The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) would connect at least one woman from every poor household across the country with self-help groups (SHGs) in five years, Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.

“The objective of the programme is to ensure that in a five-year period one woman from every poor household becomes a member of SHG. Today we have three crore women who are members of SHGs, and we have to raise it to seven crore in five years,” Mr. Ramesh said.