In a move to empower rural women and foster self-reliance, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo today chaired a meeting to review the performance of the Jammu & Kashmir National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) here with the prime objective of transforming women registered with NRLM across the UT's rural areas into successful entrepreneurs.

On this occasion Dulloo emphasized the immense potential of this tremendous human resource of around 7 lakh women calling for their intensified social mobilization and capacity building efforts to ignite a powerful movement of self-reliance among them.

The Chief Secretary further issued a slew of directives aimed at bolstering the economic independence of women Self-Help Group (SHG) members. He directed the registration of Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) with the Cooperative Department under the Cooperative Societies Act, strengthening their organizational framework.

Dulloo also enjoined upon the NRLM to aggressively enhance credit linkage for SHGs, aiming to reach at least 75,000 linkages by the end of October this year. The Chief Secretary stressed the need to bridge the existing gap of 16,000 linkages through focused efforts and active support from financial institutions.

 Recognizing the substantial number of literate SHG members (around 3 lakh), Chief Secretary Dulloo directed the MD, NRLM, to ensure they are skilled and trained. This will be achieved by linking them with the online Daksh Kisan Courses offered by the Agriculture Production Department, thereby increasing their chances of sustainable livelihoods.

In order to create successful entrepreneurs, he directed the organisation to link the members with the HADP of the Agriculture Production Department or with Mission YUVA of the Skill Development Department to achieve the set objective successfully.

On this occasion the Chief Secretary highlighted that mere formation of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) is not enough; their credit linkage and production must be the primary focus to ensure they become successful enterprises.

 He emphasized optimal utilization and establishment of Community Managed Training Centres (CMTCs) across all 20 districts of the UT. Assistance from J&K Bank, NABARD, and other institutions, along with agreements with OMPLIS, shall be sought for comprehensive training of registered SHG members, he emphasized.

Dulloo also advised the Finance Department to prioritize the enrolment of all SHG members under social security schemes like PMSBY and PMJJBY. Furthermore, this 7 lakh strong human resource should be leveraged by the Finance Department to raise awareness about these schemes during an upcoming 3-month long campaign across the UT, he added.

 The Chief Secretary also noted the potential of utilizing SHG members as Banking Correspondents, Krishi Sakhis, Pashu Sakhis, and Van Sakhis in rural areas, enhancing both their livelihoods and service delivery accessibility across the region.

Earlier in the meeting, Secretary RDD, Aijaz Assad, provided a panoramic view of NRLM's functioning in J&K, detailing past achievements and the future roadmap. He informed the meeting that J&K NRLM has successfully formed 94,000 Self-Help Groups (SHGs), covering 7.55 lakh rural households across the Union Territory.

Notably, J&K stands out as a top-performing State/UT in key parameters, securing 1st position in Cluster Level Federation (CLF) profiling, 2nd in Village Organization profiling, and 4th in SHG profile capturing, heconcluded.

Shubhra Sharma, MD, J&K NRLM, highlighted the remarkable success of the Lakhpati Didi initiative, which aims to make rural women financially self-reliant. Over 1.84 lakh women have achieved LakhpatiDidi status in the past six months, with efforts underway to support a cumulative total of 2.3 lakh women in achieving this milestone by the end of the current month.

She elucidated that these women are engaged in diverse sectors, including agriculture, animal husbandry, manufacturing, services, and trade, with support from convergence departments.

The meeting also reviewed the functioning of Community Managed Training Centres (CMTCs), with six currently established.  It was divulged in the meeting that plans are in place to establish CMTCs in all the remaining 14 districts during theensuing financial year.

Further it was given out that the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) surpassed expectations, covering 123% of targeted women farmers and 140% in livestock interventions during FY 2024–25.

In the non-farm sector, initiatives like the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) and Micro Enterprise Development (MED) achieved around 100% target coverage, demonstrating significant fund utilization. Additionally 99.3% of SVEP funds have been utilized, and all Community Enterprise Funds (CEF) have been successfully transferred to rural entrepreneurs, the meeting was apprised.

The concerted efforts and strategic directives are poised to create a robust ecosystem for women's empowerment and rural entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of J&K.