Some Important Programmes in Livelihoods: Searching for Focus?
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3 per cent rate of interest can be provided if
loans are repaid on time. Effectively, women
SHGs can borrow at 4 per cent rate of inter-
est of if they maintain credit discipline. Five
per cent of the budget of NULM has been
earmarked for specifically supporting initia-
tives relating to street vendors. This amount
is used for creating capacity building in the
local body for pro-street vendor planning
relating to spaces, markets and storage for
street vendors. Further, the amount can
also be used for creating and linking social
security options to street vendors. So far, no
further assessments or evaluations have been
done after NULM came into being about
2 years back. The challenges to NULM are
similar to those faced by NRLM in mobili-
sation, skill building and also establishing
viable livelihood opportunities. There are
some special issues on account of the pro-
ject being located in urban areas. Housing,
access to basic necessities such as water,
education and health, might be a harder
task in urban areas where poor people tend
to live together in slums.
The numbers put out by the Department
of UrbanDevelopment do not give a sense of
how well the Mission’s objectives are being
achieved. The magnitude of urban poverty
and vulnerability among migrants and slum
dwellers, the size of NULM allocations and
scope of work seem inadequate. The drastic
reduction in the targets during 2014–15 does
not seem to be an encouraging sign. In the
year 2015, the Centre has decided to sup-
port only capital expenditure undertaken
by the states in NULM and not the current
expenditure (as in the case of NRLM). This
change in funding pattern is likely to affect
implementation as the state governments
have to implement this through local bodies
for which they have to make allocation of
funds from the states’ resources. However,
with a significant part of NULM being skill
building and loan facilitation for setting up
of microenterprises, the other programmes
of the government, especially the National
Skill Building Initiatives and also the
Prime Minister’s Mudra Yojana under
which loans for microenterprises are sup-
posed to be given, will take care of some of
the issues that might come up in NULM
implementation. The states will thus lose
interest in a programme in which Centre’s
support is low. NULMas a stand-alone pro-
gramme does not appear to have any valid-
ity. There are other larger programmes on
skill development, social security nets and
loan facilitation for enterprise development
under which the tasks of NULM can easily
be done. It might be a good idea to dispense
with this programme in case no new ideas to
make it worthwhile are on the anvil.
IV. National Food Security
Act (NFSA)
The Act is a critical piece of legislation in
stabilising livelihoods through assuring food
security to poor and vulnerable people. It
mandates that up to 75 per cent of rural
and 50 per cent of urban residents receive
five kilogram of highly subsidised grains
each month. For the ‘poorest of the poor’
households called Antyodaya, the entitle-
ment is 35 kg a month. It further mandates
universal maternity benefits and a free daily
meal for pregnant and lactating mothers,
school meals for all children from six to 14
years in government and government-aided
schools, feeding children below six years
in Integrated Child Development Scheme
(ICDS) centres and an additional meal for
malnourished children. The total number of
NFSA beneficiaries is fixed at 813.4 million
and 119 million of this are estimated to be
the poorest of the poor (based on number of
Antyodaya ration cards issued). The NFSA
prescribed a 365-days time limit for select-
ing the households for subsidised grains.
Twelve states have already completed the
identification of eligible households and
started implementation. The government
has extended the time limit to 30 September
2015 for other states to commence imple-
mentation. But it is not likely that all states
