SDG 1 – No poverty

• Target 1.b Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions
  • Indicator 1.b.1 Pro-poor public social spending

SDG 2 – Zero hunger

• Target 2.1 By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round
  • Indicator 2.1.1 – Prevalence of undernourishment
  • Indicator 2.1.2 – Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)

• Target 2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
  • Indicator 2.2.1 – Prevalence of stunting (height for age <-2 standard deviation from the median of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age
  • Indicator 2.2.2 – Prevalence of malnutrition (weight for height >+2 or <-2 standard deviation from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards) among children under 5 years of age, by type (wasting and overweight)
  • Indicator 2.2.3 – Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years, by pregnancy status (percentage)

• Target 2.4 By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality
  • Indicator 2.1.1 – Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture

SDG 5 – Gender equality

• Target 5.a Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws
  • Indicator 5.a.1 (a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land,by type of tenure

SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth

• Target 8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro- small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services
  • Indicator 8.3.1 Proportion of informal employment in non-agriculture employment, by sex.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a flagship poverty alleviation program implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. It aims to reduce poverty by enabling the poor household to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities resulting in sustainable and diversified livelihood options for the poor. This is one of the world’s largest initiatives to improve the livelihoods of the poor. The Mission seeks to achieve its objective through investing in four core components viz., (a) social mobilization and promotion and strengthening of self-managed and financially sustainable community institutions of the rural poor women; (b) financial inclusion; (c) sustainable livelihoods; and (d) social inclusion, social development and access to entitlements through convergence.

The Mission is implemented in a phased but intensive manner, taking up certain number of blocks in each year. The Mission is expected to saturate mobilization of all rural poor households by 2023-24.

Key features and components of the Scheme include:

i. One member (preferably a woman) from each rural poor household would be brought under the Self Help Group (SHG) network. Women SHG groups would have bank-linkage arrangements.

ii. SHGs would be federated at village level and higher levels to provide space, voice and resources and to reduce dependence on external agencies. District Manual – National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) 2

iii.The Mission consists four components, viz.,

• social mobilization, community institution and capacity building;
• financial inclusion;
• livelihood promotion; and
• convergence.

iii.Participatory social assessment would be organised to identify and rank all households according to vulnerability. The ranking would be with reference to poorest of the poor, single woman and woman-headed households, disabled, landless, and migrant labour and they would receive special focus.

iv. Training and capacity building of the poor, particularly in relation to managing the institutions, livelihoods, credit absorption and credit-worthiness.

v. The Mission also supports development of skills for rural youth and their placement, training and self-employment through rural self-employment institutes (RSETIs), innovations, infrastructure creation and market support.

vi. Provision of Revolving Fund as a support to SHGs to strengthen their institutional and financial management capacity and build a good credit history.

vii. Provision of Community Investment Support Fund (CIF) in the intensive blocks to the SHGs through the Federations to advance loans and/or undertake common/collective socio-economic activities.

viii. Introduction of financial inclusion model, loaning from banks, association and coordination with banking/financial institutions and coverage from loss of life, health etc.

ix. Provision of Interest Subvention on loans availed by SHGs to cover the difference between the lending rate of the banks and 7%.

x. Convergence with various ministries and agencies dealing with poverty reduction of rural poor.

xi. Highly decentralised planning; and States will have liberty in developing their own action plan for poverty reduction.

xii. NRLM to have suitable linkages at the district level with District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) and Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs).

OPERATIONAL MECHANISM:

The Department of Rural Development in the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (GoI) has the overall responsibility of policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation of the programme and for release of funds. The implementation responsibility of the Mission is vested with State Rural Livelihood Missions (Special Purpose Vehicles). At the district level, a District Mission Management Unit (DMMU) is responsible for planning and implementation, but under the overall control of the district administration. At the block level, a Block Mission Management Unit implements the Mission activities. To facilitate intensive implementation, State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) have been established as special purpose vehicles. Dedicated implementation support units have been set up at the state, district and block levels known as State Mission Management Unit (SMMU), District Mission Management Unit (DMMU) and Block Mission Management Unit (BMMU). Multi-disciplinary professional teams are engaged at each level to spearhead the Mission activities under different components. A National Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (NRLPS) has been established under the MoRD to provide technical support to the SRLMs. The NRLPS has set up a National Mission Management Unit (NMMU), a multi-specialty team of experts to support the State Missions.

NATIONAL LEVEL SUPPORT UNIT:

NRLM Advisory Committee (NRLM-AC), chaired by the Union Minster of Rural Development, comprises eminent personalities representing CSOs, financial institutions, industry associations and academia, development and livelihoods experts, representatives of state governments etc. The committee is a policymaking body, setting the NRLM overall vision, direction and priorities and reviewing the overall progress.

