Itanagar: The Mission Director of the Arunachal State Urban Livelihood Mission (ArSULM) has advised the urban poor, group enterprises, and the self-help groups (SHGs) of the urban areas of the state to avail of the financial assistance provided under the Self-Employment Programme (SEP) of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM).

Under the SEP, a loan amount of up to Rs 2 lakh is provided for setting up individual micro-enterprises while the amount provided for group enterprises/ SHG is up to Rs 12 lakh.

The mission director suggested the interested individual and groups apply for financial assistance through the ULBs/DUDAs of their respective districts on or before 31 August.

Under the DAY-NULM scheme, financial assistance is provided to urban poor individuals and SHGs of the urban areas through banks for various activities for self-employment and self-sustenance.

The main aim and objective of the mission are to reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access self-employment opportunities, resulting in an appreciable improvement of their livelihoods on a sustainable basis through building strong grass-root level institutions of the poor. The trades eligible for obtaining financial assistance are tea shop, ice cream vendor, milk vendor, rickshaw pulling, fruit and vegetable vendors, fish vending, laundry work, repair of TV, radio, refrigerator, mobile phone, shoe repairing, bookbinding, carpentry, masonry, manufacturing of washing powder, agarbatti (incense sticks), candle making, general merchant shop, building material shop, readymade garments, and other manufacturing, servicing, local ornaments, handloom, and handicraft shop and petty businesses.

The SEP focuses on providing financial assistance through the provision of interest subsidies on loans to support the establishment of individual and group enterprises and self-help groups of urban poor.