13-Dec-2022: Countrywide Campaign under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission

A social mobilization campaign was organised from 7th September to 20th September, 2022 in order to expedite the process of social mobilization for bringing left out eligible rural poor households into Self Help Groups (SHGs) under the SHG fold of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). Later, on request of State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs), the campaign period was expanded till 30th September, 2022. During this campaign 16,25,286 households were mobilized into 1,29,493 SHGs.

The success of the campaign was reviewed by the Ministry of Rural Development and it was found out that the campaign has given a definite push and expedited the mobilization of the left out rural women into SHGs. The average monthly mobilization of the rural women into SHGs during the current Financial Year up to August, 2022 was 5, 61,272 and during the campaign period of less than one month, 16,25,286 rural women were brought under the SHG network under the Mission.

10-Nov-2022: Ministry of Rural Development signs MoU to support effective governance systems under DAY- NRLM

Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has signed an MoU with Gurugram-based Veddis Foundation to support setting up of effective governance systems under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM), strengthen State capacities, establish innovative models and implement the national strategy for Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and SHG convergence.

The partnership with MoRD and Veddis Foundation is for three years and is non-financial in nature. The MoU was signed by Joint Secretary, Rural Livelihoods, Ms. Nita Kejriwal from  MoRD and Mr. Murugan Vasudevan, CEO, Veddis Foundation in a meeting chaired by Secretary, Rural Development, Shri Nagendra Nath Sinha.

Speaking on the occasion, Joint Secretary, Rural Livelihoods, Ms. Nita Kejrewal said “Keeping in view the scale of works under DAY-NRLM, particularly in the areas of strengthening federations, specifically the cluster level Federations, it is important to have partnerships with various stakeholders with aligned vision.  We are confident that this partnership with the Veddis Foundation, which has a very good experience in such areas of work, will help MoRD in furthering its agenda in a more effective manner and also ensure much needed technical assistance to SRLMs, including improvement in the governance systems of the states”.

Mr. Murugan Vasudevan, CEO, Veddis Foundation, said on the occasion “Our work with States on the rural livelihoods mission over the last five years has shown that building state capacity is the most important factor in enabling sustainable and effective governance of large multi-stakeholder programs like the DAY-NRLM. We look forward to our partnership with MoRD to establish replicable governance model at scale for such programs”.

As per the MoU, Veddis Foundation will establish a PMU in the Rural Livelihood (RL) Division of Ministry of Rural Development for the next five years. Taking a paradigm shift from universal access to quality of access, the partnership will hinge on data driven governance as a lever for effective and efficient utilisation of public funds.

Veddis Foundation, which has put in place PMUs in the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Manipur, and in the past in Rajasthan, will be working on a 360-degree approach - building field insights into policy action as well as effective implementation of government’s top level priorities. It will be a strategic technical partner for extending policy support, embedding improved processes and enabling systems strengthening for effective implementation of DAY-NRLM along with training and capacity building support for state partners.

One of the initial focuses as part of the MoU is an annual report on the State of SRLMs in which various SRLMs are expected to be evaluated on the basis of a ‘Governance index’.

The DAY-NRLM is the flagship program of the Government of India towards creating institutional platforms for the rural poor, mainly women, enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services in addition to increased access to rights, entitlements, and public services. With an annual budget outlay of over Rs. 13,000 crores, the program is spread across 7.15 lakh villages in 723 districts of 34 States and Union Territories, and has brought more than 8.6 crore rural households under its fold.

9-Sep-2022: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission leads social mobilisation campaign to bring left out households under its fold

Ministry of Rural Development is conducting a 15 day country-wide campaign from 7th to 20th of September, 2022 to expedite the process of mobilisation of left-out poor rural poor women across 34 states and Union Territories into women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs) under DAY-NRLM’s fold.

During the campaign, women institutions from each village will a conduct social mobilization event where each member will bring a friend, or neighbour who is a non-SHG member with them. The benefits of being a part of DAY-NRLM SHGs will be highlighted, and those non-members, thus motivated to join will be linked with these community institutions. Special strategies are also being prepared by block level staff across states to reach women in remote gram panchayats.

The campaign also aims to ensure that SHGs are included into higher-level federations; tier two level Village Organisations (VOs) and tier three level Cluster Level Federations (CLFs ).

The Ministry’s vision is that such federated structures will evolve into community-managed institutions of the poor that can lead programmes for livelihood and social development. Bank accounts will be opened for all the SHGs, VOs and CLFs within seven days of being formed.

The campaign was announced on the 5th of September by Shri Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development. As on 31st August, more than 8.5 crore families have been linked with 78.33 lakh SHGs under DAY-NRLM’s fold.

6-Sep-2022: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission observes Rashtriya Poshan Maah

The month of September every year is celebrated as the Rashtriya Poshan Maah or the National Nutrition Month across the country. The Ministry of Rural Development (M/oRD) is leveraging this occasion to intensively disseminate key messages to all intended beneficiaries on positive nutritional behaviours and practices. The activities during the month will be centred on key themes like Mahila and Swasthya, Bachcha and Shiksha – Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi, gender-sensitive water conservation and management, and traditional food for women and children in tribal areas.

Poshan Abhiyaan aims to improve the nutritional status of women, pregnant and lactating mothers, children and adolescents, etc., and people’s participation (Jan Andolan) and community mobilization are essential components of this endeavour. The Ministry of Women & Child Development aims to convert this Jan Andolan into a Jan Bhagidari by activating Poshan Panchayats in villages and making the Gram Panchayats and the Sarpanch the fulcrum of activities.

To initiate POSHAN Maah celebrations, all necessary advisories and guidelines including an activity calendar have been issued to the State Rural Livelihood Missions and a video conference with all State Mission Directors/CEOs and state nodal persons was held yesterday by Smt. Nita Kejrewal, Joint Secretary, M/oRD to discuss and plan preparations. The Ministry is also actively looking at building convergences with other line departments at the state level and enhancing participation by ASHA, and Anganwadi Workers in the Village Organization meetings. Towards this, the Ministry has suggested the formation of the State Core Committee and holding regular meetings for facilitation.

All State Missions under the DAY-NRLM are observing POSHAN Maah with full vigour under the guidance and support of the national Mission. Apart from activities such as Poshan Rallies, Poshan Rangolis, Poshan Pledges, recipe competitions, and promotion of Agri-Nutri-Gardens, a traditional Millet Food Festival is also being considered. Under Food, Nutrition, Health & WASH (FNHW) component of DAY-NRLM, FNHW Digital Toolkit was formally launched to provide standard and uniform messaging across materials on the identified FNHW topics and operational aspects. This comprises resource material such as flipbooks, facilitator guides, posters, counselling cards, Standard Operating Procedures, etc.  The Toolkit has been developed with the support of technical agencies i.e. BMGF supported TA to NRLM (PCI) and inputs from UNICEF supported ROSHNI Centre.

States have been urged to diligently follow COVID-19 prevention protocols and maximally utilize the technology platforms for disseminating key messages and reaching SHGs and their families.

