The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) is a flagship poverty alleviation scheme of the Government of India, implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development. It was launched in June 2011 to address the challenge of persistent rural poverty despite rapid economic growth. The scheme was created to restructure and improve upon the earlier Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), which was operational since 1999 but had limited reach and financial linkage.
The core mechanism of the mission is to organize rural poor households into self-managed institutions, primarily Self-Help Groups (SHGs), with a focus on bringing at least one woman member from each household into the network. The scheme works on three pillars: universal social mobilization, financial inclusion, and livelihoods enhancement. Key provisions include providing Revolving Fund and Capital Subsidy to SHGs to strengthen their financial capacity and build a credit history. The SHGs are then linked to banks to access formal credit at low interest rates for livelihood activities. The mission also supports skill development for rural youth through institutions like Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs).
The NRLM was succeeded and renamed as the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) in 2015. This centrally sponsored scheme is jointly funded by the Central and State Governments. It connects to other major government schemes like MGNREGS and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY-G) through convergence to ensure access to entitlements and public services for the poor. The mission is partially supported by the World Bank with a credit of $1 billion. The renaming to DAY-NRLM in 2015 was the most significant recent change, but the fundamental approach of building strong, self-managed community institutions of the poor, especially women, has stayed the same.