Making rural India self-reliant

With a mission to use Self Help Groups(SHGs) for universal social mobilisation, the government launched World Bank supported National Rural Livelihoods Mission, a revision of Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), in Rajasthan recently, proposing to add ten lakh new SHGs in the remaining period of the 11^th plan with a revolving fund of Rs 15000 per SHG. Orissa was the first state to get the first launch. It had TRIPTI- Targeted Rural Initiatives for Poverty Termination and Infrastructure prior to this.

Realising that poor people have the potential to come out of poverty if properly guided, trained and funded, National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) is supposed to extend support to various SHGs, be it external or internal and will come to other states soon.

Structure       

The support has two structures: Internal and External:

External support is provided through dedicated professional institutions at Levels:

1. State
2. District
3. Sub-district

Internal support is through SHG federations in:

1. Village   
2. Block
3. District

Focus

With a special focus on the poorest households, NRLM plans to support these families and broaden their livelihoods through assets and skill acquisition. The broader aim is to enhance the quality of their livelihoods significantly by:

1. Bringing each and every Below Poverty Line (BPL) household under the SHG network so as to empower them socially and economically
2. Nurturing SHGs through federations by solving their problems, developing marketing linkages, maintenance of account, conducting audits and maintain accounts
3. Linking SHGs to banks
4. Giving Rs 7500 per beneficiary for skill training
5. Providing enhanced revolving fund
6. Providing interest subsidy for prompt repayment of loans.

Partners

To fulfill its aim, NRLM has partnership with:

1. Civil Society Organisation
2. Industries
3. Educational Institutions
4. Other resource organisations

Future Plans

The NRLM which will be implemented in a phased manner, proposes to cover all the blocks of the country within a period of seven to eight years. The States are expected to fulfill the following norms before transiting from SGSY to NRLM:

1. State level agencies and the district/sub-district level units are set up
2. Professional staff has been trained and placed
3. State level poverty reduction strategy has been formulated
4. Formation of state level core team.

Frame work of implementation of NRLM has already been finalised and circulated to all states.