All Papers/Poverty and Sustainable Livelihood (2024-25)/Q9
Q9
15 Marks

Part C (Q9): Evaluate in detail the National Urban Livelihood Mission.

Expert Answer

The National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), launched in 2013 (later renamed DAY-NULM - Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana), aims to reduce poverty and vulnerability among urban poor households.

Core Objectives

The mission's primary objective is to enable the urban poor to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities. It also specifically targets the provision of shelters for the urban homeless and addressing the livelihood concerns of urban street vendors.

Key Components of NULM

  1. Employment through Skill Training and Placement (EST&P):

    • Mechanism: Providing market-relevant skill training to the urban poor to enhance their employability in the booming urban service and manufacturing sectors.
    • Evaluation: While training numbers are high, the challenge remains the quality of training and actual placement rates. Many trained individuals fail to find secure jobs, ending up in the gig economy.

  2. Social Mobilization and Institution Development (SM&ID):

    • Mechanism: Mobilizing urban poor women into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and their federations, similar to the rural model.
    • Evaluation: Urban mobilization is inherently harder than rural due to high migration rates, lack of community cohesion, and transient populations. However, where successful, it provides crucial social capital to vulnerable women.

  3. Self-Employment Programme (SEP):

    • Mechanism: Providing financial assistance (interest subvention on bank loans) to individuals or groups to set up micro-enterprises.
    • Evaluation: Access to formal credit remains a massive hurdle for the urban poor who lack collateral. Banks are often reluctant to lend, slowing down this component.

  4. Support to Urban Street Vendors (SUSV):

    • Mechanism: Recognizing street vending as a legitimate livelihood. It involves surveying vendors, issuing ID cards, and developing dedicated vending zones to stop police harassment.
    • Evaluation: This is a highly progressive component, but implementation by local municipalities is often poor. Vendors still face frequent evictions and harassment.

  5. Scheme of Shelter for Urban Homeless (SUH):

    • Mechanism: Providing permanent 24/7 shelters equipped with essential services (water, sanitation, safety) for the urban homeless.
    • Evaluation: There is a massive shortfall in the number of shelters built compared to the actual homeless population in mega-cities.

Overall Evaluation

NULM is a comprehensive and well-designed framework that correctly identifies the unique vulnerabilities of the urban poor (like homelessness and informal vending). However, its success is hampered by poor implementation at the municipal level, bureaucratic hurdles in accessing bank loans, and the sheer scale of rapid, unplanned urbanization in India.