World Bank injects $1 bn in India's rural livelihoods project

Washington: The World Bank has approved $1 billion credit for National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP), which it said is aimed at strengthening the implementation of the newly launched National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). NRLM is one of the world’s largest poverty reduction initiative of approximately $7.7 billion, aiming to reach 350 million people or almost a quarter of India’s population. It would help NRLM create an institutional platform by mobilising rural poor, particularly women, into robust grassroot institutions of their own where, with the strength of the group behind them, they will be able to exert voice and accountability over providers of educational, health, nutritional and financial services. [caption id=“attachment_36999” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“New hope for rural poor. Vivek Prakash/Reuters”]  [/caption] This, based on past experience in several Indian states, is expected to have a transformational social impact, supporting India’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on nutrition, gender and poverty, the World Bank said in a statement. “The success of NRLM, which is expected to serve as a backbone for pulling together all other poverty reduction efforts under one umbrella, will help India move closer to some of the key MDGs in the near future,” said Venu Rajamony, joint secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Union Finance Ministry. The World Bank said the National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP), approved on Tuesday, would help the programme scale up the successes of past livelihoods initiatives to other lagging regions of the country. World Bank supported livelihoods projects in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu have mobilised some 35 million rural poor since 2000. “Rural India will continue to play a significant role in the coming decades and programs such as these will help shape the country’s future human capital which resides in its villages,” said Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director for India. According to the bank, the project will specifically support the formation of institutions of the poor in the poorest states of India. Key investments include investing in building people’s institutions namely Self Help Groups (SHG) and Federation of SHGs at village, cluster, block and district levels; promoting thrift-based groups and promoting financial discipline; investing in financial literacy and business planning as a core activity of SHG formation; and helping SHGs address the livelihood needs including for consumption purposes. The project would draw lessons from some of the current state livelihood programs that have enabled the self-help groups to access savings of more than $1 billion which helped them make accumulated investment of $9 billion over the last ten years in micro, small, and community enterprises, the Bank said. This resulted in expansion of rural markets and attracting several private sector and multinational firms to partner with these projects, it said. PTI