National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM

July 05, 2011 -

• The Government of India’s $5.1 billion National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) is one of the world’s largest initiatives to improve the livelihoods of poor rural people and boost the rural economy.
• is expected to have a transformational social and economic impact, supporting India’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on Nutrition, Gender, and Poverty.
• village-level institutions will help the poor to promote savings and build productive assets of their own. They will also empower farmers, milk producers, weavers and artisans to link up with markets and negotiate better terms of trade for their products and services. Importantly, the program will equip poor rural youth with the skills and opportunities to secure jobs in India’s mainstream economy.
• The World Bank will support the NRLM with a credit of $1 billion, in continuation of its long-term engagement in the sector.
• The NRLM aims to ensure that at least one member from each identified poor rural household, preferably a woman, is brought under the Self Help Group (SHG) network in a time-bound manner, benefiting the poor in a number of ways:
• 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)
• 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.
• Swarnajayanti Gram SwarojgarYojana (SGSY) has been restructured into National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) to provide self employment opportunities.