ROURKELA: The tribal-dominated Sundargarh district is witnessing a social change with institutional credit having emerged as an effective tool to change the lives of rural poor. The marginalised sections of rural families are being covered under the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM). Sources said the OLM has been implementing both National Rural Livelihoods Mission and National Rural Livelihoods Project and is working towards building a dedicated support structure for the economic growth of poor rural households.
The district has formed 13,377 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) with total membership of 1,34,145. They are further formed into community institutions, including 45 Gram Panchayat Level Federations, 291 Cluster Level Federations and community cadres like Local Resource Groups (LRG), Bank Mitra, Book Keeping Mitra, Krishi Mitra and Prani Mitra.
Balishankara, Tangarpali, Kuanrmunda, Bonai and Gurundia have been taken as intensive blocks where all livelihood components of OLM are being implemented, while rest 12 are non-intensive blocks.
District Project Manager (DPM) of OLM Souravamaya Das said in 2016-17, they had achieved 117.48 per cent success to surpass the target set under SHG-Bank Linkage. About 3,300 SHGs are given bank credits of `34.07 crore at soft rate of interest. He said through SHGs, the beneficiaries are given credits for agriculture activities, personal consumption and income generation activities. Loan repayment trend has been healthy, he added.
The DPM further said five gram panchayats of Balishankara block have been taken up for special projects in which a total of 500 ultra-poor households are covered under food security, rural employment scheme, housing scheme and other employment generation activities. For social empowerment, the SHG members are involved in various government schemes and Gram Sabha meetings for wider social change, he added.
LRG Member and Gram Sathi Falicita Topno of Kinjirkela in Balishankara block said she had to discontinue her studies after Class X due to lack of income in her family. She said after marriage, she took up tailoring, but her joining as LRG member and Gram Sathi after 2014 changed her life.
Topno said for the last two years, she is working for PRI-Community-based Organisation (CBO) convergence programme and getting incentive to help other poor rural households to benefit from various poverty alleviation schemes.