These are recent salient updates from the End Ultra Poverty program:

• The/Nudge published a white paper on the “Eradication of ultra-poverty in India through the Graduation Approach”, based on the action research from our implementation with the 1200 households in three districts of the state of Jharkhand. This whitepaper has been accepted and approved by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, and forms the basis for consultations on the National Strategy for eradicating ultra-poverty in India.

• The Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India has approved innovation grants of Rs 15 Crores for each state that commits to a special project implementing the Graduation Approach for atleast 4000 ultra poor households in its state. This grant has the potential to grow to Rs 30 Crores per state.

• Taking advantage of this support from the central government, the State Rural Livelihood Mission departments of the states of Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and West Bengal have committed to implementing the Graduation Approach in their respective states with The/Nudge playing the role of Technical and Knowledge partner. 

• The Government of Jharkhand has recognized the End Ultra Poverty program implementation in the state as a ‘Program of Positive Impact”. It has also recognized the support provided by The/Nudge to Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) for timely completion of project activities of its own Graduation Approach implementation for FY2022-23 and is considering extending further support and funding to JSLPS to expand its implementation statewide.