It was a December winter morning in the hinterlands of the tribal populated Dumariya Block of Jharkhand. Nine or ten women wrapped in blankets, were sitting in a circle, nodding their heads to acknowledge a lady who seemed to be facilitating a group meeting. The group’s “Badlaokarta Didi” (the changemaker sister), facilitates these exclusive weekly group meetings of extremely vulnerable women in this remote hamlet. After a quick attendance check, the group takes an oath to collectively fight against poverty and to live a better life. Then she pulls out a handbook with photos of goats and pigs and discusses a timely vaccination and deworming plan for the livestock. Following this she asks other women in the group some questions and ensures the important points about livestock are well understood by the group. After the meeting, she visits all the families one after another and verifies the livestock sheds’ cleanliness, and health and growth of the livestock. In some cases, she checks the kitchen gardens, and food on the plates of children and other family members to verify the consumption of tiranga bhojan (tri-coloured food) and engages in friendly conversations.
While in this Murakanjiya village, we met Jamuna Didi. With lots of love, she was taking care of her three goats. She was proudly showing the goat shed that she made out of locally available bamboo. She then shared her experience of cultivation tomatoes on a 5 decimal land. She also took us to her tea stall where she sells tea and local snacks like gulgula, aalochap, pakodi in the evening. She earns ₹500 approximately every day from this stall and saves ₹3000 monthly from this enterprise. Such diversification in her livelihoods is a result of careful resource allocation based on livelihood planning and regular handholding. She also feels secure because of the access she has to the incredible safety nets like regular monthly cash support from Jharkhand Chief Minister Maiya Samman Yojana (JMMSY). While sharing her journey from a vulnerable woman to an aspiring village entrepreneur, she gave credit to the “UPAJ” program and mainly her “Badlaokarta Didi”. We met many such women who experienced similar transformation in their lives and families because of the targeted economic inclusion program. This experience certainly gives confidence that economic vulnerability can be tackled within our lifetime.
Economic vulnerability or exclusion remains one of the most pressing issues particularly in low- and middle-income countries. For millions trapped in cycles of poverty, finding pathways to sustainable livelihoods can feel like an impossible dream. The bottom 10-20% of the population suffering from extreme vulnerability is excluded from mainstream economic growth. Importantly, such vulnerable populations majorly belong to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste, single woman-headed households, marginal landholders or landless, distressed migrant families among others. However, targeted economic inclusion programs, such as the “Graduation Approach”, have emerged as highly effective strategies to tackle extreme vulnerability. When paired with direct cash transfers to women, like monthly ₹2500 per woman in the age bracket of 18 to 50 years under JMMSY, these programs have the potential to transform the lives of the most marginalized populations, ensuring long-term economic stability and fostering resilience. In many parts of the world, most vulnerable communities including women face structural barriers to social and economic participation, including unequal access to education, financial services, and land ownership. Targeted programs can help bridge these gaps, ensuring that women have the resources they need to thrive.
Around three years back, JSLPS (PALASH) - an autonomous body of the Government of Jharkhand with the responsibility to eradicate rural poverty by mobilizing women into community institutions in partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development (GoI) and technical support from The/Nudge Institute (a not-for-profit) launched the ambitious “UPAJ” special project. The goal was to identify the most vulnerable households, provide them immediate consumption assistance, close livelihood planning for every single family, provide them with adequate productive assets and diversified livelihood opportunities, and facilitate financial inclusion and access to government welfare schemes. We have seen women using the cash support received under JMMSY improving the quality of life of their family, importantly spending on consuming nutritious meals and education along with some consumption expenditure. Cash transfers under JMMSY respect the agency of recipients, allowing them to take decisions. A significant impact of JMMSY is reduction of distress migration. Many tribal families migrate to brick kilns to earn. Stories of exploitation of tribal families, particularly women, by middlemen has been heard often. Cash transfers into women’s bank accounts reduces a family’s distress migration. Cash transfer when coupled with the “Graduation Approach”, leads to sustainable local livelihood opportunities. The Chief Minister of Jharkhand has rightly articulated, ”when families, especially women, stop distress migration, kids start going to schools, health conditions improve, natural resources improve, the local economy grows, families stay together and improve social and cultural bonding, and Panchayati Raj Institutions become more vibrant”.
In recent years, many States, and/or with the support of MoRD, have initiated programs targeting the most vulnerable. As we are aspiring for a “Viksit Bharat”, this is the right time to collaborate and strengthen the ecosystem to make India prosperous.
Dr.Nitin Madan Kulkarni is an IAS officer presently posted as Additional Chief Secretary (Raj Bhavan, Ranchi) and Srikanta Kumar Routa is Head of Operations, Economic Inclusion Program, The/Nudge Institute. Views are personal.
