| About Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) |
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Programme for self-employment of the poor has been an important component of the anti-poverty programmes implemented through government initiatives in the rural areas in India . The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) is the major on-going programme for the self-employment of rural poor at present. The programme was started with effect from 01.04.1999 after review and restructuring of erstwhile Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) and allied programmes namely Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Supply of Toolkits in Rural Areas (SITRA) and Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY), besides Million Wells Scheme (MWS). The earlier programmes are no more in operation with the launching of the SGSY. The basic objective of the SGSY is to bring the assisted poor families (Swarozgaris) above the Poverty Line by providing them income-generating assets through a mix of bank credit and governmental subsidy. The programme aims at establishing a large number of micro enterprises in rural areas based on the ability of the poor and potential of each area.
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| Strategy |
The SGSY is different from earlier Programmes, in terms of the strategy envisaged for its implementation. It has been conceived as a holistic Programme of self-employment. It covers all aspects of self-employment of the rural poor viz. organization of the poor in to Self Help Groups (SHGs) and their capacity building, training, selection of key activities, planning of activity clusters, infrastructure build up, technology and marketing support.
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| Social Mobilisation of the poor |
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A major shift of the SGSY from the erstwhile programmes is in terms of its emphasis on social mobilization of the poor. The programme focuses on organisation of the poor at grassroots level through a process of social mobilisation for poverty eradication. Social mobilisation enables the poor to build their own organisations Self-Help Groups (SHGs), in which they participate fully and directly and take decisions on all issues that will enable them to cross the poverty line. An SHG may consist of 10-20 persons belonging to families below the Poverty Line and a person should not be a member of more than one group. In the case of minor irrigation schemes, disabled persons, and in difficult areas i.e. hills, deserts and sparsely populated areas, the number of persons in a group may range from 5-20. However, if necessary 20% and in exceptional cases upto 30% of the members in a group may be from APL; (marginally above the poverty line and residing continuously with BPL families) if agreed to by BPL members of the group.
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| Special Projects under the SGSY |
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To try out new initiatives and for co-ordinated efforts of different Departments in poverty reduction, 15% of the funds under the SGSY is set apart by the Ministry for such efforts for special projects. The projects can be in any individual district or across the districts. The objective of each special project is to ensure a time-bound programme for bringing a specific number of BPL families above the Poverty Line through self-employment programmes. The Projects may involve different strategies to provide long term sustainable self-employment opportunities either in terms of organisation of the rural poor, provision of support infrastructure, technology, marketing, training etc. or a combination of these.
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