18-Jul-2022: DAY-NRLM, MoRD organized “Udyamita Pakhwara” from 1st to 15th July, 2022

In the 75th year of India’s Independence, “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” is being celebrated by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. Under this, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) of the Ministry of Rural Development organized “Udyamita Pakhwara” across the Country from 1st to 15th July, 2022. Secretary (RD) inaugurated the Pakhwara virtually on 1st July, 2022. Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industry, Chairman IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, representatives from State Bank of India and SMDs/CEOs of SRLMs along with their teams participated in the event. The objective of this Udyamita Pakhwara was to highlight the importance of enterprise growth and entrepreneurship development under non-farm livelihoods in rural areas across the country. A series of activities under Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), One Stop Facility (OSF), Clusters, Incubators, SHG products marketing, PMFME scheme were organised in this duration across the country.

During this period, more than 1,400 awareness camps on enterprise promotion and various schemes related to rural entrepreneurship were organized. 3,512 business plans were prepared by Community Resource Persons – Enterprise Promotion (CRP-EP) under Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) and One Stop Facility (OSF). Further, Rs. 11.91 Crore were dispersed towards the Community Enterprise Fund (CEF) to these enterprises through Community Institutions. DAY-NRLM is also facilitating mobilization of SHG individual beneficiaries and groups for support under PMFME scheme of MoFPI. Accordingly, a total of 6753 applications were submitted to State Nodal Agencies for Seed Capital support under PMFME scheme. Further, during Udyamita Pakhwara, Rs. 10.8 Crore were released to SHGs under PMFME for Seed Capital support. Activities under Clusters and Incubators schemes were also initiated in the States. The focus on capacity building resulted in assessment and certification of 115 master CRP-EPs as per the NSQF norms.

On 15th July, 2022, a concluding workshop was organized by DAY-NRLM under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary (RL), MoRD. In this workshop SMDs/CEOs of the States/UTs shared their experience of Udyamita Pakhwara. All the States/UTs appreciated this initiative and expressed their keen interest to continue these activities in future also, as these initiatives have generated a groundswell of support for entrepreneurship in the rural areas. Additional Secretary (RL) appreciated the efforts of all the States/UTs in making the initiative a huge success across the Country.

29-Mar-2022: DAY-NRLM organises National Discourse on Food, Nutrition, Health and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene)

“SHGs can play a vital role in addressing issues related to malnutrition at the household level,” said Shri Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, M/o Rural Development. He was speaking at the National Discourse on Food, Nutrition, Health and WASH (FNHW) organised by Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), a flagship programme under the Ministry, with the support of UNICEF supported Roshni Centre and BMGF supported PCI. The main topic for deliberations was “Leveraging DAY-NRLM’s Women Collectives for strengthening Health Seeking Behaviour among SHG households for improved health outcomes”. In addition to activities related to behaviour change, he said women collectives have initiated work to address gender issues like women eating last and least in their families and these should be taken forward. “The services of the rural women can be taken for public services like immunisation and institutional delivery,” he added.

Smt. Nita Kejriwal, Joint Secretary, MoRD explained the DAY-NRLM strategy for FNHW integration including system strengthening, convergence with line departments and between SRLM verticals, social behaviour change communication and promoting FNHW Enterprises. She also highlighted the need to promote health-seeking behaviour and the need to converge with MoH&FW & M/o AYUSH.

Over 5000 state mission staff and women collective members from across India participated in the event. SHG members who are trained as Community Resource Persons or CRPs from Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Meghalaya made special presentations. "In the last 4 years, we have produced and supplied 463 lakh napkin packets. We supplied around 80 Lakh belt type napkin packets worth 16.75 crores to post-natal mothers, women prisoners and hospital inpatients through the health department," said Smt. Nagalakshmi, President, CLF, & member Tamil Nadu Sanitary Napkin Producer Federation.

Smt. Shyamla, a Woman Health Volunteer under Tamil Nadu SRLM's NCD screening programme also shared her experience. "I was trained by the health department to screen patients with Diabetes and Hypertension using a Glucometer & BP apparatus. I also screen patients with oral/cervical cancer, breast cancer, TB, Leprosy etc,” she shared. After her referrals to the Block Medical Officer, diseases are confirmed and medicines are delivered as per prescription at the doorstep.

Smt. Jhunu Behera, an FNHW CRP from the Odisha SRLM shared how women collectives make Poshan Micro plans where they identify and prioritise nutrition issues for women and adolescents, and plan for action. "We counsel women on dietary diversity during the Maitri Baithaks and also organise Pushti Mahotsav's which are local food festivals in villages to promote the consumption of indigenous food," she said.

Smt. Bariehtngen Makdoh, FNHW CRP, from Meghalaya SRLM spoke of how she has been trained to discuss FNHW topics in her SHG meetings. “I am now training other SHG leaders to do so, so that awareness is built in our communities,” referring to the discussions in a group meeting and peer learning approach.

Stressing the tremendous potential of the SHG network Dr Sila Deb, Additional Commissioner, M/o H&FW said “SHG women can play a role in disseminating key messages to reach rural communities, to improve women's decision making and access to services." She highlighted that there are opportunities for preventive care as well as generating livelihood by working in convergence with MoRD. Dr Tanuja, Manoj Nesaari, Director, All India Institute of Ayurveda, M/o AYUSH, also highlighted that growing ayurvedic herbs in kitchen gardens can be promoted and packaging products made from these herbs can be a livelihood opportunity.

Presentations were also made by Sh. Ramakrishna Chitturi, CEO, Meghalaya SRLM. He presented the SRLMs work to set up sector meetings for convergent action by the Dept of Health, Community and Rural Development, and the Social Welfare Department to enhance access to services at PHCs and CHCs in rural communities. Smt. Muthumeenal Pallavi Baldev, Add’l CEO, Tamil Nadu SRLM shared the experience of engaging SHG women for population-based screening of non-communicable diseases and of supplying sanitary napkins to the dept. of health. Ms. Mansi Nimbhal, CEO, Odisha SRLM shared the experience of improving dietary diversity through the work of Community Institutions and food festivals or ‘pustimahotsav’.

This discourse was organised as part of ongoing activities for ‘Amrit Mahotsav’ to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Independence. It served as a platform for knowledge exchange and states to highlight their achievements and successful approaches at the national level.

16-Mar-2022: Beneficiaries under Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission

The Government is implementing Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY – NRLM) across the country in a mission mode with the objective of organizing the rural poor women into Self Help Groups (SHGs), and continuously nurturing and supporting them till they attain appreciable increase in incomes over a period of time and improve their quality of life and come out of abject poverty. As of February, 2022, the Mission is being implemented in 6,789 blocks in 707 districts across all 28 States and 6 Union Territories (UTs). Cumulatively, 8.16 crore women have been mobilized into more than 74.98 lakh SHGs.

The households covered into SHGs year-wise during the last three years and current year under DAY-NRLM is furnished below-

Number of Women (household) mobilized into SHGs (in lakh)

Of the total 8.16 crore rural women mobilized so far, 2.78 crore women (34%) have been mobilized in the last 3 years (2018-19 to 2020-21).

