National Rural Livelihoods Mission launched, aims to support 7 Crore BPL households

National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), one of the major new initiatives under the Ministry of Rural Development to bring the poorest of the poor above the poverty line by ensuring viable livelihood opportunities to them was launched by the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at a function in Banswara, Rajasthan on 3rd June 2011.

NRLM would reach out, mobilize and support 7 Crore BPL households across 600 districts, 6000 blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, in 6 lakh villages across the country into their self-managed Self Help Groups (SHGs) and their federal institutions and livelihoods collectives.

The Mission aims to ensure that,

• At least one member from each identified rural poor household, preferably a woman, is brought under the Self Help Group (SHG) network in a time bound manner
• It would support them financially and institutionally in all their efforts to get them out of poverty
• The poor would be helped to achieve increased access to their rights, entitlements and public services, diversified risk and better social indicators of empowerment.

NRLM has been mandated to ensure adequate coverage of vulnerable sections of the society such that 50% of the beneficiaries are SC/STs, 15% are minorities and 3% are persons with disability, while keeping in view the ultimate target of 100% coverage of BPL families. A unique feature of the new initiative is that it would be led by the poor themselves. NRLM would utilize the services of Community Resource Persons (CRPs) who are women who have themselves come out of poverty through being a part of the Self Help Group. They will spread the concept of NRLM from one village to another and from one district to another making NRLM a people’s movement. NRLM is based on large scale successes in states such as Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh where social mobilization and building strong institutions of the poor have led to significant reduction in poverty and empowerment of the poor. It will be a demand driven approach and the states will have the flexibility to develop their own action plans based on their local requirements and availability of resources .

The role of Banks will be of prime importance under NRLM as a source of credit for the poor at reasonable rates. NRLM will focus on getting banks to lend to the poor by making them bankable clients through smart use of subsidy. NRLM will focus on women as we believe that the best way of reaching out to the whole family is through the woman. There will be a special focus on vulnerable sections: scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, minorities, women headed families, etc. The second focus of NRLM would be rural youth of the country who are unemployed. They will be supported through placement linked skill development projects through which their skills will be upgraded through short term training courses in sectors which have high demand for services.

The launch of National Rural Livelihood Mission has been one of the planks of the Government towards poverty alleviation . It will lead to a life with dignity for the poor in rural areas who can sustain their livelihood through skill development and training at various levels with support from the Government.