The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a Rural Development Ministry proposal to launch the National Rural Livelihood Mission that aims to reduce poverty in a time-bound manner through provision of diversified employment opportunities and skill development.
The proposal for the big-ticket development mission was earlier approved by the Expenditure Finance Commi-ttee and was taken up by the Cabinet Committee on Eco-nomic Affairs for clearance in a meeting on Thursday even-ing. With an estimated budget of about Rs 30,000 crore, the NRLM aims at reducing poverty through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities.
The NRLM essentially aims to restructure the ongoing Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana with a view to reduce poverty among the rural Below Poverty Line population by promotion innovative employment and skill set development of the beneficiaries on a sustainable basis. The move will entail a dedicated implementation structure at various levels.
Mission mode for a programme implies achieving desired targets in a time bound manner. The NRLM envisages to include 28 lakh new BPL self help groups (SHGs), each SHG having on an average 10 members (one from each family) by the end of 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017). In the process, 75 lakh BPL families are proposed to be provided skill development training by setting up Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RUDSETIs) in each district of the country.
The Mission also aims to bring about universal mobilization of the rural poor communities into SHGs and include at least one member from each BPL family in a time bound manner and put in place a dedicated implementation structure for the programme.