Livelihood security among rural poor: Evaluating the impact of Rural Livelihood Mission in Odisha, India

Abstract

Livelihood insecurity remains a prime concern for low household income countries. To provide secured livelihood to rural poor, the government of India has introduced a self-employment type poverty alleviation programme namely National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). This paper empirically examines the effect of participation in NRLM on the livelihood security of rural poor. Data were collected from 220 respondents (including both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries) through a structured questionnaire from Sonepur district of Odisha (India). A livelihood security index (LSI) was constructed to capture the livelihood security of the respondents taking habitat security, health security, food security, and economic security into account. Further, the impact of the programme has been estimated using propensity score matching (PSM) method. The study finds a positive and significant effect of participation in the programme on livelihood security. Therefore, poor should be encouraged to participate in the programme to strengthen their livelihood security.