DIRANG, 29 Aug: A four-day regional writeshop on ‘Social inclusion under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM)’ for the eight northeastern states and Ladakh began here in West Kameng district on Tuesday.
Organised by the Arunachal State Rural Livelihoods Mission (ArSRLM), the writeshop is aimed at developing a national-level strategy and protocols for social inclusion in the context of the northeastern states and Ladakh.
Addressing the inaugural session, Dirang ADC JT Obi emphasised on “quality work with regard to women empowerment and self-help groups (SHG) in the region and across the country.” He emphasised also on “further inclusion of the vulnerable, especially elderly and PwDs, within the ambit of the SHGs.”
ICAR-NCR Director Dr Mihir Sarkar spoke about climate change adversities impacting marginal and vulnerable communities, and requested for “a joint convergence for all the multiple stakeholders in the state.”
Citing the example of “the near future extinction of the yak from major Himalayan belt of India, including Arunachal Pradesh,” Dr Sarkar said that “the need of the hour is to bring science and community together.”
NRLM SISD National Mission Manager Neelesh Singh presented an overview of “the social inclusion and social development (SISD) thematic within DAY-NRLM,” while ArSRLM SISD Programme Manager Tuhina Gao presented an overview of “the SI perspective within ArSRLM in Arunachal Pradesh.”
She informed that “a total of 173 elderly SHGs and 4 PwD SHGs have been formed under the ArSRLM.”
“These SHGs will act as a platform for the inclusion of the marginal, destitute and vulnerable people in our society,” she said, and added that the ArSRLM is working on a special project titled ‘Impacting transitory life of Brokpa tribe in Arunachal Pradesh through health and livelihood initiatives’ “to bring inclusion to the last mile vulnerable communities.”
Under the project, led by Gao, 19 community target groups and nine SHGs have been formed and are being hand-holded by the Dirang block mission management unit and the district mission management unit. (DIPRO)
