It is clearly evident from the selected list of beneficiary that nearly 70% of the selected beneficiaries are close relatives, associates, or nominees of sitting MLAs, ministers, or influential individuals. Even more disturbingly, certain individuals who had already availed benefits under the DDUSY in previous years have been selected again, in blatant violation of the spirit of the scheme. Consequently, sincere and deserving applicants – many of whom had already developed, tested, and demonstrated viable business models supported by documentation, prototypes, and operational proof – have been unjustly excluded.
This patronage-based selection process directly explains why 70-80% of DDUSY-funded ventures have turned into non-performing assets (NPAs), resulting in massive financial losses to lending banks and a significant drain on the state exchequer. When beneficiaries are selected on the basis of recommendation rather than competence, failure becomes inevitable.
It must be unequivocally stated that DDUSY funds constitute public money, derived from taxpayers’ hard-earned income. These resources are not the personal largesse of ministers, MLAs, or officials. Therefore, every single rupee disbursed under the scheme carries a moral, legal, and fiduciary obligation to reach only deserving and genuinely capable applicants.
If such practices are allowed to continue unchecked, the DDUSY risks irreversible loss of public trust and will fail the very youths it was designed to uplift. In the interest of transparency, fairness, and accountability, I strongly urge the director and authorities of planning, finance and investment department to order a reconduct of the beneficiary selection process, strictly adhering to all prescribed evaluation parameters, so that merit, innovation, and genuine entrepreneurial intent are allowed to prevail.
An applicant under DDUSY