Rajouri, March 8 (IANS) The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) is playing a vital role in empowering rural women and creating sustainable livelihood opportunities in the border district of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

The scheme is helping poor and below poverty line families, especially women, to become financially independent through the formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and small-scale livelihood units across different blocks of the district.

Under the initiative, the NRLM department has established several women SHGs where members are engaged in different income generating activities.

One such successful example is the “Kangan Spices Namkeen, Packing and Manufacturing Unit” located in the Choudhary Nar area of Rajouri, where a group of rural women are earning a steady monthly income through packing work.

The unit mainly consists of poor, widowed and economically weaker women, who earlier had no reliable source of livelihood.

At present, the women are engaged in sugar packing work under the scheme.

Even by working for nearly one hour daily, they manage to earn around Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per month, which helps them support their families.

Speaking to the media, the women said that the scheme has brought a positive change in their lives.

They shared that before joining the SHG, they were unemployed and dependent on others, but through the NRLM initiative they have now gained a source of income and confidence to support their households.

District Programme Manager (DPM) Hakim Imtiyaz told that the department is implementing the NRLM scheme across 19 civic blocks of Rajouri district, where various SHGs are engaged in different livelihood activities.

He also said that apart from packing units, the department is also promoting mushroom cultivation, dairy farming and other small-scale enterprises to generate employment and strengthen rural livelihoods.

Over the years, the NRLM initiative has become a strong support system for rural women, enabling them to earn a livelihood and contribute towards the economic growth of their families and villages.

–IANS

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