The Bank credit accessed by women SHGs under DAY-NRLM during the last three years and current year is given below:

2-Mar-2022: Ministry of Rural Development’s DAY-NRLM and World Bank host a learning event on how to integrate ultra-poor women into government programs

The Ministry of Rural Development’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and the World Bank organized a virtual learning event on 24 February 2022 on how to integrate ultra-poor women into the Mission’s programs. The learning session comprised presentations by BRAC and BOMA, organizations that have successfully piloted ultra-poor programs in many countries, as well as Bihar’s State Rural Livelihood Mission and was attended by over 6000 participants from across 34 States and Union Territories in India.

Senior officials from the Ministry of Rural Development, including Mr. Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Rural Development and the World Bank’s Country Director for India, Mr. Junaid Kamal Ahmad presided over the event. The learning session included a special address by Mr. R. Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

India’s DAY-NRLM is one of the largest community mobilization efforts in the world, organizing more than 80 million poor women into over 7.4 million self-help groups – building their savings, promoting sustainable livelihoods, but above all enhancing their empowerment. Special emphasis is given particularly to women from vulnerable communities such as manual scavengers, victims of human trafficking, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). Yet, many women from the poorest households continue to face challenges to joining groups, sustaining savings and building their livelihoods. The learning event focused on lessons from programs like BRAC and BOMA that have worked with such ‘ultra-poor’ households by using holistic, time-bound and a sequenced set of interventions, enabling them to earn a basic minimum amount to progress along a pathway to sustainable livelihoods and socioeconomic resilience.

Shri Sinha recognized the need for having clear definitions for identifying and targeting women who face additional vulnerabilities because of their identity and circumstances. He added, “We need better bottom-up targeting to narrow our focus on these poorest women, give them small grants and assets, and some handholding through trainings and links to markets, before they can reach a minimum threshold to join groups and avail their entitlements.”

Shri Subrahmanyam too stated that women with special needs such as tribal widows the elderly and destitute needed special attention underlined a need for a defined strategy for the ultra-poor under DAY-NRLM.

Shri Junaid Kamal Ahmad added, “The World Bank has had a long relationship with NRLM. This partnership, through state-level rural livelihood missions (SRLMs) in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, has helped lift millions of households out of poverty. The goal is, however, even more ambitious – that of universal coverage. Women are often unable to take advantage of such missions – as they belong to socially excluded groups or live in isolated hamlets. The World Bank, in partnership with the States, is committed to ensuring that livelihood opportunities can be accessed by all women seeking to engage in the labor market”.

Setting the context for the Webinar, Mrs. Nita Kejrewal, Joint Secretary, MoRD stated that a special strategy is required to bring the poorest of poor households in the rural areas under DAY-NRLM and support them for a better quality of life.  She said the webinar was aimed at bringing both domestic and international experiences to help design a suitable strategy for coverage of the ultra-poor under the Mission.

The discussion comprised presentations by two international organizations working on targeting ultra-poor households. Mr. Palash Das, Director, Ultra Poor Graduation Initiative, BRAC presented the approach BRAC has adopted starting from Bangladesh and spreading to 50 other countries to identify the extreme poor, supporting their immediate requirements, their skills, assets and enterprises and building their savings. The program has reached nearly 14 million people in the past 20 years, and 95 percent have moved out of extreme poverty.

Ms. Jaya Tiwari, Vice President and Chief Impact Officer BOMA, spoke about how their organization has reached more than 350,000 women and children living in extreme poverty in six countries in the African dry lands by experimenting with peer based and group learning approaches to build resilience among the most vulnerable.

Mr. Balamurugan, CEO, Jeevika (Bihar), outlined the approach adopted by the program to reach more than 100,000 vulnerable Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe households in the state who do not have the ability or face complex social norms to joining groups.

In the discussion that followed, Ms. Alka Upadhyaya, ex-Additional Secretary, Rural Development and Chairperson, National Highways Authority of India urged NRLM to scale up strategies to expand its membership base. She added, “Sometimes you need an additional push to force open the poverty traps women live in. Dalit and Adivasi women may not be able to join self-help groups because of social norms in a village. They may not be able to meet even the basic savings criteria or may be dealing with day-to-day food insecurity. I hope this learning event helps NRLM and states devise an operational approach to reach such women.”

Ms. Anna O’ Donnell, Lead Social Development Specialist, Social Sustainability and Inclusion, South Asia, World Bank, the second discussant of the webinar, shared that the rapid reduction in poverty is possible with around 18-24 months of intensive and well sequenced assistance to ultra-poor households supported with convergence with all programmes.  The flexible and adaptive design of programme while maintaining the core essence of the model would be more effective in a country like India with a wide range of context. The use of technology in the model can help integrating the learning and adaption in the model with pace.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Kevin Tomlinson, Practice Manager, Social Sustainability and Inclusion, World Bank added: “Close to 100 to 150 million in India live below $1.90 per day, a number that may have risen after COVID. These people face a multitude of interconnected challenges, which often overlap with their social identities. They have little or no productive assets and are often excluded from social services. Women, as we know, face additional barriers. I hope the presentations made today have given the Ministry some thought on how to develop and scale up an approach to reach women who are in the most vulnerable situations”.

9-Feb-2022: More than 1.86 lakh enterprises have been supported so far under Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP)

The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) as a sub-scheme under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) with the objective to help the rural poor to set-up enterprises at the village level in non-agricultural sectors. The beneficiaries of the project are from the Self Help Group (SHG) eco-system of DAY-NRLM. The operational unit of the project is Block. A maximum of 2,400 enterprises can be supported in one Block with the approved funds. It supports existing enterprises as well as setting up of new enterprises. Besides helping the rural entrepreneurs to access finance, a cadre of Community Resource Persons- Enterprise Promotion (CRP-EP) is also promoted to provide business support services to enterprises. The maximum budget for one Block under SVEP is Rs. 597.76 lakhs. The project duration is for a period of 4 years from the date of DPR approval. A total of 1,86,576 enterprises across 23 States/UTs have been supported so far.

Further to boost the Entrepreneurial culture in India, 588 Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) are functioning across the country extending skill and entrepreneurship development training programmes to rural un-employed youth to facilitate them to employ themselves by commencing self-employment units/activities. This Ministry is reimbursing cost of training imparted by the RSETIs to the rural youth through the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs).

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is implementing Pradhan Mantri-YUVA (Pilot) to create an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurship development through entrepreneurship education and training across the country. The scheme has the coverage of 10 States and 2 Union Territories i.e. Assam, Bihar, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Delhi and Puducherry.

Further, MSDE is also implementing entrepreneurship development in 6 Holy cities to catalyze entrepreneurial activities in Holy cities by supporting existing enterprises to scale-up and to tap potential entrepreneurs for mentoring and hand-holding support for setting-up enterprises. The temple towns include Puri (Odisha), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Kollur (Karnataka), Pandharpur (Maharashtra) and Bodh Gaya (Bihar).

