The rural development (RD) ministry’s proposal of restructuring the existing Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY), an ongoing programme for the self employment of the rural poor, into a mission mode project called National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) has hit financial roadblocks.

The expenditure finance committee of the finance ministry which approves the financial outlay for any project has rejected RD ministry’s proposed budgetary allocation for the Mission, thus further delaying the start of ambitious programme.

“The programmes’s implementation that was supposed to have seen the light of the day last financial year (2009-10) will be further delayed,” said an official in the RD ministry.

The finance ministry has taken objection to RD ministry’s allocation of Rs 15000 crore for the programme and has asked it make the figure realistic.

The restructuring of the SGSY was proposed after studies by different organizations including National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad, Bankers Institute of Rural Development, (BIRD) Lucknow, revealed its dismal performance (in ten years since its inception in 1999, it has been able to create only 17lakhs Self Help Groups as against the target of 28 lakhs SHGs by the end of 12th plan in 2016-17).

The planning commission in its midterm appraisal of the eleventh plan last month was also critical of SGSY saying that in most states the self help groups (SHGs) existed only on paper.     

The restructured self employment programme is expected to provide greater focus and momentum for poverty reduction to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) by 2015 through rapid increase in the coverage of rural poor households under self-employment.  

In addition to self employment, the Mission will also help in enhancing their capabilities and facilitate access to other entitlements such as wage employment and food security and benefits of Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), drinking water, land improvement, education, and health and risk mitigation through convergence and coordination mechanism.   

However all this will happen only if the programme takes off the ground.