New Delhi: Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will be holding ‘Direct Samvad’ with the members of Self Help Groups under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission(DAY-NRLM) and beneficiaries of DDU-GKY and RSETIs, through video conferencing, on 12th July at 9.30 am. The interaction will be telecast live by Doordarshan and NIC will be webcasting it through their network. The interaction is expected to provide an opportunity to the Prime Minister to get to know, directly from the SHG members, about the various activities being undertaken by them under DAY-NRLM and how it has impacted their lives.
Some of the selected beneficiaries include Self Help Groups working on Anti alcohol movement, maize value chain and marketing from Bihar, Brick making unit from Chhattisgarh, Business correspondent Sakhi and tamarind value chain and marketing and one beneficiary from Jharkhand, Manufacturing and marketing of sanitary napkins and DDU-GKY from Madhya Pradesh, Manufacturing and marketing of solar panels and lamps from Rajasthan, Pashu Sakhi (animal para vet) and DDU-GKY beneficiary from Maharashtra, Interventions for welfare of disabled persons from Tamil Nadu, External community resource person for formation of SHGs from Telangana, Dairy farm from J&K and Collection and marketing of neem seeds from Gujarat.
Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India to alleviate rural poverty. The centrally sponsored programme, seeks to mobilize about 9 crore households into SHGs and link them to sustainable livelihoods opportunities by building their skills and enabling them to access formal sources of finance, entitlements and services from both public and private sectors. It is envisaged that the intensive and continuous capacity building of rural poor women will ensure their social, economic and political upliftment.
DAY-NRLM has emerged as the largest institutional platform for women’s empowerment. The Mission has now initiated implementation in 4884 blocks spread across 600 districts in 29 States and 5 Union Territories. As of May’18, more than 5 crore women have been mobilized into 45 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs). In addition, 2.48 lakh Village Organizations and 20,000 Cluster Level Federations have also been promoted.
The Mission has created dedicated sensitive support structures in all states. Every state now has a State Rural Livelihoods Mission manned by over 20000 professionals at various levels for providing training and capacity building and long term hand holding support to the Women’s organisations. However, the cornerstone of the Mission’s implementation strategy is the community driven approach adopted under the programme. More than 1.8 lakh community members have been trained and deployed to provide support to the community institutions in a variety of themes, such as bookkeeping, training and capacity building, financial services etc.
This also includes more than 25,000 Community Livelihoods Resource Persons (CLRPs) such as KrishiSakhi and PashuSakhi who provide 24 X 7 door step extension services to the small and marginal farmers including dairy farmers.
The Mission, with the support of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Department of Financial Services (DFS) and the Indian Bankers Association (IBA) has been successful in achieving a quantum jump in the amount of bank credit accessed by SHGs. More than Rs. 1.64 lakh crore of bank credit has been accessed by the SHGs in the last five years. The quality of the portfolio has also shown a marked improvement with the NPA reducing to 2.3%.
DAY – NRLM is also providing Interest Subvention to women SHGs availing Bank loans uptoRs. 3.00 lakhs. The interest subvention scheme ensures availability of loan @ 7% per annum. In select 250 districts an additional subvention of 3% is also allowed on timely repayment of loans reducing the effective interest rate to 4%. Since Inception, Rs. 2324 crores have been provided under the scheme.
In addition, the Mission has trained 1773 SHG members as Banking Correspondents to provide last mile delivery of financial services. As of Mar’18, transactions amounting to Rs. 331.54 crores have been completed.
In order to promote agro-ecological practices to increase women farmers’ income and reduce their input costs and risks, the Mission has been implementing the Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP). As on date, more than 33 lakh women farmers are being supported under this programme. Further, more than 8 lakh women farmers have been mobilized into more than 86000 Producer Groups (PGs) and 126 Producer Companies (PCs).
The Mission has also established 6222 Custom Hiring Centre/ Community Managed Tool Banks across multiple States. These CHCs enable small and marginal famers provided access to farm equipment and services such as soil testing, cold chain management at a nominal rate.
DAY-NRLM is implementing Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) that aims to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set up local enterprises. Launched in 2015, the programme has been supporting 22625 enterprises.
Further, the Mission is also implementing AajeevikaGrameen Express Yojana (AGEY). Launched in August 2017, AGEY aims to provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services to connect remote rural villages. As on date, 449 vehicles are plying on the road in 9 States.
In convergence with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), SHG members are being trained in assembling and distribution of solar lamps. As on date, 3722 SHG members have been trained and 15.01 lakh solar lamps have been distributed.
DAY-NRLM has two sub-schemes viz. Deendayal Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI) that focus on supporting rural youth in accessing wage-employment and self-employment respectively.
DDUGKY seeks to build the placement linked skills of the poor rural youth and place them in relatively higher wage employment sectors of the economy. As of Jan’18, 10.90 lakh youth have been trained and 7.73 lakh youth have been placed.
The RSETIs have been set up, one in each district, in collaboration with the Banks and the State Governments to provide training to the rural youth from the poor households to take-up economic activities. As of Mar’18, 589 RSETIs are functioning in the country. Cumulatively, more than 27.60 lakh youth have been trained and 18.87 lakh have been settled.
The platform established community institutions have been leveraged by other government schemes to improve the implementation of their schemes. For instance, the Government of Rajasthan has nominated the Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) as the nodal agency for implementation of MGNREGA. Several States have also utilized the community institutions for expediting the implementation of Swachch Bharat Mission (SBM),National Nutrition Mission etc.
DAY-NRLM has also emerged as a major women’s empowerment programme. Women have started moving out from the confines of their homes and started taking leadership roles. Their role in decision-making in the household and community level is also becoming stronger. These institutions of rural poor women have become a strong demand structure as well as a last mile extension system for deliveryof services to the rural community.
