NATIONAL Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) rechristened as ‘Umeed’ in J&K aims to reduce poverty in the state by building strong grassroots institutions of the poor, engage them in gainful livelihoods interventions and ensure appreciable improvement in their income on a sustainable basis, an official handout said.
It said NRLM is being rolled out in a phased manner in J&K, covering all blocks in next 5 years. Lar, Khansahab, Basohli and Chenani are the first four blocks in the state where NRLM is being launched in the first phase.
To cover all the blocks in the state, a two-pronged implementation strategy namely; intensive and non-intensive approach is being adopted. Blocks under intensive approach will be manned with dedicated and sensitive staff for rolling out of mission. These blocks will demonstrate the “proof of concept” and act as immersion sites for learning by other non-intensive blocks.
These blocks will also be treated as resource sites to be starting point for best practices in remaining blocks where NRLM is to be expanded in phased manner.  To ensure that at the end of two years, every district has at least one block developed under intensive approach, 8 blocks (1 block in each district) would be covered under intensive approach in the first year and 14 blocks in remaining 14 districts would be taken up in the second year. The total of 22 blocks to be undertaken in the first two years in all 22 districts of the state would be developed under Intensive Approach strategy.
The roll-out in non-intensive blocks would be taken up six months after the start of intensive block strategy in those districts. However, the capacity building of the staff and other stakeholders of the remaining non-intensive blocks would start from the third month of starting resource block strategy, thus, the block coverage that would be achieved.
To ensure universal mobilization, at least one member from each rural poor and vulnerable household, preferably a woman, has to be brought under the Self Help Group (SHG) ambit within the next five years. To start with, Resource Block Strategy would be undertaken in the identified blocks. Eight-resource blocks would be taken from the identified 22 intensive blocks within the first six months. The work would start in February 2013 for Jammu division and from March 2013 in Kashmir division.
To ensure capacity building on a continuous basis eight training centres (one at every resource block) would be started to ensure social capital development in the first year. Trainers from the resource block from Society for Eradication of Poverty, Andhra Pradesh would anchor these training centres for a period of three years. Every training block would be manned by at least two master trainers to impart continuous training. The endeavor would be that at the end of three years the community by itself would run these training centres and the community itself would churn out master community trainer among themselves. The mission would rest on the pillars of these trained trainers - the social capital.
The Self Help Groups of women shall be formed in each village. Each group shall have 10 to 14 members. Each group shall create its own capital through thrift. This capital can be used for internal lending till the group graduates for revolving fund and bank credit. The resources of the group shall be strengthened by providing subsidy and multiple credits subject to repayments. The group shall take up various livelihood initiatives individually or collectively from the credit which shall flow from the Group. The group shall maintain its accounts and shall run the affairs of the group without any official interference. These groups shall be federated at the village and block levels. The federations aim at providing voice, space and bargaining power to the poor.
Special focus on health and education will be there from the start of the mission in the state. From the field study conducted by the team from the SERP  and various feedback received during the consultations, meetings and workshops with various stakeholders, it has been felt that health and education needs special focus along with other issues of child and maternal well being.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST