Jairam Ramesh lauds Madhya Pradesh for effective implementation of NRLM

Bhopal: Union Rural Development Minister Shri Jairam Ramesh has lauded Madhya Pradesh for effective implementation of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). He has written a letter in this regard to Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently. In the letter, Shri Jairam Ramesh has also assured large-scale assistance and cooperation by the Union Government, which has already sanctioned the first instalment of the state’s annual plan under the mission worth Rs. 77 crore 82 lakh.
Giving this information, Panchayat & Rural Development Minister Shri Gopal Bhargava informed that implementation of NRLM in Madhya Pradesh was started from April 1 in the current fiscal. Mission’s activities are being carried out effectively in the state. Gram Pravesh programmes are being organized in targeted villages. During reviews from time to time, the Union Government has lauded NRLM’s better progress in Madhya Pradesh than other states on each occasion.
State Livelihood Forum CEO Shri L.M. Belwal informed that now rural families will directly participate in the mission’s implementation, especially women belonging to poor and extremely poor families. Besides imparting training to targeted families to mobilise necessary livelihood resources, they will also be provided financial assistance. Effective efforts have been made to increase these families’ easy and smooth access to financial services. An effective strategy is being chalked out for economic empowerment of rural families by ensuring their skill development. Job-oriented training has been imparted to 20 thousand jobless youths so far during the current fiscal. Arrangements for training have been made through Rural Self-employment Training Institutes at the district-level to the youths desirous of setting up self-employment units. Following training, these youths are provided financial assistance through banks to set up their units. Jobs have been made available to about 10 thousand rural youths in various institutions through block-level employment fairs.
First phase of the mission is being implemented in 6207 villages in 46 development blocks of ten districts in the state. SC, ST dominated districts have been included in the first phase including Sheopur, Jhabua, Dhar, Alirajpur, Barwani, Shahdol, Anuppur, Dindori, Mandla and Balaghat. Except Balaghat, all these districts were covered by Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihood Project, which has been successfully completed in June 2012.
The project helped bring about positive change in the lives of 2 lakh 83 thousand families in the nine above-mentioned districts. Concerted efforts for the project’s effective implementation have been lauded at several levels. At a meeting of state-level monitoring and assessment committee of the Panchayat & Rural Development Department on November 20, 2012, changes brought about in social life were lauded. Similarly, on December 4, member MLAs also praised this project’s successes at a meeting of departmental advisory committee.