BANGALORE: Intending to eradicate poverty in the rural areas, the state government is implementing the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) which has been renamed as ‘Sanjeevini’ in Karnataka.
According to official sources, the scheme which was intended to tackle the rural poverty has been designed after restructuring the existing 10-year-old village self-employment scheme, the Swarna Jayanthi Gram Swarojgar Yojana of the Union Rural Development Ministry.
The Principal Secretary of Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Amita Prasad said,
“The NRLM programme is being implemented in five districts, Belgaum, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Mysore and Tumkur in the first phase and is targeted to eliminate poverty in rural areas by 2015.”
The programme which is being implemented under the aegis of the respective panchayaths wherein the eligible beneficiaries would be provided entrepreneurship training through the Rural Development Self Employment Training (RUDSET) Institute.
She said that the NRLM among others would also focus on promoting self-helf groups, SHG federations and financial inclusion.
“The RDPR department has urged the Public Sector Banks to integrate SHGs with their lending programme to enable women to undertake economic activities,” she said.
The NRLM is undertaking programmes for enhancing existing livelihood options for the poor, building skills for job market and promoting self-employment.
The programme also gives thrust to create self-employment for the rural poor through provisions of different types of micro finance services and promotion of sustainable livelihoods.
Informing that the NRLM programme focuses on working in a mission mode involving multiple stakeholders including poor individual families, civil society organisations, NGOs and government bodies, she said that it focuses on marginal sections in the society.