(a) whether the Government has appointed/proposes to appoint women rural coordinators to ensure socio-economic development of women in rural areas;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State/UT wise;
(c) whether such projects are likely to be launched from tribal areas;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the manner in which the aforementioned proposal/plan is likely to benefit rural women?
MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI BIRENDER SINGH)
(a) to (e): The Ministry of Rural Development has not appointed any women rural coordinators. However, the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs),which are implementing the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) at the State level, are appointing Block Mission Management Units (BMMUs) that include cluster coordinators in select blocks including tribal blocks to mobilize support to poor women.NRLM has a mandate to focus on poor rural households to ensure their socio-economic development in rural areas. 10-20 poor women from the rural households are organized to form self-help groups (SHGs), 10-20 SHGs are aggregated/federated into village level organization (VLO), 25-40 VLOs are aggregated to form cluster level federation (CLF). NRLM is under implementation in all states and one union territory (Puducherry). NRLM has promoted 24.62 lakh SHGs covering about 2.70 crore poor households. These SHGs are aggregated to form 1.23 lakhs Village Organisation and 9546 Cluster Level Federations.The benefits of NRLM inter-alia are:- women get mobilized and the institutions of poor get built, they provide support in terms of solidarity, increaseincapacity in terms of knowledge, skills and resources, augmented access to rights, entitlements and schemes, bank linkages, community funds, improved livelihoods and quality of life. It is expected that over a period of 8-10 years time, the rural poor households would have access to credit through various financial institutions/ banking linkages and they will be able to increase their income considerably and come out of poverty.At the block unit of the State Missions, cluster/area/community coordinators are the persons who are in touch with the community.The statistical data regardingwomen rural coordinators is not maintained. A statement indicating State-wise professionals working as Block Project Manager/Area-Coordinator/Cluster-Coordinator is enclosed as Annexure 1.
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Annexure-I
Statement indicating professionals- (Block Project Manager/Area-Coordinator/Cluster-Coordinator) –at the block level
S.No State No. of Intensive Blocks No. of Persons at block level
1 Andhra Pradesh 656 3672
2 Arunachal Pradesh 7 Nil
3 Assam 63 308
4 Bihar 534 3303
5 Chhattisgarh 23 183
6 Goa 2 Nil
7 Gujarat 85 98
8 Haryana 21 77
9 Himachal Pradesh 5 13
10 Jammu And Kashmir 17 7
11 Jharkhand 46 344
12 Karnataka 20 105
13 Kerala 152 954
14 Madhya Pradesh 115 1415
15 Maharashtra 36 282
16 Manipur 4 20
17 Meghalaya 4 31
18 Mizoram 4 24
19 Nagaland 9 76
20 Odisha 88 163
21 Pondicherry 4 2
22 Punjab 14 56
23 Rajasthan 63 59
24 Sikkim 3 3
25 Tamil Nadu 290 647
26 Telangana 442 2887
27 Tripura 6 57
28 Uttar Pradesh 22 58
29 Uttarakhand 13 45
30 West Bengal 32 32
Grand Total 2780 14921