“Earnest efforts by the Union and State Governments along with NGOs are the need of the hour to uplift the people belonging to the poor sections in the state economically.”Expressing these views at the Regional Institute of Co-operative Management in Sector-32 here today on the occasion of inaugurating 3 day State level ‘State Rural Livelihood Mission’, the Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, Punjab, S. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa said that the Punjab Government is running several welfare schemes aimed at eradication of poverty which are bound to yield productive outcomes. The minister gave a clarion call to raise awareness regarding welfare schemes and said that though the schemes being run by Union and State Government in collaboration are yielding constructive results initially, still more efforts are needed to ensure the full implementation of these schemes at ground level. He advocated the role of self help groups in improving the economic standard of the poor families.On the occasion, Joint Director-cum-Commissioner MGNREGA Mrs. Anandita Mishra divulged that the NRLM scheme is being run in the 35 blocks of 22 districts in the State to which 5 new blocks have been added in the current financial year. She further elaborated that under the scheme, 4012 self help groups are functioning in Punjab who were provided Rs. 1,10,000 per group to start their work due to which the economic level of poor womenfolk hailing from the rural households has received a major boost.