JK Forms 94,000 SHGs Covering 7.55 Lakh Households: NRLM Review

SRINAGAR: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Sunday chaired a review meeting on the Jammu & Kashmir National Rural Livelihoods Mission (JKNRLM), setting a target of 75,000 credit linkages for Self-Help Groups (SHGs) by the end of October 2025 and calling for full utilisation of the 7.55 lakh-strong rural women workforce in JK.

During the meeting, Dulloo directed the bridging of a current gap of 16,000 credit linkages through coordinated efforts with financial institutions. He also called for the registration of all Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) under the Cooperative Societies Act to enhance their operational framework.

The Chief Secretary emphasised skilling around 3 lakh literate SHG members through online Daksh Kisan courses and aligning them with the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) or Mission YUVA to support enterprise creation. He also stressed that the focus must go beyond forming Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), and instead centre on their financial linkage and production output.

Highlighting the importance of infrastructure, Dulloo called for the optimal use and expansion of Community Managed Training Centres (CMTCs) across all 20 districts. Currently, six such centres are operational, with the remaining 14 districts to be covered in the next financial year. He also directed the Finance Department to prioritise SHG enrolment in social security schemes such as PMSBY and PMJJBY, and to involve SHG members in an upcoming three-month awareness campaign.

Dulloo further noted the potential of utilising SHG members as Banking Correspondents, Krishi Sakhis, Pashu Sakhis, and Van Sakhis to improve grassroots-level service delivery and livelihoods.

Earlier, Secretary RDD Aijaz Assad said J&K NRLM has formed 94,000 SHGs covering 7.55 lakh rural households. He noted J&K’s national performance rankings—1st in CLF profiling, 2nd in Village Organisation profiling, and 4th in SHG profile capturing.

MD NRLM Shubhra Sharma highlighted that over 1.84 lakh women have achieved the ‘Lakhpati Didi’ status within the last six months. Efforts are ongoing to raise the figure to 2.3 lakh by the end of this month. She said women are engaged in agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, and services sectors, with departmental support.

The Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) reported 123% coverage in women farmers and 140% in livestock interventions in FY 2024–25. Non-farm sector schemes like SVEP and MED achieved 100% of their targets. Nearly 99.3% of SVEP funds have been utilised, and Community Enterprise Funds (CEF) have been fully disbursed to rural entrepreneurs.

The meeting concluded with a focus on leveraging existing human resources and institutional support to create a sustainable and self-reliant rural women entrepreneurship ecosystem across Jammu and Kashmir.