For development of group entrepreneurship in rural areas in agriculture and allied sector, the Ministry under DAY-NRLM facilitates promotion of women owned Producers Collectives i.e., Producers Enterprises/Farmer Producers Organisations and Producers Groups to support women farmer members to access better market for their produce through interventions like aggregation, value addition & marketing. The idea is to develop a complete business model to provide primary producers with end-to-end solutions from creating producer organizations to building marketing linkages.

In addition, to build the technical expertise, so as to support development of projects for promotion of large size Producer Enterprises, the Ministry has established one Section 8 Company “Foundation for Development of Rural Value Chain (FDRVC)” with the support of TATA Trusts. It supports the State units of DAY-NRLM to develop and implement value chain projects through promotion of large sized Producer Enterprises.

So far, 183 Producer Enterprises and 1.22 lakh Producer Groups have been supported under DAY-NRLM.

The mid-term review of the SVEP was done during 2018-19 by Quality Council of India (QCI); the key findings are as follows:

82% of entrepreneurs across the blocks reported being from SC, ST and OBC categories.

75% of the enterprises were owned and managed by women.

57% of the total household income is through the enterprises promoted under SVEP.

Average gross income of the entrepreneurs is higher than the aspirational income stated by them from the enterprise at the time of starting the enterprise.

Around 96% of the entrepreneurs reported an enhancement in savings.

70% of the entrepreneurs interviewed reported that taking loans from Community Enterprise Fund (CEF) was easy.

20-Jan-2022: DAY-NRLM celebrates Agri Nutri Garden Week as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) has observed ‘Agri Nutri Garden Week’ from 10th to 17th January, 2022 through awareness campaign and encouraging establishment of ‘Agri Nutri Gardens’ in the rural households. It is the Mission’s agenda to support every rural poor household to have Agri Nutri Garden to fulfill the need of the family’s nutrition and any excess production can also be sold for income generation.

In line with Prime Minister’s vision of enhancing strength of Rural Economy and his clarion call of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, Rural India is showing the way with establishment of over 78 lakh Agri Nutri Gardens towards ensuring Food and Nutritional Security in Rural India. A total of 76,664 ‘Agri Nutri Gardens’ were established in this week against the target of 7500.

The initiative is also helping in promoting nutritional awareness, education and behavioral change in rural areas involving farm women and school children, harnessing traditional knowledge through the local recipe to overcome malnutrition and implementing nutrition-sensitive agriculture through homestead agriculture and Nutri-garden.

As part of this programme, DAY-NRLM also organized a webinar on 13th January, 2022, in which over 2000 women participated from 700 locations. The Joint Secretary, Rural Livelihoods (RL) congratulated all the State/UT missions for doing great work towards ensuring the food and nutritional security of rural India. He motivated all the SRLMs and the women farmers from the field to saturate all the households with Agri Nutri Gardens and said that the plan must be to cultivate various vegetables and fruits in these gardens so as to fulfill the need of comprehensive household nutrition.

As part of the knowledge sharing, 5 SRLMs namely Odisha, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir presented in the webinar their best practices and showcased their work towards establishment of Agri Nutri Gardens. Some women entrepreneurs also shared their stories in the webinar. Sumitra Kewal from Madhya Pradesh and Arti Kumari from Jharkhand narrated their stories in the webinar which encouraged all the participants to do even better.

Smt. Sumitra Kewal, Community Resource Person (CRP) from Madhya Pradesh attended the webinar from her Agri Nutri Garden and showed her nutrition garden. She said that she is cultivating 10 types of vegetables and fruits in her Agri Nutri Garden which fulfills the need of nutrition of her family and she also sells her excess produce to earn extra income. Around 280 SHG households are there in her village and she has saturated the village too. Now all the Households have Agri Nutri gardens with variety of vegetables and fruits.

Smt. Arti Kumari, CRP joined from Bengabad, Jharkhand and she said, that all the nutrition needs in terms of vegetables and fruits have been fulfilled by the Agri Nutri Garden. In this pandemic situation, she has been able to take care of the nutrition requirement of her family from this Agri Nutri Garden.

Both the women farmers admitted that now less money is being spent towards medical expenses as they were able to get nutritious and chemical free food which they have grown themselves in their own Agri-Nutri Gardens.

26-Dec-2021: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission Overdraft facility for women SHG members launched

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) organised a special event called “Discourse on Rural Financial Inclusion” on 18th December, 2021 through virtual mode to celebrate 75 years of the independence of the country under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Executive Directors, Chief General Managers/ General Managers, other senior Officials of the banks and Chief Executive Officers/State Managing Directors from the State Rural Livelihoods Missions participated in the programme.  Sh. Charanjit Singh, Joint Secretary, Rural Livelihoods, Ministry of Rural Development welcomed all the participants and Sh. Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi inaugurated the programme.

As a part of the event, the facility for overdraft (OD of Rs. 5,000/- to verified SHG members under DAY – NRLM having accounts under the prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana with Banks was launched by Sh. Nagendra Nath Sinha,  Secretary of Department of Rural Development.  This facility has been initiated in pursuance of the announcement made by the Finance Minister in her budget speech of 2019-20.  Six Women SHG members from three States i.e., Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh (Two from each State) were provided with a cheque of Rs. 5,000 to mark the start of the scheme by the senior officials of the Banks in the presence of Chief Executive Officers/senior officers State Rural Livelihoods Missions at functions organised at State Head Quarters of the respective States.  It is estimated that about 5 crore women SHG members under DAY-NRLM would be benefitted from this facility eventually.

After the launch of this OD facility, a presentation on “Reviving Rural Economy” was made by Ms. Nita Kejrewal, Joint Secretary, Rural Livelihoods, Ministry of Rural Development covering various initiatives of the Department of Rural Development and she requested the Banks to align their credit products with that of the various programmes of this Ministry to provide credit to the rural masses to create livelihoods for them and help transform the rural economy. Prominent speakers who participated in the event include Ms. Vasudha Bhatt Kumar, Chief General manager of State Bank of India, who spoke on the “Role of women enterprises in “Reviving Rural Economy”,   Sh. Balamurugan D Chief Executive Officer of Jeevika (Bihar State Rural Livelihood Mission) & Sh. Rajeev Puri, Executive Director, Central Bank of India, who expressed their views on “Financial Education of Rural Masses – Challenges and Way forward and  Smt. Krishna Baruah, State Mission Director, Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission (ASRLM), who made  a Power Point Presentation  on” Financial Inclusion in difficult areas – A case for North Eastern Regions” showing various issues faced by the rural people in the NE Regions.  A total of 200 Participants (approx.) from different banks and State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLMs) have attended this event across 75 locations.

