Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (Livelihood Rural Express Scheme), Assam

What is the Livelihood Rural Express Scheme in Assam?

Livelihood Rural Express Scheme is the plain-English rendering of Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY), and Assam readers searching either name are looking at the same programme. Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana is a sub-scheme of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), and in Assam it is implemented by Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission Society (ASRLMS) under the Panchayat & Rural Development Department.

The scheme has two purposes at once. First, it puts a safe, affordable and community-monitored passenger vehicle on rural routes that private operators ignore, so villagers can reach markets, schools, health centres and block offices. Second, it creates a new source of income for a woman member of a Self Help Group, who owns and operates that vehicle as a small transport business.

According to the ASRLMS page for the scheme, Assam launched Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana at the Block Mission Management Unit of Laharighat Development Block in Morigaon district on 16 September 2017. The Jeevika Cluster Level Federation of Self Help Groups there procured e-rickshaws using funds received from ASRLMS and placed them with SHG members as income-generating assets. ASRLMS records that the Laharighat rollout was expected to touch about 4,500 SHG members across 6 Gram Panchayats and 38 Village Organisations.

Key features

• Sub-scheme of DAY-NRLM, so the money flows through the existing SHG federation structure rather than through a separate department office.
• The benefit is an interest-free loan of up to Rs 6.50 lakh from the Community Investment Fund of the community-based organisation.
• Repayment period is a maximum of six years.
• The vehicle is a commercial asset. It must be registered, insured and hold a route permit from the Regional Transport Authority before it plies.
• Nationally the scheme began as a pilot in 250 blocks, with up to 6 vehicles per block, over 2017 to 2020, and has since been continued with revised guidelines.

Who is eligible for the Livelihood Rural Express Scheme?

You can be selected if:

• You are an existing member of a Self Help Group promoted or federated under DAY-NRLM in a rural block of Assam.
• Your SHG is a mature group with a satisfactory savings, credit and repayment record, and is affiliated to a Village Organisation or Cluster Level Federation.
• Your block has been sanctioned under Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana by ASRLMS, and a route in your area has been identified as under-served.
• Your Village Organisation or Cluster Level Federation passes a resolution approving your name and sanctioning the interest-free loan from its Community Investment Fund.
• You or a member of your household can drive the vehicle, or you can arrange a driver and bear the wage.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a member of a DAY-NRLM Self Help Group. There is no open citizen application window; membership of the SHG structure is the entry gate.
• Your block has not been selected for the scheme. Coverage is block by block, not universal across Assam.
• You or your SHG have overdue loans to the Village Organisation, Cluster Level Federation or bank. Repayment discipline is the main screening test.
• You live in an urban ward. Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana is a rural livelihoods scheme and applies to rural blocks.
• You want the vehicle for personal or non-transport use. The asset must be run as a passenger or goods transport service on an agreed route.

Selection is competitive within the SHG federation, because a block gets a limited number of vehicles. Groups usually prioritise members from the poorest households, women-headed households, and members who have already run a small enterprise successfully.

What benefit does the scheme actually provide?

The core benefit is finance, not a free vehicle. The community-based organisation lends the SHG member up to Rs 6.50 lakh at zero interest out of its Community Investment Fund so that she can buy the vehicle outright without going to a moneylender or paying commercial interest.

Some states also operate the scheme on a lease model, in which the community-based organisation buys the vehicle itself and leases it to the SHG member against a fixed monthly rental. Where the interest-subsidy route is used instead of a full CIF loan, the interest subsidy is capped at a smaller loan size suited to cheaper vehicles such as e-rickshaws. Ask your Block Mission Management Unit which model is being used in your block before you commit, because the repayment obligation differs.

Running costs are always the operator's own. The SHG member bears the annual insurance premium, road tax, permit fee, maintenance, fuel or electricity, and driver wages. The fare income the vehicle earns is what funds both the running costs and the loan repayment.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Livelihood Rural Express Scheme

1. Confirm your SHG is active under DAY-NRLM. If you are not yet in an SHG, join or form one through your Village Organisation. The Panchayat & Rural Development Department publishes SHG formation guidance at pnrd.assam.gov.in.
2. Raise the proposal in your SHG meeting. Ask the group to record in the minutes that you wish to be considered for a vehicle under Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana, and to forward your name to the Village Organisation.
3. Get the Village Organisation or Cluster Level Federation resolution. The federation examines your repayment record, your household need and the proposed route, and passes a resolution sanctioning the interest-free loan from its Community Investment Fund.
4. Apply to the Block Mission Management Unit (BMMU) of ASRLMS with the resolution, your Aadhaar, bank passbook and the dealer quotation. The BMMU checks whether the block has an unallocated vehicle and whether the route is genuinely under-served.
5. Take delivery and complete the transport formalities. Register the vehicle, buy insurance, pay road tax, and apply to the Regional Transport Authority for the route permit. A vehicle without a permit cannot carry paying passengers.
6. Start the service and begin repayment. Repay the loan to the community-based organisation on the agreed monthly schedule, over a maximum of six years.

How do I check the status of my application?

1. Ask your SHG's book-keeper or the Village Organisation office bearer whether your name has been forwarded and whether the resolution has been passed.
2. Visit your Block Mission Management Unit and ask for the block's AGEY vehicle sanction position; how many vehicles were allotted and how many are already placed.
3. If the block office has no clarity, take the question to the District Mission Management Unit of ASRLMS.

There is no SMS or online tracking number for this scheme. Status is tracked through the SHG federation's own minutes and the block office register, so keep a copy of every resolution and receipt you sign.

Why applications get rejected

• The block has no vehicle left to allot. Blocks receive a fixed number, so a good application can still wait for the next allotment.
• Overdue loan in the SHG or in the applicant's own name.
• Route not viable. If the BMMU judges that an existing bus or shared vehicle already serves the route, the proposal is not sanctioned.
• No driver arrangement. Applications that cannot show who will actually drive the vehicle are commonly deferred.
• Permit refused by the Regional Transport Authority for the chosen route, which stalls the vehicle even after purchase.

The fix in most cases is procedural: clear the overdue amount, get a fresh resolution, and propose a route the block office agrees is under-served.

Help and grievance redressal

• Block Mission Management Unit (BMMU), ASRLMS: first point of contact for selection, sanction and loan disbursement issues.
• District Mission Management Unit (DMMU), ASRLMS — for block-level delays.
• State Mission Management Unit, ASRLMS, Guwahati: contact details are published on asrlms.assam.gov.in.
• Regional Transport Authority of your district, for registration and route permit problems.

No agent or middleman can charge a fee to get your name added to the vehicle list. Selection is made only by resolution of your Village Organisation or Cluster Level Federation and approval by the Block Mission Management Unit.