FROM A CORRESPONDENT
TURA, July 11: Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Tuesdauy launched the ambitious flagship programme titled “Livelihood Intervention and Facilitation of Entrepreneurship” (LIFE) at Songsak in East Garo Hills.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by Elementary Education and Literacy Minister Deborah Marak and a host of other dignitaries including parliamentary secretaries Cherak Momin, Brigady Marak and Sengman Marak.
Songsak is about 210 km west of state capital Shillong.
Speaking at the launch of the programme, Chief Minister Sangma said that the programme of the state government is “most inclusive” unlike the central schemes, which are mostly meant for the “below poverty line”.
He said that the government with its convergence of thoughts and actions has been making effort to reach out to the people with different sustaible and livelihood programmes to empower and eble the people for economic prosperity.
“I have been designing programme to include everybody in the state of Meghalaya, so that each one of us benefits from the schemes”, he said.
He urged the people to form SHGs in their area and under LIFE different activities would be started to ensure that people are able to generate income and eradicate poverty.
“We will ensure that people can generate income in their own backward by providing them assistance to do plantation and other income generating activities through different livelihood missions of the state”, he said.
He said that the main idea of LIFE was to ensure that there is reverse in trend, where people would migrate from urban areas to rural areas for taking up activities, which revolves on agriculture, horticulture and other allied sectors.
He said that there were rich tural resources in Garo hills and people should take advantage of the resources and judiciously used it for their prosperity.
Highlighting that the government has been making effort to reach out to the people to ensure accelerated growth, Deborah Marak said, “The people of Garo hills has to partner with the project and reap its benefit”.
Marak also urged the people to make the legislators accountable so that there is transparency in the state.
LIFE aims to bring all the poor and vulnerable women into the SHGs movement, by emphasizing on reviving the ictive; functiol ones and include them within the ongoing LIFE project.
The programme will be implemented in the line with tiol Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in the remaining non - NRLM blocks with an objective to support the community through the SHGs formation.
The NRLM is being currently implemented in 21 blocks of Meghalaya.