Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission

Also called: DAY-NRLM, Aajeevika · Topic: Civil Society, Pressure Groups, NGOs and Self-help Groups · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission), also called Aajeevika, is the Ministry of Rural Development's (MoRD) mission. It brings at least one woman from every poor rural household into a self-help group (SHG) and its federations, so that poor families get social and financial inclusion and better livelihoods.

It is India's main national SHG programme. It reaches about 10 crore women and links them to banks, panchayats and government schemes. This makes it a key example of state-supported civil society (organised citizen activity between the family and the state).

Explanation

How it began and how it is run

• Launch: it began as NRLM in June 2011 under MoRD. It was later renamed DAY-NRLM.
• It replaced SGSY:
• SGSY (Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, 1999) gave subsidies to individuals and groups.

• NRLM moved the focus from one-time subsidies to building lasting groups of poor women.

• Type of scheme: it is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. This means the Centre and the states fund it together, and the states run it.

• Coverage: it runs in partnership with all states and UTs except Chandigarh and Delhi [1].
• Goal: bring at least one woman from every poor rural household into an SHG.

The three-tier structure (bottom to top)

• Self-help group (SHG): 10-20 women from the same area.
• They save a small amount regularly.
• They lend the pooled savings to each other.

• Later they borrow from banks without collateral (property pledged as security for a loan).

• Village Organisation (VO): a federation of SHGs in one village.

• Cluster-Level Federation (CLF): a federation of VOs across a group of villages.
• Community resource persons: experienced SHG women who train and support new groups.
• Sakhis (women agents):
• Bank sakhis help members deal with banks.
• BC sakhis work as business correspondents and provide banking services inside the village.

Support bodies

• National Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (NRLPS):
• It is an autonomous society under MoRD, cleared by the Union Cabinet in 2013.

• It gives professional and technical support to NRLM and to the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) [5].

• SRLMs run the mission in each state. Examples:

• Jeevika in Bihar.

• SERP (Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty) in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

• Kudumbashree (Kerala) works as a National Resource Organisation. It helps other states build their SHG systems. Its model of collectives linked to local bodies became the template for NRLM.

Scale and initiatives under it

• Size: as of 30 June 2024, 10.05 crore women were in 90.86 lakh SHGs [1].
• MoRD figures released through PIB in March 2026 give about 10.05 crore households in about 90.9 lakh SHGs.

• SHGs have received more than ₹12 lakh crore of bank credit since 2013-14.

• "Sangathan se Samriddhi" (2023): a national campaign to bring 10 crore rural women into SHGs [7].

• Lakhpati Didi (announced 2023):
• A Lakhpati Didi is an SHG member whose annual household income is ₹1 lakh or more [1][2].
• The income must be sustained over at least four agricultural seasons or business cycles, with an average monthly income above ₹10,000 [1][2].
• Each SHG household is encouraged to take up several livelihood activities linked to value chains (the stages a product passes through from producer to buyer) [1].

• The target was raised to 3 crore women in 2024 (Interim Budget). PIB reported 2 crore Lakhpati Didis [1], and MoRD figures in March 2026 report over 2 crore.

• Namo Drone Didi (2023):

• It gives drones to 15,000 selected women SHGs between 2023-24 and 2025-26. The SHGs rent the drones out to farmers [6].
• The outlay is ₹1,261 crore for 2024-25 to 2025-26 [6].
• The Centre pays 80% of the drone package cost, up to ₹8 lakh [6].
• One member gets 15 days of drone-pilot training. Another member or family member gets 5 days of drone-assistant training [6].
• It is a Central Sector Scheme (fully funded by the Centre), unlike DAY-NRLM itself.

In the Constitution and practice

• Legal basis: DAY-NRLM is an executive scheme of MoRD. No constitutional article or Act creates it. It connects to the Constitution through local self-government.
• Link to panchayats: Part IX (Articles 243-243O; 73rd Amendment, 1992):
• SHG federations prepare Village Poverty Reduction Plans (VPRPs).