1-Oct-2021: DAY-NRLM dedicates 50,000 Women SHG members as Business Correspondents to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav

To commemorate the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, 50,000 women SHG members are dedicated to the nation as B C Sakhi in the rural areas during the week, 24th to 30th September, 2021. These Business Correspondents will provide doorstep services in every Gram Panchayat (GP). The initiative has been named as the “One GP one B C Sakhi” mission. It is proposed to deploy at least one B C Sakhi in the rural areas by the end of 2023-24. More than 50,000 SHG women who have been trained and certified as B C Sakhi are already providing services at the doorsteps in rural areas.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) under the Ministry of Rural Development has initiated a novel process of engagement of women Self Help Group (SHG) members as Business Correspondents (BC) for providing basic banking services in the rural areas of the country. To boost cashless/digital transactions amongst SHGs and their members, State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) have been advised to coordinate with different banks including Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) operating in their state to engage SHG members as their BCs.

The women SHG members are provided one week's residential training at Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) established by the Lead bank of the district and they have to pass an online examination conducted by the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF), Mumbai for getting the certification as per guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India(RBI) that each business correspondent should be IIBF certified.

96% of the women SHG members in the rural areas who have appeared for this examination have cleared it. More than 54000 Women SHG members have been trained and certified by IIBF as Business Correspondent so far. The cost of training and IIBF Certification is borne by the Ministry of Rural Development.

DAY–NRLM has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CSC e-Governance India Ltd (an associate of Ministry of Information and Technology, Govt of India) to engage women SHG members as 'DigiPay Sakhi' to provide basic banking facilities in the rural areas. Under the MoU, CSC e-Governance India Ltd provides one Finger Print Device also to SHGs members to start basic banking service through DigiPay Application on their mobile handset. The cost of the Finger Print Device is also borne by the Ministry of Rural Development. These DigiPay Sakhis will also provide payment facilities for MGNREGA and other subsidies under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the rural community at doorsteps.

All the SRLMs have conducted district level programmes and ensured Jan Bhagidari including the participation of local public representatives, participating bankers, CSC representatives, women SHG members and other important functionaries in the districts to achieve the goal of dedicating 50,000 Women SHG members as Business Correspondents.

18-Sep-2021: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission Commemorates 4th Rashtriya Poshan Maah, 2021

As part of Poshan Maah, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) under the Ministry of Rural Development has initiated implementation of interventions related to Food, Nutrition, Health, and WASH (FNHW) in selected locations to encourage behaviour change for the adoption of recommended practices amongst the SHG members and their families. Ministry is also partnering with the Ministry of Women & Child Development under POSHAN Abhiyaan.

Under Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN) Abhiyaan, every year, the month of September is designated as Rashtriya POSHAN Maah to strengthen the convergence and behaviour change activities to address undernutrition in adolescents, pregnant and lactating mothers, and children.

For this year’s Rashtriya POSHAN Maah, four themes, one for each week has been identified and these are (i) plantation activity as ‘POSHAN Vatika’, (ii) Yoga and AYUSH for nutrition, (iii) distribution of ‘Regional Nutrition Kit’ to Anganwadi beneficiaries of high burdened districts and (iv) identification of SAM children and distribution of nutritious food. Along with these themes, Ministry has also advised the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) to reiterate COVID-19 appropriate behaviours in view of upcoming festival season, promote COVID-19 vaccination of SHG members and their families, promote health-seeking behaviours and immunity building measures, promote diet diversity and traditional foods, including millets, and promotion of Nutrition Gardens with a focus on Moringa tree plantation. An advisory to SRLMs has been issued by MoRD in this regard.

State Rural Livelihoods Missions have been advised to coordinate with Department of Women & Child Development to participate in the planning and coordination meeting, discuss identified issues in the meetings of SHGs and their federations, conduct community based events like competition, recipe demonstrations, traditional food festivals promoting locally available nutritious foods, rallies, POSHAN rangolis, posters, promote nutri-gardens in the households of SHG members with focus on Moringa plantation and awareness generation on the benefits of nutri-gardens, moringa and diet diversity, conduct drive for COVID-19 vaccination for SHG members and their families in convergence with department of health, disseminate key messages using technology platforms e.g. webinars, WhatsApp groups, online discussion platforms etc. and participate in events organized by department of Women & Child Development, Department of Health and other departments as per the POSHAN Maah activity calendar.

A video conference with all the SRLMs was conducted on September 4, 2021, under the chairpersonship of Joint Secretary, MoRD, to discuss the plan and preparations for the POSHAN Maah. All SRLMs enthusiastically participated and presented their plans. Action plans have been prepared and guidance provided to district and block levels by the SRLMs. SRLMs were also requested to follow COVID-19 protocols while organizing activities in the field.

Prime Minister interacted with the SHG members last month and advised them to spend 75 hours to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Independence, on awareness generation on social development issues including health, nutrition and WASH. SRLMs have been advised to plan accordingly and support SHG members to take up awareness generation activities during the ongoing Poshan Maah.

State Rural Livelihoods Missions, have initiated the celebration of Poshan Maah and various activities like- Poshan rallies, Poshan pledges, Poshan rangolis, Yoga sessions, sensitization meetings, Nutri-gardens promotion etc.

20-Apr-2021: Gender Samvaad aims to establish a shared platform to generate awareness on NRLM’s gender interventions across the country

As part of the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav launched by the Prime Minister of India, the Ministry of Rural Development’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE) at LEAD, jointly launched Gender Samvaad on 16 April 2021.

Gender Samvaad, is a unique, joint attempt between DAY-NRLM and IWWAGE to establish a shared platform to generate awareness on NRLM’s gender interventions across the country, with a focus on hearing voices from the states and of SHG members. The virtual launch event brought together over 1,400 participants, including senior MoRD and state government officials, practitioners, gender experts, academia, civil society actors, and members of self-help groups.

At the launch event, Shri Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, remarked, “In 2022, India would be celebrating its 75th year of independence. To celebrate this milestone, the government has organized an Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav. The celebration calls for merging the best of traditions with an Atmanirbhar Bharat. The self-help group movement is one such tradition.”

At the event a short film was launched by the Joint Secretary, NRLM, Smt. Nita Kejrewal, who highlighted the extensive efforts undertaken by DAY-NRLM in empowering women and creating model institutions to address women’s issues in rural areas. The film showcases DAY- NRLM’s gender strategy and the various pilot interventions underway to set up institutional platforms for rural women to access justice, information and entitlements. According to Smt. Alka Upadhyaya, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, “DAY-NRLM has empowered women both economically and socially. Strong social protection systems can reduce the vulnerabilities and the multidimensional nature of poverty that affect women and men differently. DAY-NRLM aims to address gender inequality by strengthening women’s institutions.”

“Gender Samvaad, a bi-monthly webinar, will provide states with opportunities to exchange knowledge on how to improve women’s agency, share international experiences of successful gender interventions, unpack implementation barriers in gender mainstreaming, as well as create a ‘gender knowledge repository’ with resources to design and implement gender interventions across the country.”, said Smt. Soumya Kapoor Mehta, Head, IWWAGE at LEAD.

