e-SARAS mobile App

Why is in news? DAY-NRLM launches Mobile App to Market products made by women of Self-help Groups

Taking another step of strengthening marketing support for products made by women of Self-help Groups (SHGs), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojna- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) launched e-SARAS mobile App which will add to e-Commerce initiatives for products made by the SHGs.

The App was launched by Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India at New Delhi.

eSARAS an e-commerce mobile app will be used as a more effective platform for marketing of the products made by women of self-help groups.

It is an initiative conceptualized by the DAY-NRLM, towards the marketing of the best, authentic handicrafts and hand-looms.

The eSARAS fulfillment centre will be managed by the Foundation for Development of Rural Value Chains (FDRVC - a Not for Profit Company constituted jointly by Ministry of Rural Development and Tata Trust).

It will be used for processing, packaging and shipping of products that customers purchase through the e-SARAS Portal and e-SARAS mobile App. It will handle the logistics required to bring an online order to a customer's doorstep.

Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana:

Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India in June 2011 as a restructured version of Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY).

The Mission aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services.

It is the centrally sponsored scheme, in November 2015, the program was renamed Deendayal Antayodaya Yojana (DAY-NRLM).

NRLM has set out with an agenda to cover 7 Crore rural poor households, across 600 districts, 6000 blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats and 6 lakh villages in the country through self-managed Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federated institutions and support them for livelihoods collectives in a period of 8-10 years.

NRLM believes in harnessing the innate capabilities of the poor and complements them with capacities (information, knowledge, skills, tools, finance and collectivization) to participate in the growing economy of the country.

DAY - NRLM Mission - To reduce poverty by enabling the poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots institutions of the poor.

Guiding Principles:

Poor have a strong desire to come out of poverty, and they have innate capabilities

Social mobilization and building strong institutions of the poor is critical for unleashing the innate capabilities of the poor.

An external dedicated and sensitive support structure is required to induce the social mobilization, institution building and empowerment process.

Facilitating knowledge dissemination, skill building, access to credit, access to marketing, and access to other livelihoods services underpins this upward mobility.

Functions:

It involves working with community institutions through community professionals in the spirit of self-help which is a unique proposition of DAY-NRLM.

It impacts livelihoods by

Mobilizing rural households into SHGs.

Organizing one-woman member from each rural poor household into SHGs

Providing training and capacity building to SHG members

Providing access to financial resources from their own institutions and banks.

Sub Programs:

Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP): It aims to promote agro-ecological practices that increase women farmers’ income and reduce their input costs and risks.

Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP): It aims to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set up local enterprises.

Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY): It was launched in August 2017, to provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services to connect remote rural villages.

Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY): It aims at building placement-linked skills of the rural youth and placing them in relatively higher wage employment sectors of the economy.

Rural Self Employment Institutes (RSETIs): DAY-NRLM, in partnership with 31 Banks and State Governments, is supporting Rural Self Employment Institutes (RSETIs) for skilling rural youth to take up gainful self-employment.