Lives of 3 lakh households in Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim improved under NERLP: govt

The North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) has empowered the poor and improved lives of people in about 300,000 rural households in Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, an official statement said.

Under this project, 10,462 boys and girls have been trained in various job skills and 5,494 of them are employed today, it said.

Launched in 2012, the NERLP is a World Bank aided, multi-state Rs 683 crore project under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).

Implemented in 11 districts of Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, the project aims "to improve rural livelihoods especially that of women, unemployed youth and the most disadvantaged, in four North Eastern States".

The NERLP has empowered rural poor and improved livelihoods in about 300,000 rural households in 1,645 villages under 58 development blocks across the 11 districts of four states of Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, the statement said.

The project has focussed on five development strategies -- social empowerment, economic empowerment, partnership development, project management and livelihood and value chain developments, it said.

It has impacted the lives of about 18,00,000 people with the creation of common economic assets worth around Rs 136 crore, it said.

These include community projects executed by 1,114 Community Development Groups with the total outlay of Rs 105 crore and 176 rural infrastructure projects under the Model Livelihood Cluster and Value Chain Development with a total investment of Rs 31 crore, the statement said.

Community Development Group (CDG) comprises three members of every family with the major role to develop Community Development Plan (CDP) with project funding of up to Rs 10 lakh, it said.

The activities under CDP include reclamation of wasteland, construction of check-dams, plantation, horticulture projects, provision of village electrification through hydrogen, provision of solar lighting, spring water harvest to mitigating water needs for homestead farming, animal rearing, health and sanitation, it said.

"The CDPs are impacting the villages in big ways since village communities - members of the CDGs - have selected what is most pertinent for their own progress and development," the statement said.

Across the project districts, livelihood activities pursued by Self Help Group (SHG) members have increased considerably, thus increasing family incomes, it said.

Women have become more knowledgeable and expressive, and they display better leadership qualities, it said.

The NERLP intervention has brought many positive changes as one SHG leader has become a Cabinet minister in the state legislature in Tripura, and many SHG leaders are panchayat leaders today, the statement added.