NRLM Coordination Committee (NRLM-CC), chaired by the Secretary, Rural Development, MoRD, ensures that the objectives are achieved in time. NRLM Empowered Committee (NRLM-EC) reviews and approves the State Perspective and Implementation Plans and Annual Action Plans and releases funds to SRLMs.

The Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary, NRLM, MoRD leads DAY-NRLM as Mission Director and head of its National Mission Management Unit (NMMU), comprising multidisciplinary team of professionals from open market on contract, and requisite support staff. There are thematic sub-groups in Social Inclusion, Financial Inclusion and Livelihoods, and a Technical Support Cell (TSC) within NMMU to coordinate technical support and multidisciplinary appraisal missions with the states. TSC builds and maintains a pool of national resource persons, advisers and experts in all relevant disciplines, drawn from NMMU, state missions and the development sector.

At national level, the broad responsibilities are:

• Technical Support to States/UTs
• Knowledge Management and Capacity Building
• Developing Partnerships for banking and market linkages
• Supporting States and UTs in roll-out

STATE LEVEL SUPORT UNIT:

STATE RURAL LIVELIHOODS MISSION (SRLM)

Constituted by and incorporated as autonomous bodies under the State Governments, SRLMs oversee the implementation of all DAY-NRLM-related activities in the state. In states, where the State Governments use existing societies/entities as SRLMs, their articles of association/bye-laws are amended to incorporate DAY-NRLM objectives and broaden the membership in the Governing Body.

STATE MISSION MANAGEMENT UNIT (SMMU)

The DAY-NRLM activities are implemented in the states through SMMUs, headed by a full-time State Mission Director (SMD). The major responsibilities of the SMMU include:

• Leading all DAY-NRLM activities in the state
• Drafting policies and implementation guidelines of the mission at the state level
• Handholding support to district and sub-district implementation/support structures
• Ensuring quality implementation of different components/thematic interventions
• Ensuring proper linkages with the DRDAs
• Managing convergence and partnerships
• And any other function, as required

Apart from the SMD, the multidisciplinary SMMU team comprises of experts in Social Inclusion, Financial Inclusion, Livelihoods, Programme Management, Programme Support etc., and support staff. These experts, with adequate experience in the relevant thematic area, are drawn either from the market on contractual basis or from the government organizations on deputation basis, with specific terms of reference. Based on the need, a senior development professional is taken from the open market as a second in command (Chief Operating Officer). Further, SMMU engages thematic experts and empanels reputed resource agencies to support field implementation teams.

STATES WITH MULTIPLE AGENCIES IMPLEMENTING LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMMES

In some states, there are multiple agencies/departments engaged in activities aligned with DAY-NRLM objectives. These include externally aided projects, or the programmes of departments of Women & Child Development, Tribal Affairs, Social Justice and Social Welfare, etc. DAY-NRLM presents an opportunity to converge all such initiatives. The guiding principles for convergence

• Leveraging strengths of existing partners
• No loss of existing social and human capital
• No compromise on DAY-NRLM non-negotiable principles
• No duplication of efforts

DISTRICT LEVEL SUPPORT UNIT:

DISTRICT MISSION MANAGEMENT UNIT (DMMU)

Responsible for meeting objectives and implementing activities in the districts, DMMUs are linked suitably with DRDA and act as facilitating and support unit for field structures. They interface and forge convergence with District Administration and line departments, banks, NGOs and corporate agencies. A broad-based District Advisory Group/Review and Coordination Committee, chaired by District Collector, including representatives of the institutions of the poor and NGOs that work with them in a significant way, reviews DAY-NRLM activities and provides inputs for improving and developing subsequent plans.

A multidisciplinary DMMU, led by District Mission Manager (DMM), hired from open market on contract or on deputation from Government, includes functional specialists in Social Inclusion, Financial Inclusion, Livelihoods, Capacity Building, Programme Management, Programme Support etc., and support staff, as required. A Capacity Building cell (CB cell) within DMMU, is responsible for imparting training to the field implementation units, and nurturing the community resource persons and developing them as trainers.

BLOCK LEVEL SUPPORT UNIT:

BLOCK MISSION MANAGEMENT UNIT (DMMU)

INTENSIVE IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

The BMMU comprises multi-disciplinary professional team headed by a Block Mission Manager (BMM)/ Block Project Manager (BPM) and consisting of 3-5 domain specialists for different thematic works. The intensive implementation strategy ensures that all key strategies of the program are implemented in the blocks.

