SOIL Report 2011 - ACCESS Development Services

State as the Largest Livelihoods Promoter 97self managed institutions of the poor, andaggregating those institutions beyond thecommunity level yields impressive returnsfor poverty reduction. The programmerecognizes that the poor people have thepotential to come out of poverty with properhandholding, training and capacity buildingand credit linkage.The NRLM is, perhaps, the largestpoverty programme in the world with itsgoal of reaching nearly 7 crore rural householdsin 60,000 villages across 600 districtsin the country. Thus, it has been toutedas the most important and ambitious programmenext to NREGS. The NRLM alsorecognizes that poor people have multiplelivelihoods—wage employment and selfemployment—andaims at stabilizing andenhancing incomes from both. The NRLMdepends on the banks as a source of creditfor the poor at reasonable rates with thesmart use of subsidy. The NRLM places astress on the participation of women.In a clear break from the SGSY, theNRLM puts local mentors at the frontline.It utilizes the services of these mostly femaleCommunity Resource Persons (CRPs) whohave experience in coming out of povertyand are members of self help groups (SHGs).As frontliners, they are expected to spreadthe concept of NRLM at the village levelas well as across districts, and help makeNRLM a people’s movement. It allows flexibilityin formulating context specific actionplans at the state level, since, the level of developmentand availability of local resourcesis different for each state.NRLM combines the triple objectives ofsocial, financial and economic inclusion ofthe poor. Social inclusion involves enablingSHG members to build their skills tobetter access services such as education andhealth, entitlements like PDS, NREGS andother safety net programmes, and to gain avoice in local governance institutions.Financial inclusion involves ensuring accessto financial services such as savings, creditand insurance. Economic inclusion involvesdeveloping skills for self-employment sothat they are no longer dependent on safetynet programmes and can build productiveassets.The NRLM entails these distinctfeatures:1. Universal social mobilization throughSHGs which ultimately brings each andevery BPL household under the SHGnetwork.2. SHG Federations are envisaged to act assecond-tier institutions.3. The goal of universal financial inclusionthrough SHGs linked to banks.4. Allocation of up to `7,500 per beneficiarytowards capacity building andtraining.5. There is a provision of basic orientationtraining for all the swarozgaris, and skilltraining for the ones who are enteringthe micro-enterprise level.6. Institutional arrangement for skill development,for self-employment andwage employment.7. At least one training institute—RuralSelf-Employment Training Institute(RSETI)—is to be set up in each district.8. These RSETIs are to be set up in partnershipwith banks and with grantsreceived from the MoRD and stategovernments.9. A provision of an enhanced RevolvingFund of `15,000 per SHG.10. A provision of a capital subsidy of`15,000 to individual Swarozgars ofthe general category, and `20,000 toSC/ST and people with disabilities,subject to a maximum of `2.5 lakh perSHG. Also a provision of professionalsupport—at present the DRDAs/blocks only have a skeleton staff andare over burdened with a multiplicityof programmes.11. Special projects—Under the NRLM,20 per cent of allocation is earmarkedfor special projects, which combines15 per cent for placement-linked skilldevelopment projects, and 5 per centfor innovative projects.