NRLM - National Rural Livelihood Mission (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana)

Various schemes are run for rural development. National Rural Livelihood Mission is one such governmental initiatives for the rural areas. Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a new name given to Aajeevika – NRLM in November 2015.

The initiative to move towards a demand-driven strategy enabling the states to formulate their own livelihoods-based poverty reduction action plan is at the core of the mission. DAY-NRLM is important for IAS Exam from GS-II and current affairs perspectives.

In this article, you can read all about the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana (DAY-NRLM).

NRLM Latest Updates- 

• As part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, a total of 152 Centre for Financial Literacy & Service Delivery (SAKSHAM Centres) across 77 districts of 13 states were launched under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) of the Ministry of Rural Development during October 4th and 8th, 2021.
• The objective of SAKSHAM Centres is to provide financial literacy & facilitate the delivery of financial services to SHG members and the rural poor.
• Centre for Financial Literacy & Service Delivery (CFL&SD) would act as a one-stop solution/single window system for the basic financial needs of Self-Help Group (SHG) households in rural areas.
• These Centers will be managed by the SHG network, largely at the level of the Cluster Level Federations (CLFs), with the help of trained Community Resource Persons (CRPs)

National Rural Livelihood Mission is also important for the IAS Exam from GS-II and current affairs perspectives.

Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)

The DAY-NRLM is essentially a poverty relief programme of the Central government. It was launched as ‘Aajeevika – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)’ by the GOI’s Ministry of Rural Development in the year 2011. It was renamed as DAY-NRLM in 2015.

The scheme is an improved version of the earlier Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY).

• The programme is supported partially by the World Bank.
• It aims at creating effective and efficient institutional platforms to enable the rural poor to increase their household income by means of sustainable livelihood enhancements and better access to financial services.
• Additionally, the poor would also be enabled to attain improved access to rights, public services, and other entitlements.
• The mission aims at harnessing the inherent capabilities of the poor and equip them with capacities (such as knowledge, information, tools, finance, skills, and collectivization for them to take part in the economy.
• The scheme started with an agenda to cover 7 Crore rural poor households via Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federated institutions and support them for livelihoods collectives in 8-10 years.
• In 2021, the Union Cabinet had approved a special package worth Rs. 520 crore in the Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh for a period of five years (till the financial year 2023-24) under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM).
  • The decision is in line with the government’s aim to universalise all centrally sponsored beneficiary-oriented schemes in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh in a time-bound manner.

Candidates can know about various other schemes focusing on the development of Rural livelihood.

A similar scheme, DAY-NULM National Urban Livelihood Mission is run for urban development and livelihood by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. Know in detail about the DAY-NULM on the linked page.

NRLM Mission

“To reduce poverty by enabling the poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in an appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots institutions of the poor.”

Guiding Principles of NRLM

1. The poor have a great desire to escape poverty, and they have inherent capabilities.
2. For unleashing the innate abilities of the poor, social mobilization and strong institutions are necessary.
3. To induce social mobilization and build strong institutions and empower, an external support structure is needed that is both dedicated and sensitive.
4. This upward mobility is supported by:
   1. Enabling knowledge dissemination
   2. Building skills
   3. Credit access
   4. Marketing access
   5. Livelihood services access

NRLM Values

• Including the poorest, and giving them a meaningful role in every process
• Accountability and transparency in all institutions & processes
• Community self-dependence and self-reliance
• The poor should have ownership and a key role in all their institutions – in planning, executing and monitoring

Major Features of DAY-NRLM

The chief features of the scheme are as follows:

• Universal social mobilization: A minimum of one lady member of a rural poor household (with particular emphasis on the marginal sections) is to be brought in the network of an SHG.
• Participatory Identification of Poor
• Community Funds as Resources in Perpetuity: this is to strengthen the financial management capacity of the poor
• Financial inclusion
• Livelihoods: the mission focuses on promoting and stabilizing the existing livelihood structures of the poor through its three pillars:
  • Vulnerability reduction & Livelihoods enhancement – through expanding existing livelihoods and tapping new livelihood opportunities in both the farm and non-farm sectors
  • Employment – building skills
  • Enterprises – promoting self-employment
• Another important feature of this scheme is that it places a high priority on convergence and partnerships with other government schemes of the Rural Development Ministry. It also seeks to have linkages with the Panchayati Raj institutions.

Read about Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). 

Sub-schemes under NRLM

Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY)

• This scheme was initiated in 2017.
• It aims at providing alternative sources of livelihood to members of SHGs under the parent scheme by enabling them to offer public transport services in backward rural areas.
• The scheme offers affordable, safe, and community-monitored rural transport services to connect villages in remote areas with key amenities & services (access to health, markets, and education) for the overall economic development of the region.

Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP)

• The main objective of this sub-scheme is to empower women in agriculture by making systematic investments to enhance their participation and productivity.
• The programme also seeks to create and sustain agriculture-based livelihoods concerning women in rural areas.
• Other aims are to ensure food and nutrition in the households, enable better access to services and inputs for women, improve the managerial capabilities of women, etc.

Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP)

• The objective of this sub-scheme is to promote startups in rural areas.
• The scheme will address the three key hiccups concerning rural startups:
  • A missing knowledge ecosystem
  • A missing financial ecosystem
  • A missing incubation ecosystem
• SVEP envisions the generation of sustainable self-employment opportunities for rural poor youth, facilitating them to engage effectively with the market and help generate wealth locally.

National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP)

• The NRLP is designed to create ‘proof of concept’ and build capacities at the central and state levels, to have a facilitating environment for all states and UTs to transit to the NRLM.

Rural livelihood is an important topic from the UPSC CSE exam perspectives. Hence, it is important to cover different aspects of Rural Livelihood i.e. through definition, improvement, and government intervention to enhance it.

Also read about, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana on the linked page.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana (DAY-NRLM):- Download PDF Here

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Other related schemes by Government of India –

Know about various other Government Schemes launched for the welfare and development of the country.

Aspirants preparing for the UPSC exam can check the links given below –

1. IAS 2023
2. UPSC Calendar 2023
3. UPSC Syllabus
4. Analysis of the Press Information Bureau

You can also check out the preparation strategies for competitive exams to fine-tune your exam prep.