National Urban Livelihoods Mission to Focus on Skill up-Gradation, Entrepreneurship Development and Credit availability to Urban Poor: Kumari Selja

The Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja has said that the proposed National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) would have specific focus on the primary issues pertaining to urban poverty such as skill up-gradation, entrepreneurship development and credit availability. In her keynote address at the National Consultation on “Mission Mode Approach to Urban Livelihoods” here today Kumari Selja said, this would help the urban poor in utilising the opportunities of wage employment and self employment created by the economic growth in the urban areas. NULM would also work with different agencies at the central, state and city level and actively seek to converge all the programmes and policies in urban areas, especially for the urban poor, so that the poor could get the benefits for which they are entitled under such programmes.

The Minister said, the government want to build the mission with an open architecture so that it can have the flexibility of using multiple approaches and adjusting to the varied conditions prevalent in different parts of the country. She said, a concept paper of the NULM has already been circulated and though this paper envisages a particular model of implementation, funding of various activities and their inter-se allocation, however, it should not be seen as something final or binding. She said, her Ministry is open to alternative suggestions and approaches and would like to create a framework which is not burdened with pre-fixed notions and can evolve over time. The Minister said, the bottom line is that it should be outcome based, scalable and supported by strong and robust IT enabled implementation and monitoring system to ensure its quality and universal coverage in shortest possible time.

Here is the full text of Minister’s speech:

“Considering the rapid pace of urbanization and a simultaneous increase in urban poverty, this national consultation is very important for designing a robust and sustainable structure to address the livelihood challenges associated with urban poverty.

Today, cities in India are emerging as the country’s engines of economic growth. Cities currently contribute more than 60 percent to the national GDP and their contribution is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. However, despite their growing contribution to the national economy, cities are increasingly becoming homes to the urban poor. The number of urban poor increased by 40 lakh since 1993-1994 and reached 8.1 Crores in 2004-05. The slum population in the country is also estimated to have increased from 7.5 Crores in 2001 to 9.3 Crores in 2011.

A report by the National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector reveals that 92 percent of India’s workforce was engaged in the informal economy. The bulk of the urban poor find their livelihood in the informal economy and are vulnerable. Their low levels of education and skill have resulted in their inability to access emerging livelihood opportunities within cities. Considering the quantum of the urban poor engaged in informal activities, a small improvement in their productivity through skill up-gradation can not only make a huge impact on nation’s economic growth but can also make it more inclusive. Therefore, skill development of urban poor, who constitute the bulk of unorganised sector workers, is critical and important.

Though poverty alleviation has always occupied a central stage in development planning in India, but it has focused mainly on the rural poverty. It is only in the last couple of Plans that the Government started recognizing the phenomenon of ‘Urbanisation of Poverty’. Further, with the sustained efforts of the Ministry and the interventions of the National Advisory Council led by Smt. Sonia Gandhi, urban poverty alleviation is getting sharper focus in the 12th Plan.

Government of India has been implementing Swarna Jayanti Sahari Rojgar Yojana since 1997. This is the only centrally sponsored scheme focusing on urban poverty alleviation. SJSRY focuses on gainful employment through skill training and self enterprise. The scheme has not been able to achieve the desired results as the funds available under this scheme have been quite limited. There are also concerns of absence of administrative structures and lack of capacity at various levels for its effective implementation.

I am getting continuous demands from various quarters including state governments to introduce a job guarantee programme in urban areas on the pattern of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). However, I would like to emphasise that urban poverty is vastly different from rural poverty and it requires different interventions. Rural poverty alleviation model cannot be imposed on the urban areas. In the urban context, the focus should be on skill development and credit availability for accessing the sustainable wage and self employment opportunities rather than on unskilled wage employment as is the case in MNREGA.

We are now looking at the urban poverty from the context of vulnerabilities. Urban poor suffer from various vulnerabilities which can be broadly referred to as residential, social and occupational vulnerabilities. The residential vulnerability is reflected in the lack of access to shelter and basic services, social vulnerability is reflected in the form of social stratification, lack of social protection, inadequate voice and participation in governance, and occupational vulnerability is reflected in precarious livelihoods, in-formality of employment and lack of job and income security.

We are trying to address the residential vulnerability through JnNURM and now through Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). For addressing social vulnerability, we are working on Social Assistance and Social Security programmes. The issue of occupational vulnerability has not been fully addressed so far and we are trying to renew our focus on the same. Lessons from SJSRY suggest that in order to make a sustained impact on urban poverty, the skill and livelihood concerns of the urban poor should be addressed comprehensively and universally. This would require a mission mode approach. This would also require convergence in programme and policies relating to urban areas, especially the urban poor, being implemented by different agencies at the central, state and city level. We are, therefore, proposing to launch a National Urban Livelihood Mission in the 12th Plan Period to address the above mentioned concerns.

We have prepared a concept paper about the proposed mission. Dr. Mohanty would be making a detailed presentation about the same in the next session. The concept paper was also circulated to all the participants in advance for them to have a look and formulate their comments on how it could be better structured and implemented.

NULM would have specific focus on the primary issues pertaining to urban poverty such as skill up-gradation, entrepreneurship development and credit availability. This would help the urban poor in utilising the opportunities of wage employment and self employment created by the economic growth in the urban areas. NULM would also work with different agencies at the central, state and city level and actively seek to converge all the programmes and policies in urban areas, especially for the urban poor, so that the poor could get the benefits for which they are entitled under such programmes.

We want to build the mission with an open architecture so that it can have the flexibility of using multiple approaches and adjusting to the varied conditions prevalent in different parts of the country. The Ministry has circulated a concept paper. Though this paper envisages a particular model of implementation, funding of various activities and their inter-se allocation, however, it should not be seen as something final or binding. We are open to alternative suggestions and approaches and would like to create a framework which is not burdened with pre-fixed notions and can evolve over time. The bottom line is that it should be outcome based, scalable and supported by strong and robust IT enabled implementation and monitoring system to ensure its quality and universal coverage in shortest possible time.

My Ministry has been engaging with the practitioners and experts in the field of skill development and micro-finance for some time on the proposed structure of the mission. I have been told that there is a tremendous amount of excitement among them about this mission. They also have various suggestions on its structure and implementation mechanism. I look forward to active participation of the experts and practitioners working in the area of livelihoods, micro-finance and skill development in today’s discussion. I hope that all the issues and contours of NULM are discussed threadbare and we get practical and implementable ideas. I am sure your inputs would go a long way in facilitating our task of making Urban India poverty-free, slum-free, inclusive and humane.”