The principal responsibilities of BMMU include- mobilizing all poor households into SHG fold; strengthening existing and new SHGs; building SHG federations and other institutions of the poor at various levels; and building capacities of the poor, their institutions, CRPs and other social capital. These institutions, over a period of 2-3 years, would assume the responsibility for sustaining all interventions. The action plan for the block would be based on a systematic diagnosis of the ground situation. The action plan would strengthen the work on ground and plan to cover the uncovered areas. As capacities increase, gradually, institutions of the poor – SHG Federations – interface and converge with the Block Administration on their own.

DAY-NRLM intends to work in a block for a period of ten years till the community federations take responsibility of implementation. A typical block having about 13,500-15,000 (90% of total poor) poor households to be mobilized, spread over 100 -120 villages, is divided into 4 clusters of nearly 30 villages each. The initial years are spent in building the organizations of the poor by mobilizing them into SHGs and Federations at Village and Cluster level, ensuring their financial inclusion and credit linkage and support for diversifying their livelihoods base. Other interventions such as health, nutrition, inclusion of vulnerable communities like Persons with Disability (PwD), elderly, single women, etc. are introduced through these institutions. Funds flow to the community institutions over the first 4-5 years are also planned at regular intervals. The concluding 4 years are expected to be essentially a maintenance and withdrawal phase where the community institutions graduate to self-reliance and self-sustainability.

• Building Strong community institutions
• Importance of regular training and capacity-building initiatives
• Overcoming deeply entrenched gender biases and social norms

Inclusive credit and financial services; Integrated programmes for gender equality and empowerment

In India:

State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs)

National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD-PR)

National Level Functionaries:

At the national level, there will be an Advisory Committee of NRLM under the Chairmanship of Minister for Rural Development. It consists of representatives from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), financial institutions, industry associations, academicians, and poverty & development experts. The Committee would be a policy making body setting the overall vision and direction of the Mission. It lays down priorities and reviews overall progress.

There is NRLM Division in the Department and Joint Secretary / Additional Secretary of the Division will lead the Mission as Mission Director. There would be a National Mission Management Unit (NMMU) comprising multi-disciplinary team of experts to manage the Mission.

A Technical Advisory Group (TAG) would be constituted and the Group would have a Mission Manager who coordinates and appraises the missions in the States.

State Level Functionaries:

At the State level, there would be State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM) and it is an autonomous body under the Rural Development Department of the State and should be incorporated as a Society. The Mission would oversee the implementation and other related activities at the State level and constitutes a State Mission Management Unit (SMMU) headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The SMMU assists the CEO in the implementation of the Mission. The SMMU consist of experts from various areas like social mobilization, capacity building, bank linkages, etc. and is responsible for:

• Designing policies and implementation guidelines at the state and district levels
• Monitoring the progress and providing implementation support
• Ensuring quality implementation
• Managing partnerships and so on

The SRLM has Governing Body (GB) and Executive Committee (EC) to provide guidance and advice in all aspects of planning and implementation of the Mission.

District Level Functionaries:

At the District level, there would be District Mission Management Unit (DMMU). It would be setup by SMMU and is responsible for implementing the programme at district level as per the guidelines. The district unit functions as a capacity building and support unit for implementation at block and lower levels. The Unit is led by District Programme Manager, who would be assisted by functional specialists in the areas of social mobilization, micro finance, livelihoods, capacity building & placements etc.

The district unit will interface with district administration and other line departments, in particular with District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) and Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) and coordinates the activities.

Block Level Functionaries:

The principal role of Block Mission Management Unit is mobilization of poor households into SHG-fold, strengthen them and build their capacities. The unit also takes the responsibility of federating the SHGs and ensures that the SHG groups and their federations are strengthened in course of time and sustain themselves without outside interventions. It is necessary that a mechanism would be placed for active collaboration between block unit (being at the cutting edge) and the SHGs

• Number of rural poor women covered (households covered): 100.5 million (10.05 crore) – Data as on 30th July 2024

Self-Help Groups formed: 9.086 million (90.86 Lakhs) – Data as on 30th July 2024

DAY-NRLM’s Budget Estimates (Budget allocated for the financial year 2024-25): 1,504.7 billion INR (15,047.00 Crore Indian Rupees)

• Monitoring through MIS data: DAY-NRLM has a centralized MIS in which data entry is enabled right from the block level. The MIS data is used for monitoring progress at various levels of program implementation.
• Reviews with the SRLMs: All States’ performance is reviewed on a quarterly basis at the senior level of administration This gives an opportunity to bring out pending issues or areas that are lagging behind and act upon them.
• PRC meeting: The performance of the programme is also reviewed with Secretaries on a half-yearly basis during the Performance Review Committee Meetings of the Ministry.
• National Level Monitors, Common Review Missions and Officers of the Ministry visit States/UTs at regular interval to review implementation of the programme. After the field visits, the findings/shortcomings and recommendations are shared with the States/UTs for appropriate action at their end

https://nrlm.gov.in