Emerging Paradigms - IRDP to SGSY to NRLM

The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) was launched by the Government of India in 1978. The focus in IRDP was provision of subsidized credit to the poor, to enable them to build productive assets and raise their income levels. 

IRDP evolved into the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) which was introduced in 1999. SGSY hoped to cover all aspects of self employment (training, technology, infrastructure and marketing) and utilize the power of Self Help Groups (SHGs) of poor to overcome the deficiencies of IRDP. It also provided a role for NGOs, who apart from formation of SHGs, were also supposed to have a monitoring role. 

The National Rural Livelihood Mission has been initiated in 2010 to redesign SGSY. NRLM goes beyond self employment and includes wage employment as a means to reducing rural poverty. This follows from the realization that not everyone is able to utilize credit in a productive manner, and pushing credit can be counter-productive, particularly when assessment of repayment capacities have not been carried out.