National Rural Livelihoods Mission

[This scheme has been replaced by Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana]

Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) was restructured as National Rural Livelihoods Mission and launched in June, 2011 in Rajasthan’s tribal district of Banswara. NRLM has now been renamed as Aajeevika.

This World Bank Supported Programme supports Rural BPL people by organizing them into SHG (Self Help Groups) groups and make them capable for self-employment by providing capacities such as information, knowledge, skills, tools, finance and collectivization.

Approach

The previous Avatar of this scheme viz. SGSY also focussed on forming the SHGs and help them to start entrepreneurial activities. But the issue was that such individual SHGs did not survive because of the following reasons:

• lack of credit, finance as well as skills
• Lack of forward and backward linkages
• Competition and little support from government
• Lack of capacity building

The SGSY scheme was successful only in those states were federations of SHGs were formed under poverty alleviation programmes. By forming federation of SHG groups, each SHG will work closely with members of other groups in their own village and also with members of other blocks and district. This will be a bigger collective group, organizing all the rural poor in a state under one programme. This is how SGSY was modified in a mission mode to NRLM programme.

• The scheme’s emphasis on creation of strong institutional structures at the village level will set it apart from the other flagship schemes of the government.
• Universal social mobilization through formation of SHGs under Aajeevika will ensure that at least one member of each rural BPL household, preferably a woman member of the household, is brought under the Self Help Group (SHG) net.
• With a view to form strong Peoples Institutions, Aajeevika will focus on setting up of federations of SHGs from village panchayat to district levels. The goal of universal financial inclusion will be furthered through linking the SHGs with banks for securing credit.
• Aajeevika envisages Capacity Building and Training of the community Institutions and the personnel engaged in programme implementation as well as other stakeholders like Bankers, PRI functionaries etc.
• To meet the requirement both in terms of consumption and taking up the income generating activities, revolving fund is provided to the extent of ` 10000 –` 15000 per SHG. Interest subsidy will be provided to SHGs for prompt repayment of loans to banks.