A compendium of case studies, documenting good practices and stories of resilience and change among SHG women shared by various State Rural Livelihoods Missions, was launched at the event by the Secretary, Rural Development. These resources are now available on the Gender Samvaad webpage, an open knowledge repository, hosted by IWWAGE. Community resource persons, who are women SHG members from various states also shared their experiences of overcoming several barriers to improve their lives and livelihoods and deal with gender related issues in their areas. A panel discussion was also organised that included leading gender and livelihoods experts to emphasise the importance of improving women’s livelihoods, their agency, and their understanding of their rights and entitlements.

16-Apr-2021: Gender Samvaad event launched

Gender Samvaad event, a joint attempt between DAY-NRLM and the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE) to create a common platform to share experiences emerging from this effort, was organised today by the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India. The attempt is to generate greater awareness on gender related interventions under DAY-NRLM across the country and best practices, with a focus on hearing voices from the states and the field.

Gender Samvaad provides states with opportunities to:

• Understand best practices/initiatives that other states have been undertaking to improve women’s agency (e.g. facilitating women’s access to land rights, their engagement in farmer producer organizations (FPOs), best practices around Food, Nutrition, Health and Water and Sanitation (FNHW), in establishing strong institutions for public service delivery, and in protecting and providing redress to vulnerable groups within women (e.g. to victims of witch hunting));
• Understand gender interventions globally;
• Engage with experts and other colleagues on suggestions regarding how to handle issues/implementation barriers;
• Contribute to creation of a ‘gender repository’ with resource materials on best practices for gender interventions across the country/other countries; and
• Build advocacy around the need to focus on gender issues across SRLMs and the NRLM.

The event was launched today by Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Rural Development as part of the ongoing Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. The online launch event brought together a distinguished panel of experts, including senior officials of the Ministry of Rural Development. In addition, voices of women from the field, who shared their experiences on how gender mainstreaming efforts within the DAY-NRLM have helped enhance their agency were also included. A compendium of case studies presenting inspiring stories of SHG members was also released at the event.

With over 60 million women mobilised to be part of one of India’s largest livelihoods programme, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) holds great promise for advancing women’s socio-economic empowerment by organising them into self-help groups (SHGs) and federations of the rural poor. Not only are these platforms facilitating financial opportunities and livelihood support services for women, but they have also become an extended arm of governance to demand accountability from and build linkages with mainstream institutions.

In 2016, DAY-NRLM laid out a gender operational strategy to mainstream gender issues within its federated architecture, with a focus on training and capacity building of staff, cadres and institutions on gender issues. This was coupled with the establishment of institutional platforms (e.g. social action committees and gender resource centres) at the field level, so women could approach them for their grievances and to claim their rights and entitlements.

14-Oct-2020: Cabinet approves  Special Package for UT of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved a Special Package worth Rs. 520 crore in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh for a period of five years till FY 2023-24 and ensure funding of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) in the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir & Ladakh on a demand driven basis without linking allocation with poverty ratio during this extended period.

This will ensure sufficient funds under the Mission, as per need to the UTs and is also in line with Government of India's aim to universalize all centrally sponsored beneficiary-oriented schemes in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh in a time bound manner.

This is based on the outcomes of the evaluation pointing to potential of the Mission to improve the quality of life of rural households and women's empowerment and given the changed circumstances in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a centrally sponsored programme that aims at eliminating rural poverty through promotion of multiple livelihoods for the rural poor households across the country. The launch of DAY-NRLM in June 2011 to address rural poverty marks a paradigm shift in poverty alleviation programmes.  DAY-NRLM seeks to reach out to all rural poor households, estimated at about 10 crore households, and impact their livelihoods through universal social mobilization by inter alia organizing 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.

The Mission involves working with the community institutions through community professionals in the spirit of self-help. This is the unique proposition of DAY-NRLM and that is how it is different from the previous poverty eradication programmes. The other distinguishing features of the programme is that it 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.

Background:

DAY-NRLM has been implemented in the erstwhile state of J&K by the Jammu and Kashmir State Rural Livelihoods Mission (JKSRLM) as "Umeed" programme. As per the current funds allocation procedure under DAY-NRLM based on inter-se poverty allocations among states, the share of J&K was less than 1% of the annual allocation under DAY-NRLM. In order to ensure sufficient funding support under the Mission for J&K and to ensure adequate coverage of the rural vulnerable population in the state, Gol had approved a Special Package under DAY-NRLM for the State of Jammu & Kashmir to cover all the rural vulnerable households in the State (estimated at two-thirds of the total number of rural households) within a definite time frame of five years from FY 2013-14 to FY 2017-18. The Cabinet also approved allocation of funds to the State under DAY-NRLM on a need basis for implementation of the Special Package without linking it with poverty ratio. Originally approved financial outlay for the proposal was of the order of Rs.755.32 crores (Central share 679.78 crores) for the five-year period.

Due to various reasons and the disturbed conditions in the State, the Special Package as approved in May 2013, and subsequently extended by a year to up to 2018-19, could not be fully implemented. A detailed third-party evaluation of the achievements of the programme in J&K and assessment of the preparedness of the State Mission to implement the special package further was conducted by Institute of Rural Management (IRMA), Anand, Gujarat in 2019. The evaluation has brought out many good outcomes of implementation of the DAY-NRLM in the erstwhile state. These included increase in income levels, improved assets base, creating new/multiple livelihoods opportunities for women, higher savings, higher investments for productive purposes, productive utilization of loans etc. In addition, it has had a positive impact on resolving community level issues, increased transparency in beneficiary selection, social harmony and mutual help. A large cadre of community resource persons and social capital in the form of SHGs members and officer bearers has also been created.

12-Apr-2020: NRLM Self Help Group network rises to the challenge of COVID-19 situation in the country

COVID-19 outbreak has presented an unprecedented health emergency worldwide. In India, a large number of possible cases are being tested, quarantined or treated, as the case may be. To contain the spread of the disease, Understanding the symptoms and causes of the COVID-19 infection and adopting appropriate hygiene and physical distancing practices are the need of the hour.

The motivated, enthusiastic and committed approximately 690 lakh women members of around 63 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs) across the country formed under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development, have always contributed in addressing economic and social needs that have emerged at the community level. These women are engaged in livelihoods activities, bringing social change through awareness generation, leading movements and responding during natural calamities. During the on-going crisis also, SHG members have emerged as community warriors by contributing in every possible way to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The SHG network across the country was made aware of the various aspects of the disease including the need to maintain personal hygiene, social distancing etc. through Audio Visual (AV) IEC material and advisories developed by Health Ministry which were circulated to all State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs). All such information, along with material developed by the state governments, are being used by the SRLMs to ensure that the correct message is communicated to the community about all required precautions. The SRLM staff and SHGs members are creating awareness in the local communities by various means like telephone calls, wall writings, pamphlets/fliers etc. Social media is also being used extensively.

SHG volunteers are playing their role in ensuring that people maintain social distancing in markets, PDS shops etc. In Tamil Nadu, two volunteers of SHGs are assigned to each PDS shop. They are provided gloves, masks and sanitisers and they ensure that people in the queue maintain adequate distance.

