The Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission was launched to reduce the poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households. The scheme enables them to access self-employment opportunities which result in an improvement in their sustainability and livelihood. One way that the scheme does this is through building strong institutions at the grass-root level for the urban poor. This scheme is a part of the government?s various initiatives to improve the industrial skills set of young people in rural areas.
The mission also aims at providing shelter to the urban poor who are homeless. These shelters are equipped with all the necessary amenities. The core idea behind this initiative is that the urban poor can be employed and empowered given that they have access to the right kind of guidance and resources.
The mission addresses issues faced by street vendors as well. The vendors are given access to suitable spaces which are safe and secure. They are also given social security, institutional credit and other skills that would help them merge and compete with new market trends.
The target group of this scheme includes urban poor families, street vendors, people who are homeless and anyone who wishes to join the entrepreneurial revolution of India.
There is a component under this mission called the ?Employment Through Skills Training and Placement (EST&P)?. This is designed to train the urban poor in certain skills and also to upgrade the skills they may already have. The urban poor people are more prone to vulnerability in terms of employment and that?s why they are the target of this scheme. The scheme helps them get skilled in the required areas and ensures that the training provided to them is of the highest quality so that they can be employed in the country or outside. The goal is to empower them enough to set up their own businesses.
Some of the major components of NULM include the following:
- Employment Through Skills Training and Placement (EST&P)
- Self Employment Programme (SEP)
- Social Mobilization and Institutional Development (SMID)
- Shelter For Urban Homeless (SUH)
- Support to Urban Street Vendors (SUSV)
- Capacity Building and Training Programmes (CBT)
The demand for a workforce that is young and motivated is very high, and by training these young people from semi-urban areas, the mission aspires to bridge the gap between demand and supply of the workforce. AISECT has been implementing this mission since 2014, in four states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana.
There are several financial benefits to this scheme. The NULM scheme helps reduce poverty in urban poor households by giving them access to skill training that later on helps them get a job with a stable income. This makes sure that they can support their families without having to take up odd jobs that do not even provide them with a reliable source of income.
AISECT has been a large part of this scheme and has actively taken part in helping provide skill training for all those who need it.
