The programmes of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India that directly target poor families for creation of assets and self employment started with Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) in the year 1980. A major reform took place in 1999, when IRDP was transformed into Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). Self-employment through organizing poor into Self Help Groups (SHGs) became the cornerstone of the new strategy.

Based on NRLM core belief that poor have innate capabilities and strong desire to come out of poverty, it aims to reduce poverty by enabling the poor households to access gainful self employment and skilled wage employment opportunities resulting in appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong and sustainable grass root institutions of the poor i.e. SHGs and their federations for which NRLM will provide dedicated & sensitive support structure for building their capacities, enabling them access to finance and other livelihood resources, skilling the unemployed rural poor youths for providing employment or self employment / micro- enterprise opportunities and making the institutions of poor strong so that this programme of the poor become the programme by the poor. NRLM is being implemented in Himachal Pradesh since April, 2013 through intensive approach strategy in 5 intensive blocks namely Basantpur, Kandaghat, Haroli, Mandi Sadar and Nurpur of which Basantpur and Haroli are also resource blocks where social capital is being created. The various financial / economic assistance provided are in the form of Revolving Fund up to Rs 15000/- per SHG, Community Investment Fund up to Rs. 1.10000/- per SHG in intensive Block, Interest Subvention on bank loan up to Rs. 3 lacs @ 4 % per annum on prompt repayment, Vulnerability Reduction Fund, SHG Start Up Cost up to Rs 3000/- and VO start up cost up to Rs 75000/- .