Some more important interventions by various SRLMs are mentioned here:

• Upon declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, JEEViKA, Bihar stepped in and started working on IEC materials that would help in awareness and preparedness for the outbreak. JEEViKA is trying to systematically reach out to a maximum number of households through its 1.4 Lakh SHGs and spread the awareness on topics such as handwash, sanitation, quarantine and isolation and social-distancing. JEEViKA has till date collected mobile numbers more than 1,00,000 of community members and is using the Mobile Vaani platform to release voice messages on COVID-19 and is also addressing the community’s queries through the same.
• Rangolis for awareness: SHG women from UP SRLM ‘Prerna’ have used their creativity to make rangolis and mark lines and circles to re-emphasize the need for 'social distancing'. They have also been making wall paintings to spread key messages about COVID prevention in their communities.
• Didi Helpline: The Didi helpline, a telephonic helpline initiated by Jharkhand SRLM, is open 24 hours to help migrant labourers by providing them verified information. It enables them to provide their data to state authorities to help evacuate them from different states, back to Jharkhand.
•  Efforts to dispel fake news:  Notable efforts have been made by women of Kudumbashree in Kerala, to help dispel the widespread fake news that causes panic. Through its network of WhatsApp groups with 1,16,396 Women as members, Kudumbashree is trying to propagate only the right information to the community. These platforms are used specifically to disseminate immediate, authentic information and updates on the outbreak and precautionary measures.

Sustaining their livelihoods through socially responsive contributions in promoting safe hygiene practices within their respective communities, these SHG women have been fighting the COVID-19 outbreak with utmost dedication and devotion. Through many similar responsible collective actions organized across the nation, marginalised and vulnerable women of these communities have played a significant role in the war against Coronavirus while being empowered both socially and economically.

12-Oct-2019: SARAS Aajeevika Mela inaugurated at India Gate Lawns

Union Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said that SARAS Aajeevika Mela is a testimony of Nari-Shakti, as lakhs of poor women through rural women Self Help Groups are transforming their lives and transforming rural India. She was speaking after formally inaugurating the Mela at India Gate Lawns organized from 10th October to 23rd October, 2019. She said that the Mela is a true example of women empowerment as over 200 stalls have been set-up by nearly 500 rural SHG craftswomen from 29 States and UTs. They will show-case varied range of products like handicrafts, handlooms, natural food products and a food court with regional cuisines.

In the last four and half years the number of rural women joining self-help groups have jumped from two and a half crore to nearly 6 crore 30 lakhs to better their lives and that of the society. Till date about 88,000 crore rupees of loans were availed by SHGs and their NPA is mere 2 percent, which should be a matter of pride for all Indians. At SARAS Mela, each stall, each product and each of the rural SHG women has a story to share, a story of victory over heavy odds.

SARAS Aajeevika Mela is an initiative by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India, with an objective to bring the rural women Self Help Groups (SHGs) formed with support of DAY-NRLM, under one platform to show-case their skills, sell their products and help them build linkages with bulk buyers. Through participation in SARAS Aajeevika Mela, these rural SHG women get vital national level exposure to understand the demand and taste of urban customers. The Mela is organised by the marketing arm of the Ministry, Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART).

Workshops for the rural SHG women would be conducted during the Mela, which will help them to enhance their knowledge and sharpen their skills in book keeping and GST, product design, packaging, marketing/e-marketing, communication skills etc.

The SARAS Aajeevika Mela at India Gate Lawn features curated collection of handlooms, handicrafts, natural food products and food court with traditional cuisines, for the esteemed residents of Delhi NCR. Some of the highlights of Mela are:

Handloom:

Sarees -Kalamkari from Andhra Pradesh, Cotton and silk sarees from Bihar, Kosa sarees from Chhattisgarh, Tasar silk and cotton sarees from Jharkhand, IIkal sarees from Karnataka, Chanderi sarees and Bagh print sarees from Madhya Pradesh, Paithaniand silk sarees from Maharashtra, Tasarand Banda sarees from Odisha, Kanchipuram sarees from Tamil Nadu, Pochampalli sarees from Telangana, Silk sarees from Uttar Pradesh, Pashmina sarees from Uttarakhand, Katha stitched sarees, Batik print, Tanth and Baluchari sarees from West Bengal.

Dress materials and apparel -Mehklachadar from Assam, Bharat gunthan and patch work from Gujarat, dupatta and dress materials from Jharkhand, Ilkalkurtis from Karnataka, stoles and Eri products from Meghalaya, Bagh print dress materials from Madhya Pradesh, dress materials from Maharashtra, Phulkari from Punjab, readymade garments, suits from Uttar Pradesh, Pashmina stole, sarees, shawl from Uttrakhand, Katha stitched andbatik print stoles from West Bengal.

Handicraft, jewellery and home décor– water hyacinth handbags and yoga mats from Assam, pearl Jewellery from Andhra Pradesh, lac bangles from Bihar, Madhubani painting, Sikki crafts from Bihar, bell metal products from Chhattisgarh; mud mirror work and Dori work from Gujarat; terracotta from Haryana, tribal Jewellery from Jharkhand, Channapatna toys from Karnataka, Lamasa art products from Maharashtra, Sabai grass products, Patachitra on palm leave from Odisha, leather bags, wall hanging, lamp sheds from Telangana, home décor from Uttar Pradesh; Dokra craft, Sitalpatti and diversified products from West Bengal.

Natural food products – natural spices and food products from Kerala, green products across states like spices, ginger, tea, pulses, rice, millets products, medical plants products, coffee, papad, apple jam, achar etc. would be available for sale

Showstopper at the Mela would be the mouth-watering authentic delicacies from nearly 20 States, with a first of its kind food fest show-casing the diversity of India’s ethnic cuisine, at the India Food Court, prepared and served by SHG members.

Another attraction of the Mela is the tamarind value chain from Jharkhand, portraying end-to-end journey right from plucking of tamarind, deseeding, cleaning and packaging to the final product on sale in the Demo Zone. Some of the programmatic interventions such as - PatrakarDidi (rural women journalists), BC Sakhi (women banking correspondent) and a live performance by all SHG women’s musical troupes Chendamelam from Kerala, Ghoomar from Rajasthan, tribal dance and nukkadnatak from Jharkhand, Cheraw (Bamboo dance) from Mizoram and Gidda from Punjab, as an integrated approach towards women empowerment, would also be show-cased.

19-Sep-2018: Boost to the vulnerable rural families in Jammu & Kashmir

The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of timeline for implementation of the Special Package under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) for Jammu & Kashmir for another period of one year during 2018-19.

The Cabinet also approved allocation of funds to the State under DAY-NRLM on a need basis for implementation of the Special Package without linking it with poverty ratio. There is no additional financial implication as the approval is to extend the time line to cover two thirds of the vulnerable households in the State within in the originally approved financial outlay of Rs. 755.32 crore.  An amount of Rs.143.604 crore will be required for the period of one year during 2018-19.

