By IANS,
Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday approved the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) programme to enhance employment opportunities in the rural areas of the state, an official said.
“The NRLM is a universal social mobilisation programme under which at least one member from every rural poor household, preferably women, will be brought within the net of self-help groups (SHGs) in a time-bound manner,” a state government spokesperson told reporters here.
He said the scheme would facilitate creation of a platform to reduce poverty through continuous capacity building.
“The mission aims to reduce poverty in rural areas by building strong grassroots institutions for the poor, engage them into gainful livelihood intervention and ensure appreciable improvement in their income on a sustainable basis,” the spokesperson said.
Initially, the funding of the programme will be shared between the central and state governments in the ratio of 75:25.
The self-help groups comprising 10-15 women will be formed in their immediate neighbourhood. About 25-30 groups will be federated so as to organise the groups into a bigger forum for financial and other support, the official said.
Union ministry of rural development has allocated Rs.17 crore for Jammu and Kashmir in 2012.
“To start with, four resource blocks have been selected, two each in the Kashmir and Jammu divisions,” the official said.