DAY-NRLM

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is the Government of India’s flagship programme for reducing poverty in rural areas by building sustainable institutions of the rural poor. It mobilises rural poor women into Self Help Groups and federations, provides them with skill training, and links them with financial services and livelihood opportunities.

What Is DAY-NRLM?

DAY-NRLM replaced the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) in 2011 and was renamed to include the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana branding in 2016. It operates in all 34 states and union territories of India.

The mission works on a saturation approach: it targets covering all rural poor households in India with SHGs and providing them with credit, skills, and livelihoods.

Key Components

**Social Mobilisation:**
Organising all rural BPL households into SHGs and federations at village and cluster levels. The Gram Sabha-level federation (Village Organisation) and Cluster Level Federation are the building blocks of the institution.

**Capitalization Support:**
Revolving Fund of Rs 15,000 per SHG to build the group corpus.
Community Investment Fund (CIF) for SHG federations to on-lend to member groups for productive activities.

**Bank Linkage:**
Facilitating SHG access to bank credit at low interest. Interest subvention reduces effective interest rate to 7% for prompt repayers in targeted districts.

**Skills and Placements:**
DDUGKY (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana) provides residential skill training and guaranteed placement to rural youth.

**Livelihoods:**
Supports agricultural livelihoods, NTFP (non-timber forest produce) value chains, and non-farm activities through technical assistance and market linkage.

Scale and Impact

DAY-NRLM has mobilised over 9.5 crore women into approximately 89 lakh SHGs. This makes it the largest SHG mobilisation programme in the world. It has also significantly expanded rural credit to women who previously had no access to formal banking.

Practical Example

Rekha lives in a remote village in Jharkhand. Through DAY-NRLM, she joins an SHG of 12 women. The group receives Rs 15,000 as a revolving fund. Rekha borrows Rs 5,000 to buy piglets for rearing. She repays in three months with interest. The SHG applies for bank linkage and receives Rs 2.5 lakh. Rekha uses her share to expand her piggery. Her monthly income doubles within two years.

Key Takeaways

– DAY-NRLM is India’s flagship rural poverty reduction programme operating through SHG mobilisation
– Over 9.5 crore women have been organised into approximately 89 lakh SHGs
– Provides revolving funds, community investment funds, and bank linkage to SHGs
– Interest subvention reduces effective loan rates for prompt repayers
– DDUGKY, the skills component, provides residential skill training with placement guarantee to rural youth