Impact:

1. This will help in covering all the vulnerable rural households in the State (estimated at two thirds of the total number of households) within a definite time frame.
2. It will ensure mobilization of households under the auto inclusion category and households with at least one deprivation category listed in the Socio Economic Caste Census – 2011.
3. It will also ensure coverage of all the blocks in Jammu & Kashmir under DAY-NRLM and ensures social inclusion, social development, promotion of livelihoods leading to poverty alleviation in the State.

Background: Due to unavoidable reasons and disturbed conditions in the State, the Special Package as approved in May 2013 could not be fully implemented. Now, the State Government has requested Government of India to consider extension of the earlier approved implementation schedule of the Special Package and continued funding of DAY-NRLM in Jammu and Kashmir on a demand driven basis without linking allocation with poverty ratio during this extended period.  Hence the approval by the Cabinet which will give a boost to the vulnerable rural families in Jammu & Kashmir.

11-Jun-2018: Minister of Rural Development, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar Confers National Awards on Best Performing Self Help Groups under DAY - National Rural Livelihood Mission

The Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar conferred the National Awards on Best Performing Self Help Groups (SHGs) under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) to provide public recognition to the outstanding performance of the community institutions. For the assessment year 2017-18, a total of 34 SHGs have been awarded National Awards at an event held in New Delhi. As part of the Award, each SHG received a cash award of Rs. 1,00,000 along with a commemoration and a certificate of appreciation.

Talking about the importance of financial assistance being provided to the SHGs through the DAY-NRLM, Shri Tomar said that credit facilities are being provided which have led to SHGs becoming an agent of change and a leading light for others to follow. Shri Singh also said that 5 crore women are already dedicated towards this end and the target is to get 9 crore women to become a part of this movement and bring qualitative change into the lives of people.

Shri Tomar also gave two suggestion for further improving the overall awards process and including more people into it. First suggestion related to the problem of NPAs being faced by banks. Talking about this, Union Rural Development Minister said that banks don’t give loans easily and especially not to poor but government has ensured that SHGs get loans and easy credit facilities from banks and the overall rate of NPAs among SHGs is very low. Shri Tomar urged all concerned to ensure that this rate becomes zero so that SHGs become an excellent example for others to follow. The second suggestion related to increasing the participation in the awards and also assigning grades among various SHGs to spur healthy competition among them to do better and better and also to highlight their success stories.

Women members from 3 states were delighted to share their experiences of coming out of poverty, with the audiences and guests at the event. They highlighted how their association with NRLM and its interventions, has been very virtuous and inculcated a sense of self-respect and dignity to their lives. The three members were Rajkumari Kevat, Santoshi SHG, MPSRLM, Md. Nazeema, Kareena SHG, Telangana SRLM and Rajlakshmi Banik, Radharani SHG, Tripura Rural Livelihoods Mission.

The National Awards to the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are intended to provide public recognition to the outstanding performance of the community institutions and incorporate a sense of pride among the poor community members. Conferring awards to best performing SHG and Village Organizations was initiated by DAY-NRLM in 2016-17.

The Awards have motivated the State Missions across the country to perform better and it has also brought the mission to the attention to the senior officers in the states. The financial resources leveraged by the Self Help Group members has enabled them to undertake a large ensemble of livelihood activities such as agriculture and allied activities, sheep and goat rearing, horticulture, running of local means of transportation, rearing of milch animals, irrigation development through bore wells, carpentry etc.

The Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines also launched the NRLM Best Practices Compendium and Self Help Group products catalogues. The compendium of 24 select Best Practices under DAY-NRLM will facilitate cross learning from successful implementation and innovation among the State Missions. A catalogue of SHG products was also released which has a range of products made by the SHGs like handmade products, displaying various traditional arts, handlooms – silk and cotton fabrics, applique works etc., handicrafts – wood and clay products, jute items, tribal jewelry, food products, furniture, leather products etc. with the contact numbers of the SHGs and the price range.

8-Jun-2018: Ministry of Rural Development to Confer National Awards on Best Performing Self Help Groups under DAY – National Rural Livelihood Mission

Ministry of Rural Development will confer the National Awards on Best Performing Self Help Groups under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) on Monday, 11th June, 2018. The National Awards to the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are intended to provide public recognition to the outstanding performance of the community institutions and incorporate a sense of pride among the poor community members. Conferring awards to best performing SHG and Village Organizations was initiated by DAY-NRLM in 2016-17.  For the assessment year 2017-18, 34 SHGs have been shortlisted for receiving DAY-NRLM National Awards in an event to be held at A. P. Shinde Hall, PUSA on 11th June, 2018 in Delhi. 

The DAY-NRLM awards are conferred on the Best Performing Community Based Organizations (Self Help Groups and Village Organizations) after screening the nominations received from the SRLMs. The selection process adopted is that the SHGs are first assessed for their performance on several indicators such as Institution Building-Capacity Building, Financial Inclusion, Livelihoods, Convergence etc. and then nominated by the respective SRLMs for receiving awards. The National Unit of DAY-NRLM then screens the applications thus received and finalizes the awardee list.

The Awards have motivated the State Missions across the country to perform better and it has also brought the programme to the attention to the senior officers in the states. The financial resources leveraged by the Self Help Group members has enabled them to undertake a large ensemble of livelihood activities such as agriculture and allied activities, sheep and goat rearing, horticulture, running of local means of transportation, rearing of milch animals, irrigation development through bore wells, carpentry etc.

The SHGs are a perfect example of how livelihoods of households can transform through a collective approach, managed in line with core democratic and financial principles. The SHG has contributed to several community level activities for the common good. These include awareness promotion for constructing household toilets using SBM funds, environmental sanitation, liquid waste management and support for maintenance of village commons.

The members are conscious of their social responsibilities and have undertaken several collective activities including campaign against child labour, illicit distillation and child marriages etc. SHG has demonstrated strong features of a progressive community based institution.

The Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines will also launch NRLM Best Practices Compendium and Self Help Group products catalogues for stimulating grass root development. The compendium of 24 select Best Practices under DAY-NRLM will facilitate cross learning from successful implementation and innovation among the State Missions, MoRD has been organizing workshops on Best Practices in DAY-NRLM.  The 1st such workshop was organized during Aug 2016 and the document was published in early 2017. The second workshop was organized during Feb, 2018 at New Delhi. A large number of best practices and innovations in the areas of community institutions and capacity building, skill building, financial inclusion, farm and non-farm livelihoods and health and nutrition were present at the second workshop. The document released presents the best practices and innovations for wider dissemination and adaption.

A catalogue of SHG products will also be released. The SHGs products catalogue has a range of products made by the SHGs like handmade products, displaying various traditional arts, handlooms – silk and cotton fabrics, applique works etc., handicrafts – wood and clay products, jute items, tribal jewellery, food products, furniture, leather products etc. with the contact numbers of the SHGs and the price range. SARAS Aajeevika Mela is an annual event of DAY-NRLM and it aims to provide a platform to the rural artisans to showcase their skills and products and also develop market linkages for their products.