• These VPRPs feed into Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs), so poor women's demands reach the panchayat's plan.

• Link to Article 243D:

• Article 243D reserves one-third of panchayat seats for women.
• SHG meetings teach women to speak in public, keep accounts and negotiate.

• Many SHG members later become panchayat representatives, often in these reserved seats.

• Accountability roles:

• SHG federations do community monitoring.

• They also do social audit (a public check by local people on how a scheme's money was spent).

• Banking base: DAY-NRLM builds on the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme.

• NABARD began its pilot in 1991-92 with about 500 SHGs [4].

• In 1996, RBI made SHG lending part of priority-sector lending under "weaker sections" [3][4]. (Priority-sector lending is the share of bank credit that RBI requires to go to sectors such as farming and weaker sections.)

• In practice: SHGs under the mission run mid-day meal kitchens, ration shops, banking points and waste collection. Federations also press officials over roads, water and scheme benefits.

Don't confuse with

• SGSY (1999): the scheme DAY-NRLM replaced in 2011. SGSY gave subsidies to individuals and groups. DAY-NRLM builds lasting SHG federations for credit and livelihoods.
• SHG-Bank Linkage Programme (SHG-BLP): a NABARD banking programme (pilot 1991-92) that links SHGs to banks. DAY-NRLM is an MoRD mission (2011) that forms and federates SHGs and uses this bank linkage.
• Kudumbashree: Kerala's State Poverty Eradication Mission (17 May 1998), with tiers NHG → ADS → CDS. It is not a central scheme. It is the model and a National Resource Organisation for DAY-NRLM, whose tiers are SHG → VO → CLF.
• Namo Drone Didi: a Central Sector scheme (100% central funding) for women SHGs. DAY-NRLM itself is Centrally Sponsored (shared funding, run by the states).

Prelims Hooks

• NRLM was launched in June 2011 by the Ministry of Rural Development, replacing SGSY (1999). It was later renamed DAY-NRLM.
• It covers all states and UTs except Chandigarh and Delhi [1]. Trap: it is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, not a Central Sector one.
• Structure: SHG → Village Organisation → Cluster-Level Federation. NRLPS, cleared by the Cabinet in 2013, is its national technical support society [5].
• As of 30 June 2024: 10.05 crore women in 90.86 lakh SHGs [1].
• Lakhpati Didi: household income of ₹1 lakh or more a year, sustained over at least four seasons or business cycles, with an average monthly income above ₹10,000 [1][2]. The target was raised to 3 crore in 2024.
• Namo Drone Didi: 15,000 women SHGs, ₹1,261 crore, 80% of the drone cost up to ₹8 lakh [6].

Mains Points

• Deepening democracy from below:
• SHG federations feed VPRPs into GPDPs, do social audits and produce women leaders for panchayats.

• This gives real content to the 73rd Amendment's one-third reservation for women (Article 243D). Formal quotas become actual participation.

• Reach vs. autonomy:

• With about 10 crore women in about 91 lakh groups, DAY-NRLM has huge reach.
• The risk is instrumentalisation: the state uses SHG women as cheap delivery arms for its schemes, and the groups stop being independent voices.

• Kudumbashree shows a middle path. Its collectives are linked to local bodies but run by their own elected tiers.

• Credit is not empowerment by itself:

• Risks include repayment pressure, over-indebtedness (the 2010 Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis), elite capture by better-off women, and extra unpaid work.
• Reforms include:
  • judging success by sustained income (Lakhpati Didi's test) rather than loan volumes
  • building producer collectives and market links
  • financial-literacy training
  • rotating leadership so that SC/ST and poorer members also lead
• For Namo Drone Didi, success depends on rental demand, maintenance and training, not just on handing out drones.

Related concepts

• Self-help group
• SHG-Bank Linkage Programme
• Kudumbashree
• Lakhpati Didi

Read more

• Self-help groups and women's collectives