Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana (DAY) is a government scheme that aims to elevate urban and rural impoverished people via skill development and increased possibilities for sustainable livelihood. One of the goals of ‘Make in India’ is skill development, which contributes to the country’s socio-economic development. This scheme helps to achieve the goal of ‘Make in India.’ The Indian government has allocated Rs.500 crore for this initiative. This scheme is a combination of –
- National Mission for Urban Livelihoods (NULM)
- National Mission for Rural Livelihoods (NRLM)
The Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) is a programme designed to alleviate poverty and vulnerability among urban poor households. This scheme was initiated by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA). This programme provides the urban poor with options for lucrative self-employment and skilled wage jobs.
The employment of the urban poor will result in long-term improvements in their livelihoods and the establishment of strong grassroots institutions of the poor. This programme also attempts to provide shelters with basic services to the city’s homeless. It also tackles the livelihood concerns of urban street vendors by providing access to institutional loans, acceptable venues, market access skills, and social security.
Mission
DAY-NULM believes that the impoverished have a natural drive to rise beyond their circumstances. They have a strong entrepreneurial drive. The issue is to enable the disadvantaged to develop meaningful and sustainable livelihoods. DAY-NULM aspires to inspire the urban poor to develop institutions that will be equipped with the necessary capacity to manage the external environment, expand their skills, and gain access to finance, assets, and businesses.
DAY-NULM seeks to assist the poor from the national to the local level in order for them to manage their own institutions. Any livelihood development initiative can only be scaled up in a timely manner if it is led by the poor and their institutions. A strong institutional structure like this helps the disadvantaged build human, financial, social, and other assets.
Strong institutional structures allow them to get access to rights, opportunities, entitlements, and services from both the public and commercial sectors, enhancing their unity, voice, and bargaining strength.
Features
DAY-NULM is made up of many components that provide various forms of assistance to the urban poor. The various components are as follows:
Institutional Development and Social Mobilization
DAY-NULM envisions urban poor social mobilisation through Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and its federations. These organisations help the disadvantaged satisfy their financial and social requirements by acting as a support system. DAY-NULM places a special emphasis on mobilising vulnerable urban populations such as SCs, STs, minorities, people with disabilities, beggars, domestic workers, rag pickers, and so on. A maximum of Rs.10,000 can be spent on one SHG for its formation, member training, bank linkage, and other relevant activities.
Employment through Skill Development and Placement
Employment through Skills Training and Placement trains the urban poor in skills that are in high demand in the market, allowing them to start their own businesses or find stable salaried work. There is no minimum or maximum educational qualification required for beneficiaries to be selected under this component. The cost per beneficiary cannot exceed Rs.15,000.
For North-Eastern and the Special Category States, the cost per recipient cannot exceed Rs.18,000. Accreditation and certification are tied to skill training. Training is preferably provided through a Public-Commercial-Partnership (PPP) model that involves reputable institutes such as ITIs, NITs, Polytechnics, engineering colleges, management institutes, and other reputable entities in the government, private, and civil society sectors.
Assistance to Urban Street Vendors
This component intends to give skills to street vendors while also assisting in the growth of micro-enterprises and loans. It also includes provisions for assisting disadvantaged groups like women, SC/STs, and minorities with access to social security. This component will get up to 5% of the total DAY-NULM budget. Street vendors will be assisted in gaining access to basic financial services and social security benefits accessible through various government programmes.
Poor urban street vendors can also get skill training through the ‘Employment through Skills Training and Placement’ component. They can apply for assistance in the creation of micro-enterprises through the ‘Self-Employment Programme.’
Implementation
Under DAY-NULM, states and UTs are expected to send Monthly Progress Reports or Quarterly Progress Reports in prescribed formats on targets and achievements. The states or UTs will set up a monitoring system to track the progress of the various components of DAY-NULM. Third-party evaluation, social audits, impact evaluation studies, and other monitoring activities will be carried out. For effective implementation, operationalisation, and monitoring, the Mission Directorate at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will release a set of specific operational instructions for each component and sub-component of DAY-NULM.