About:
- National Rural Livelihood Mission is a centrally sponsored programme, launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in June 2011.
Aim:
- To eliminate rural poverty through the promotion of multiple livelihoods and improved access to financial services for the rural poor households across the country.
Functioning:
- It involves working with community institutions through community professionals in the spirit of self-help which is a unique proposition of DAY-NRLM.
- It impacts the livelihoods through universal social mobilization by inter alia organising one-woman member from each rural poor household into Self Help Groups (SHGs), their training and capacity building, facilitating their micro-livelihoods plans, and enabling them to implement their livelihoods plans through accessing financial resources from their own institutions and the banks.
Implementation:
- National Rural Livelihood Mission is implemented in a Mission mode by special purpose vehicles (autonomous state societies) with dedicated implementation support units at the national, state, district and block levels, using professional human resources in order to provide continuous and long-term handholding support to each rural poor family.
Sub-Schemes:
- MKSP: In order to promote agro-ecological practices that increase women farmers’ income and reduce their input costs and risks, the Mission has been implementing the Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP).
- SVEP and AGEY: As part of its non-farm livelihoods strategy, DAY-NRLM is implementing Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) and Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY).
- SVEP aims to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set up local enterprises.
- AGEY, launched in August 2017, to provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services to connect remote rural villages.
- DDUGKY: Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY) aims at building placement-linked skills of the rural youth and placing them in relatively higher wage employment sectors of the economy.
- RSETIs: The Mission, in partnership with 31 Banks and State Governments, is supporting Rural Self Employment Institutes (RSETIs) for skilling rural youth to take up gainful self-employment.
Outcomes:
- Today, ten years since the NRLM was first launched, India has the largest network of women’s SHGs across the world. As of May 2021, there are 6.9 million SHGs in India with 75 million members across 7,83,389 villages.
- The Mission has achieved significant success in improving the last mile delivery of credit services through the agency of SHGs.
- The NRLM has enabled rural families to negotiate for greater access to essential services such as education and healthcare. It has had an impact on food security, improved school enrolment, access to land for women to grow food, and on gender issues with women’s groups taking on issues like dowry, child marriage, and discrimination against girls.
How can SHGs help in Women Empowerment?
Economic Empowerment:
- SHGs provide women entrepreneurs with micro-loans to sustain their businesses, while also creating an environment for them to develop greater agency and decision-making skills.
- A 2022 study by Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) suggested that women aided by SHGs were 10% more likely to save on a regular basis, resulting in economic empowerment, while working towards a better future for the next generation.
Women Entrepreneurship:
- SHGs also deliver services ranging from entrepreneurial training, livelihood promotion and community development for women entrepreneurs.
- In Maharashtra alone, there are 527,000 SHGs, which have accounted for over 50% of all women-led small-scale industrial units in India.
- This is a clear indication that SHGs can lead to the overall development of women entrepreneurship.
Skill Development:
- SHGs also provide training and capacity building to their members. Women can learn new skills, such as tailoring, handicrafts, or farming techniques.
- This not only helps them to improve their earning potential but also enhances their self-confidence and self-esteem.
Social Empowerment:
- SHGs provide a platform for women to come together and share their experiences. This creates a sense of solidarity among women and helps to break down social barriers.
- It also enables women to participate in decision-making at the household and community level, giving them a voice and greater control over their lives.
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