Poverty is more than just a lack of money. It’s often a state of isolation, a lack of confidence, and the absence of a collective voice to demand change. For generations, this has been the reality for millions of poor women in rural India, who have faced social and economic challenges alone.
To break this cycle of isolation and poverty, the Government of India is implementing the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). This isn’t a top-down scheme that simply gives out doles. Instead, it’s a powerful social mobilization mission that believes in the simple but profound idea that by bringing poor women together into Self-Help Groups (SHGs), you can unlock their immense collective potential. It’s about building empowerment from the ground up.
What is DAY-NRLM? The Core Idea
- Full Name: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission
- Launched: It is a restructured version of an earlier program, launched in its current form in 2011.
- Ministry: Ministry of Rural Development
- The Vision: To reduce poverty by building strong, self-managed, and self-reliant institutions of the poor, particularly women. The mission aims to enable these groups to access a wide range of financial services and livelihood opportunities.
- The Core Belief: The mission is founded on the belief that poor people have a strong desire to come out of poverty and possess innate capabilities. DAY-NRLM’s job is to create a supportive ecosystem where they can realize their potential.
How Does it Work? The Power of the SHG
The Self-Help Group is the heart of the entire mission. The process follows a clear, step-by-step approach.
Step 1: Forming the Group
The first step is social mobilization. A trained facilitator, or a “community resource person,” encourages 10-20 women from similar poor households in a village to come together and form an SHG.
Step 2: Following the Panchasutra
For an SHG to become strong and disciplined, it must follow five key principles, known as the Panchasutra:
- Regular Meetings (usually held weekly).
- Regular Savings (members contribute a small, fixed amount every week, even if it’s just ₹10).
- Regular Internal Lending (the group uses its own savings to give small loans to members for their urgent needs).
- Regular Repayment of these internal loans with a small interest.
- Regular Bookkeeping to maintain transparent and accurate records of their finances.
Step 3: Accessing Formal Finance
Once a group has practiced the Panchasutra for a few months and has shown financial discipline, it becomes eligible for external funding.
- Revolving Fund (RF): The mission provides an initial grant to the group to boost its own savings pool.
- SHG-Bank Linkage: This is the most critical step. The SHG can now approach a commercial bank and get a much larger loan, often without any collateral. The bank lends money to the group as a single unit, and the group then lends it to its members for their needs.
Step 4: Building Livelihoods
DAY-NRLM goes beyond just providing credit. It helps SHGs to federate into larger institutions like Village Organizations and Cluster Level Federations. It then supports these groups in starting and scaling up various livelihood activities, such as:
- Farming: Collective farming, seed banks, and custom hiring centers for farm equipment.
- Livestock: Goat rearing, poultry farming, and dairy businesses.
- Non-Farm Enterprises: Running a local grocery store, a tailoring unit, or producing and marketing local handicrafts.
The Human Touch: The Group that Sparked a Change
Anita, a woman from a small village, was completely dependent on her husband’s irregular income as a farm laborer. She had no savings of her own and no say in financial matters. She felt powerless.
A community mobilizer from DAY-NRLM encouraged her and ten other women in her neighborhood to form the “Prerna SHG.” At first, they were hesitant. But they started meeting every week and saving just ₹20 each. After a few weeks, Anita’s son fell ill. She took a small loan of ₹500 from the group’s savings, which she repaid in five small installments. It was the first loan she had ever taken and repaid on her own. It gave her a huge boost of confidence.
As the group grew stronger, they took a loan of ₹1 lakh from the local bank. Anita used her share of ₹25,000 to buy two goats. Other members also started small ventures. Today, Anita earns a steady income from selling goat’s milk. She is now the bookkeeper of her SHG and an active voice in village meetings. The SHG didn’t just give her access to money; it gave her an income, a support system of friends, self-respect, and a powerful new identity.
Impact and Challenges
The scale of DAY-NRLM is staggering, making it one of the largest women’s empowerment initiatives in the world.
Impact
- Massive Mobilization: The mission has successfully mobilized over 10 crore rural women into more than 90 lakh SHGs.
- Financial Inclusion: These SHGs have accessed an incredible amount of credit from banks, with very high repayment rates, proving that poor women are the most creditworthy borrowers.
- Empowerment: The impact goes beyond income. Studies have shown that women in SHGs have better access to healthcare, their children have better educational outcomes, and they have a greater role in household and community decision-making.
Challenges
- Quality of SHGs: Ensuring that every group is genuinely member-driven and democratic, and not just formed to meet targets, is a constant challenge.
- Market Linkages: A major hurdle for SHGs is connecting their products to larger, more stable, and profitable markets.
- Bank Support: While the SHG-Bank Linkage program is a success, some SHGs, particularly in remote areas, still face challenges in getting timely and adequate credit from local bank branches.
Conclusion
The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission is a powerful movement that has successfully unleashed the collective energy of millions of rural women. It is a shining example of a development program that focuses not on charity, but on building the capacity and institutions of the poor. By helping women build their own financial and social capital, DAY-NRLM is not just transforming livelihoods; it is transforming lives, families, and entire villages, paving the way for a more equitable and empowered rural India.