The Advisor to the Governor, Mr. Khurshid Ahmed Ganai today said the schemes in rural development department sector are pivotal in changing the socio-economic profile and developmental landscape of the rural areas. He stressed the need for convergence of flagship schemes in rural development sector with other line departments to ensure holistic development of the rural areas besides generating ampler job opportunities for the people.
The Advisor was speaking at the three day 2nd Regional Write-shop of Northwestern states on NRLM organized by National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir State Rural Livelihood Mission with the active support from National Mission Management Unit (NMMU) of the Union Rural Development Ministry.
Mr. Atal Dulloo, Joint Secretary, Union Rural Development Ministry and National Mission Director, NRLM, Director NIRD Resource Cell, Mr. K P Rao, Lead NMMU, Mr G Murlidhar, Dr. G. N. Qasba, Mission Director, JKSRLM, Mr. M. L. Raina, Director Rural Development Jammu, Mr. Farooq Peer, Consultant NMMU and CEOs of SRLM of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab were present on the occasion.
Mr Ganai said the UMEED scheme is being implemented by J&K in active collaboration with the Union Government and it has the tremendous potential of providing much-needed employment opportunities to the marginalized communities and women. He said through this scheme, enterprising women in rural areas have been instrumental in creating job opportunities for themselves and others. He said this has helped these women to not only improve their own socio-economic condition but that of their respective areas as well.
Stressing the need for broadening the scope of activities under NRLM, the Advisor called for creating mass awareness about various schemes under the Mission through intensive IEC (Information, Education & Communication) campaigns so that more women groups can benefit from it. He called for imparting financial literacy and providing technological knowhow to the self-help groups created under NRLM to make the scheme more effective and result-oriented.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Atal Dulloo said UMEED is the cornerstone of the schemes being implemented by the centre for poverty alleviation and it has tremendous potential of transforming the rural landscape as well as the livelihood activities of the people by providing much needed avenues for carrying out various localized economic activities in rural areas. He also called for formulating a convergence plan by virtue of which the scheme can be dovetailed with other departments thereby increasing its canvas. During the Write-shop intensive deliberations were held regarding the core issues confronting various SRLMs of Northwest region of the country to further improve the implementation of this flagship programme.