85,557. That is how many J&K candidates were trained under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in 2024-25, the scheme's busiest year in the Union Territory. In 2025-26 the figure was 4,689. A fall of that size is not a rounding error, and a young jobseeker in Jammu deserves a plain account of what the published numbers do and do not say.
The data was tabled in the Lok Sabha on August 10, 2026 and reported by Kashmir Life. The report attributes it to the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; it does not name the minister who answered.
What the numbers say
- 2023-24: 28,895 trained, 15,280 certified.
- 2024-25: 85,557 trained, 68,307 certified.
- 2025-26: 4,689 trained, 8,523 certified.
- 2026-27 (to June 30): 3,306 trained, 930 certified.
Across these periods J&K trained 1,22,447 candidates and certified 93,040. Notice that in 2025-26 more people were certified (8,523) than trained (4,689). Neither the reply nor the report explains this; the likeliest reading is that certification lags training and some of those certified had been trained earlier, but that is an inference, not a published finding.
The money tells the same story
Utilisation of PMKVY 4.0 funds in J&K was Rs 32.53 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 69.30 crore in 2024-25. It then fell to Rs 3.49 crore in 2025-26 and Rs 89 lakh in 2026-27 up to June 30. Spending and training move together, which is what one would expect from a scheme that pays training partners for candidates they train.
What the Centre says
The Centre's position, in the words reported, is that "PMKVY 4.0 is a demand-driven scheme and does not have State-wise fund allocations." Against a combined Budget Estimate of Rs 6,811.30 crore for 2023-24 to 2026-27, it said it had released Rs 2,392.37 crore across the country. On this reading, a UT's numbers rise and fall with how many training proposals and candidates come forward, not with a quota set for it.
What the figures leave open
The reply, as reported, does not say why J&K's numbers fell so sharply, and no J&K Government or Skill Development Mission statement on the drop was available to us. Whether the cause is fewer approved training centres, fewer candidates, a change in how courses are targeted or something in the accounting is not in the published material. Any of those would be a guess, and we are not making one. The honest position is that the question is open, and that the people best placed to answer it are the Mission and the Ministry.
Does the training lead to work?
Nationally, 56.89 lakh candidates were certified in short-term training under the first three versions of PMKVY between 2015-16 and 2021-22, and 24.37 lakh of them were reported placed, a placement rate of 42.8 per cent. A third-party evaluation of PMKVY 4.0 in 2025 found that the combined share of employed and self-employed short-term trainees rose from 26.6 per cent before training to 45.4 per cent after; 41.4 per cent of short-term trainees and 48.9 per cent of Recognition of Prior Learning candidates reported income gains. These are all-India findings, not J&K ones, and a course's value to you will depend on the trade, the centre and the employers around it.
What a young Jammu reader can do now
The J&K Skill Development Mission's website currently shows a "Candidate Registration Live" banner for Caregiver Courses under PMKVY 4.0, and a PMKVY helpdesk on +91 191 2978381 and md-jksdm@jk.gov.in, plus a grievance form. The page names Jammu among the districts covered and lists the kinds of institutions that host courses, namely government ITIs, polytechnics, Food Craft Institutes and universities and degree colleges, but it does not name Jammu training centres, eligibility rules, fees or batch dates.
- Do not assume a course is running near you because the scheme exists; ask the helpdesk which centre and which batch.
- Ask for the start date, duration and assessing body in writing before you commit time.
- Ask what certification the course ends in, and whether the sector has employers in Jammu.
- Use the grievance form if a registered course does not start.
The lesson of the data is a modest one. A national scheme is only as available as its local delivery, and in J&K that delivery swung from 85,557 trainees in a year to 4,689 in the next. Until the reasons are explained in public, check before you plan around it.
Earlier on JammuBeat: World Youth Skills Day: A Jammu Student's Guide to the Schemes That Can Actually Get You Hired.
Sources: Kashmir Life, Lok Sabha data on PMKVY in J&K · J&K Skill Development Mission
