Shimla, Feb 7 (IANS): The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) is playing an important role in transforming lives of women of Himachal Pradesh by making them self-reliant, officials said on Sunday.

In this fiscal, the state has set up 3,384 self-help groups and 90 rural organisations.

Each self-help group gets a financial assistant for creating sustainable livelihood opportunities at a low rate of interest.

The aim of the NRLM is to promote sustainable community-based institutions that would facilitate provision of financial services, economic services and other entitlements to the rural poor.

Officials said the priority is being accorded to below poverty line (BPL) women, who comprise up to 70 per cent of the total members in a self-help group.

To enable each group to earn livelihood by setting up any kind of business, they are being provided a low-interest loans.

In 2019-20, about 4,666 self-help groups and 121 rural organisations were constituted in the state. A loan of Rs 1.10 crore was provided to 4,392 self-help groups and a startup fund of Rs 25 lakh to 57 organisations.

In this fiscal, Rs 49 lakh was distributed to 5,945 groups and a startup fund of Rs 64 lakh to 143 organisation till date.

The state government is also providing a revolving fund and a community investment fund to self-help groups to earn livelihood and carry out any type of business.

In 2019-20, the revolving fund of Rs 4.64 crore was provided to 3,043 groups and Rs 1.69 crore as the community investment fund to 282 groups.

In 2020-21, the revolving fund of Rs 5.24 crore was distributed among 3,667 groups and the community investment fund of Rs 78 lakh to 161 groups.

The formation of self-help groups has led to the social, economic, political upliftment of women and information about various developmental schemes run by the state government is also being provided to them from time to time, an official statement said.