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The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), stands as one of the world’s largest poverty alleviation and women-centric livelihood programmes. It has successfully mobilized millions of rural households into community institutions and significantly advanced the agenda of women’s empowerment, financial inclusion, and sustainable rural livelihoods.

Genesis and Evolution

• Launch: Initially introduced in 2010 as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) by restructuring the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY).
• Renaming: In 2016, it was renamed Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) to honour the philosophy of Antyodaya—uplifting the poorest of the poor.
• Funding Pattern: It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, jointly funded by the Central and State Governments.
• Objective: To reduce rural poverty by enabling poor households to access self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, ensuring diversified and sustainable livelihoods.

Core Objectives

The mission seeks to empower rural communities by investing in four key pillars:

• Social Mobilisation& Institution Building: Organizing rural poor, especially women, into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and federations for mutual support and long-term empowerment.
• Financial Inclusion: Ensuring access to formal credit and financial services through community-based intermediaries like Bank Sakhis and Banking Correspondent Sakhis.
• Sustainable Livelihoods: Promoting both farm and non-farm livelihoods including agriculture, livestock, handicrafts, and microenterprises.
• Social Development & Convergence: Addressing gender, nutrition, health, sanitation, and social justice through convergence with other government programmes.

Women-Centric Model

Women are at the heart of DAY-NRLM. The mission focuses on collectivizing women into SHGs, enhancing their entrepreneurial capacity, and connecting them to markets, technology, and credit networks.

• Scale: As of June 2025, the mission has mobilized 10.05 crore rural households into 90.9 lakh SHGs across 28 States and 6 UTs.
• Financial Empowerment: Over ?11 lakh crore has been disbursed to SHGs through formal banking systems, backed by collateral-free loans and interest subvention, with a 98% repayment rate — a testament to the model’s sustainability.
• Community Cadres: SHG women are trained as Community Resource Persons (CRPs) such as
  • Krishi Sakhis – agricultural extension support,
  • PashuSakhis – animal health and livestock management,
  • Bank Sakhis – financial inclusion facilitators,
  • BimaSakhis – insurance and welfare access agents.
• Over 3.5 lakh Krishi and PashuSakhis and 47,952 Bank Sakhis have been deployed to deliver last-mile services.

Entrepreneurship and Microenterprise Development

To promote local entrepreneurship, the Mission runs the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), supporting 3.74 lakh rural enterprises across 282 blocks.

These enterprises cover diverse sectors like handicrafts, food processing, agro-based units, and rural services — encouraging self-reliance and community-led growth.

A remarkable example is of Heinidamanki Kanai from Meghalaya, who turned her SHG training into a successful handmade soap business with bank support under NRLM — a model of grassroots entrepreneurship.

Skill Development and Employment Initiatives

DAY-NRLM implements two major Centrally Sponsored Schemes to boost rural employability and entrepreneurship:

• DeenDayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)
  • Provides placement-linked skill training for rural youth aged 15–35 years.
  • 17.50 lakh trained and 11.48 lakh placed as of June 2025.
  • Top-performing states: Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.
• Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs)
  • Bank-sponsored centres for youth aged 18–50 years, providing entrepreneurship training and promoting both self- and wage-employment.
  • 56.69 lakh candidates trained,40.99 lakh settled in gainful employment.
  • Leading states: Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka.

Achievements and Outcomes

High-Performing States:

• Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh (SHG formation and financial inclusion).
• Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh (agro-ecological initiatives under MahilaKisanprogrammes).
• Assam, Kerala, and West Bengal (microenterprise promotion under SVEP).

Capacity Building and Marketing Initiatives

To strengthen entrepreneurship and market readiness:

• SARAS Aajeevika Melas (National & State-level fairs) are organized annually to showcase SHG products and build marketing skills.
• The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR) conducts Training of Trainers (ToT)programmes on marketing, having trained over 44 batches in the past three years.
• These initiatives bridge rural producers with urban consumers and e-commerce platforms, enhancing rural incomes.

Impact on Rural Transformation

• Economic Empowerment: Enhanced access to credit and markets has diversified income sources for millions of women.
• Social Transformation: SHG networks now play a role in local governance, social awareness, and addressing gender issues such as domestic violence, health, and education.
• Financial Inclusion: The presence of SHG-led financial intermediaries ensures doorstep access to savings, credit, and insurance.
• Sustainable Livelihoods:Agro-ecological practices, livestock management, and non-farm enterprises are reducing ecological stress and enhancing resilience.

Challenges Ahead

• Uneven implementation across states and regions.
• Need for stronger digital monitoring and credit tracking.
• Enhancing market linkages for SHG products.
• Integrating livelihood programmes with emerging green and climate-resilient models.

Conclusion

The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) exemplifies inclusive, women-led rural development. By mobilizing millions of women into strong community institutions, linking them with finance and skills, and promoting sustainable livelihoods, it has transformed the socio-economic fabric of rural India.

As a global model of community-driven development, the Mission continues to advance India’s vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” by empowering its most vulnerable citizens to become entrepreneurs, leaders, and change-makers in their own right.