Union Cabinet approves special package worth Rs 520 Crore for J&K, Ladakh under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana

The Union Cabinet on October 14, 2020 approved a special package worth Rs 520 crore for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories for a period of five years till fiscal year 2023-2024. The cabinet was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The special package will ensure funding of DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) in the UTs on a demand driven basis, as per their needs. 

The mission is in line with the centre's aim to universalize all centrally sponsored beneficiary-oriented schemes in the UTs in a time bound manner.

What is DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana?

• DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana is a centrally sponsored programme. It aims to alleviate rural poverty through promotion of multiple livelihoods for poor rural households across the country.

• The scheme was launched in June 2011 to address rural poverty. Since then, the scheme has marked a paradigm shift in poverty alleviation programmes.  

• The scheme seeks to majorly reach out to all rural poor households, which is estimated to be about 10 crore households.

• It aims to impact the livelihoods of the rural households by mobilising one-woman member from each rural poor household into Self Help Groups (SHGs).

• This will help in training them and enable capacity building, enabling them to implement their livelihoods plans and facilitating their micro-livelihoods plans through accessing financial resources from their own institutions and the banks.

• The Mission mainly involves working with the community institutions through community professionals.

Key Features

The yojana will be implemented in mission mode by special purpose vehicles (autonomous state societies) with dedicated implementation support units at the national, state, district and block levels.

The programme aims to use professional human resources to provide continuous and long-term handholding support to each rural poor family.

Background

The DeendayalAntyodaya Yojana was implemented in the former state of J&K  as "Umeed" programme. As per the funds allocation procedure under DAY-NRLM, J&K's share was less than 1 percent. 

To ensure sufficient funding support under the Mission for J&K and ensure adequate coverage of the rural vulnerable population, the government had approved a Special Package to cover all the rural vulnerable households in the present-day Union Territory.