Kashmir: JKSRLM creating self-employment opportunities in rural areas

The basic idea behind this program is to place poverty stricken people into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and make them capable for self-employment.

In Jammu and Kashmir, this programme has been operating as part of the Jammu-Kashmir State Rural livelihood Mission (JKSRLM).

The SRLM aims to reduce poverty in the J&K by building strong grassroots institutions of the poor, engage them into gainful livelihood interventions and  ensure appreciable improvement in their income on a sustainable basis.

JKSRLM’s mandate is to reach out to 66 percent of the rural population across 125 blocks of Jammu and Kashmir and to provide them sustainable livelihood opportunities and nurture them so that they come out of poverty and appreciate a honourable quality of life.

The core values which guide all the activities under JKSRLM are inclusion of the poorest and substantial role of them in the entire process, transparency and accountability of all processes and institutions, proprietorship and key role of the poor and their institutions.

In Jammu and Kashmir, there are a number of projects running under JKSRLM in which Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) and Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) are making remarkable progress.

MKSP is a sub-component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-NRLM (DAY-NRLM), with an aim to empower women in agriculture.

Its objective is to strengthen small agriculturists through promotion of sustainable agriculture practices like Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CSMA), Non-Pesticide Management (NPM), and Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF).

Additionally, the focus of MKSP is on capacitating the smallholders to adopt sustainable climate change resilient agroecology, eventually creating a pool of skilled community professionals.

Under CMSA of MKSP a pilot project was initiated in two blocks, Chenani and Bishnah in which 1,200 Mahila Kisans were involved and 1,060 Mahila Kisans were registered on the PGS portal.

Under the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), another sub-scheme under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) has the objective of assisting rural households, including women to set-up enterprises that aid them in their financial upliftment.