Schemes for urban poor cleared

Thursday, 05 September 2013 06:00 administrator
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The Hindu               05.09.2013

Schemes for urban poor cleared

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the proposal for two flagship schemes of the Union Ministry of Housing and Poverty Alleviation. The schemes are aimed at job-oriented skills training for the urban poor and offering housing to slum dwellers in urban areas.

The CCEA on Tuesday gave its approval for restructuring the centrally-sponsored scheme of Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana in the 12th Plan as the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) and the implementation of Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). The former will have an allocation of approximately Rs.6,405 crore. The Planning Commission has allocated Rs.32,230 crore for implementation of RAY during 12th Five Year Plan.

Both schemes are considered crucial for the UPA Government ahead of the polls in 2014.

The NULM aims at reducing poverty of urban poor households by offering them avenues for self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities. It will also provide shelter equipped with essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner. It is designed to address the livelihood concerns of urban street vendors by earmarking suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and skills to them.

Under the programme, City Livelihood Centres (CLCs) will be established in mission cities to provide a platform to the urban poor to market their services and access information on self-employment, skill training and other benefits. “Through the Self-Employment Programme (SEP), NULM will provide financial assistance to individuals and groups of urban poor to set up gainful self-employment, micro-enterprise ventures,” an official of the Ministry said.

It will be implemented in two phases -- phase I (2013-2017) and phase II (2017-2022). The NULM will target all cities with a population of one lakh or more and district headquarter towns with a population of less than one lakh as per Census 2011.

The CCEA also gave its approval for the implementation of RAY during the mission period 2013-2022. Under RAY, support will be offered to States and UTs and Central Government agencies for providing housing, including rental and transit housing, development and improvement of basic civic and social infrastructure and operation and maintenance of assets created under the scheme.

The Housing for the Urban Poor scheme has been renamed as the Rajiv Rinn Yojana (RRY).

NULM will provide financial assistance to set up gainful self-employment, micro-enterprise ventures.