Eying Assembly elections in five States later this year and lok Sabha polls in 2014, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday sought quick implementation of UPA's Aajivika — National Rural livelihood Mission (NRlM) across the nation especially its central and eastern parts.
Exactly a year ago, Gandhi had unveiled the National Rural livelihood Mission to reach out to BPl families through self-help groups and said the network of such groups comprising women will be strengthened.
The Congress president also chose the occasion to announce that a special package is being prepared for North Eastern States and hilly States like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh to give a fillip to such measures.
She said that in the next 10 years, 7 crore BPl families have to be freed from poverty, which is not an easy job.
"But by adopting the Aajivika Mission, many States have proved that through women SHGs, economical and social changes can be brought in the rural areas.
"Seeing this success, it seems that now the Aajivika Mission will have to be implemented fast across the country especially in central and eastern India," Gandhi said.
NRlM has set out with an agenda to cover 7 Crore BPl households, across 600 districts, 6,000 blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats and 6 lakh villages through self-managed Self Help Groups (SHGs) and support them for livelihood collectives in a period of eight to 10 years.