Nabard cell to help tackle rural poverty

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has launched a dedicated ‘Ajeevika” cell to help alleviating poverty in rural hinterlands. The cell aims at enabling women get better access to financial resources at affordable rates and facilitate establishment of sustainable livelihoods.

A dedicated team of officials from Nabard will run the cell. The cell will work in close coordination with the Ministry of Rural Development for furthering the goals of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).

To start with, the unit will focus on about 600 backward and extremism-affected blocks in 150 districts of the country to be identified by Ministry of Rural Development.

The Ajeevika cell will facilitate convergence of a wide variety of approaches and best practices to mobilise poor households into self-help groups (SHGs) as also livelihood development approaches such as “Wadi” in adivasi communities to ensure establishment of sustainable livelihoods.

The cell will also attempt to address supply- and demand-side constraints, besides bridging capacity gaps of the poor communities and strengthening existing livelihood sectors such as agriculture, allied activities and also establish micro-enterprise.

kram@thehindu.co.in