Sonia Gandhi launches National Rural Livelihood Mission

UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi today launches the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), a re-christened version of the ongoing Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana from Banswara, Rajasthan. Union Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Vilasrao Deshmukh and Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Sh. Ashok Gehlot were present on this occasion. A large gathering was present at the launch ceremony at PG College grounds here. The function was also attended by the Union Minister of Surface Transport , Dr. C.P.Joshi, Kumari Seilja, Shri Mukul Wasnik , Shri Pradeep Jain Aditya , Narayan Meena , Shri K.H.Muniyappa, Shri Mahadev Singh Khandela , Minister of State for Communications Shri Sachin Pilot and Shri Bharat Singh along with a host of MPs, MLAs , Sarpanches and the Officials.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. 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. 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 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.