A Tale of Two Missions: Why Bihar’s JEEViKA Outpaced Odisha’s OLM
- Niraj Kumar
- Oct 23
- 5 min read
23 October, 2025
Bihar and Odisha began their livelihood journeys with the same script but ended up with very different stories. What made one soar while the other struggled to take flight?
In 2011, when the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) took shape, Bihar and Odisha seemed destined to tell the same success story - millions of women mobilised, self-help groups flourishing, and rural livelihoods on the rise. But a decade later, their stories could not be more different. Two decades later, Bihar’s JEEViKA is widely regarded as a national model of community-driven transformation, while Odisha’s Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM), despite generous funding and one of India’s strongest women’s movements under Mission Shakti, has struggled to show comparable traction.
Why did two states, similar in socio-cultural and poverty profiles, take such divergent paths? The answer lies not in resources or intent, but in how institutions were designed, led, and connected to real, on-the-ground livelihoods.
The Shared Beginning
Both Bihar and Odisha had fertile ground for women’s collectivisation. Odisha had a head start with Mission Shakti, launched in 2001, which built one of the largest SHG networks in India. By 2024, it had mobilised over 70 lakh women and facilitated large-scale credit linkages with banks. Bihar, on the other hand, was starting almost from scratch when JEEViKA (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society) emerged under the NRLM.
The NRLM’s mandate, ‘to organise women into SHGs, federate them into community institutions, and link them with finance and livelihoods,’ was simple but ambitious. Both states had access to the same national framework and funds. If anything, Odisha appeared better placed at the start, with a mature SHG ecosystem and a proactive state government. Yet, as years passed, Bihar’s JEEViKA raced ahead while Odisha’s twin missions, ‘Mission Shakti’ and ‘Odisha Livelihood Mission’, struggled to move in lockstep.
Why Bihar Pulled Ahead
The turning point was institutional design. Bihar invested early in establishing JEEViKA as a professional and autonomous mission unit, rather than merely a government department. It attracted qualified development professionals, created clear district and block-level teams, and retained them long enough to ensure continuity. Decision-making was decentralised, data-driven, and backed by community structures that were trusted and trained.
Importantly, JEEViKA viewed SHGs not as an end in themselves but as economic entities. It systematically graduated SHGs into Village Organisations and Cluster-Level Federations (CLFs), with each layer trained to handle credit, accounting, and enterprise planning. Today, the state boasts over 10 lakh SHGs and more than 1,600 CLFs, each acting as a micro-enterprise hub or service aggregator.
Equally significant was Bihar’s emphasis on evidence-based governance. Through partnerships with the World Bank’s Social Observatory and independent research teams, JEEViKA institutionalised feedback loops. Field data and external evaluations were used not for compliance but for learning — to refine strategies, scale what worked, and abandon what didn’t. This culture of learning enabled JEEViKA to remain agile even as it expanded across all districts.
JEEViKA positioned itself as the single anchor for all livelihood interventions, coordinating seamlessly with banks, NGOs, technical agencies, and line departments. Instead of scattered projects, Bihar built a cohesive ecosystem where every new initiative, be it farm-based, non-farm, or financial inclusion, flowed through the same institutional system. This clarity of structure turned JEEViKA into both a platform and a brand for rural transformation.
Photo Source: Jagran
JEEViKA deliberately moved beyond the familiar pathway of micro-credit for SHGs to offer diversified livelihood options, giving rural women concrete opportunities to run enterprises, not just hope for them. One standout example is the “Didi Ki Rasoi” initiative, launched in 2018, which places SHG women in charge of canteens in government hospitals, colleges, and offices. By 2023, Didi Ki Rasoi had already set up more than 100 women-run kitchens across Bihar, employing thousands of women and linking them into institutional supply chains.
What Slowed Odisha Down
Odisha’s story, by contrast, reflects the challenges of institutional dualism. Mission Shakti, under the Department of Women and Child Development, became a powerful movement of women’s self-help and credit. OLM, anchored in the Panchayati Raj Department, was the technical wing to implement NRLM’s livelihood initiatives. Both were strong, but they ran on parallel tracks.
The overlap of roles about who mobilises, who trains, who funds, and who measures outcomes created blurred accountability at the field level. For SHG members, Mission Shakti was the visible brand delivering loans and recognition, while OLM remained a quieter, technical mission working on livelihood linkages. This division of visibility and responsibility limited Odisha’s ability to present a unified, scalable model, such as JEEViKA.
Additionally, while Mission Shakti enjoyed stable political patronage and massive credit infusion (including interest-free loans of up to ₹10 lakh, announced in 2025), OLM struggled with staffing gaps, dependence on consultants, and uneven field capacities. Frequent administrative transfers often disrupted momentum, and the pace of converting SHGs into viable producer groups or enterprises remained slow.
Photo Source: OLM, Malkangiri
Yet, it would be unfair to dismiss Odisha’s gains. The state’s women’s collectives are among the most vibrant in India. Its Lakhpati Didi drive, aiming to make one woman in each household earn ₹1 lakh annually, has already created visible success stories. The task now is to bridge the institutional gap, not to choose between Mission Shakti and OLM, but to make them work as one.
The Way Forward: Converging Strengths for the Next Leap
If Bihar’s JEEViKA offers lessons, Odisha’s opportunity lies in integration and professionalisation. The state already possesses enviable social capital, millions of women organised, credit-linked, and socially mobilised. What they now need is a seamless economic ladder to climb, and that’s where OLM can make a difference.
A unified mission structure at the district and GP levels could help, providing women with a single point of access for credit, enterprise, and market opportunities. Joint planning between Mission Shakti and OLM, with shared dashboards and cross-departmental accountability, can eliminate duplication.
Odisha should also invest in a strong cadre of professional community workers. Bihar’s successful Bank Sakhi model shows how such grassroots professionals not only strengthen last-mile delivery but also create dignified livelihood opportunities for women within their own communities. Equally important is the provision of appropriate training and timely financing to federations, enabling SHGs to graduate into higher-level institutions with performance-linked support.
Finally, impact tracking must go beyond counting SHGs. Measuring incomes, enterprise survival, and market linkages will tell the real story of empowerment.
The Real Measure of Success
JEEViKA’s rise wasn’t inevitable, but it was engineered through consistent leadership, professional autonomy, and learning by doing. Odisha’s challenge is not a lack of ambition but a lack of alignment between its two strong arms. Mission Shakti gives Odisha the social momentum; OLM holds the technical key to livelihoods. If these two forces converge fully, Odisha could become the next national model for women-led rural transformation.
Ultimately, it was never about which state moved faster. It is about how millions of rural women, once invisible in the economy, are now shaping it with their enterprise, leadership, and collective strength. Each federation, each small business, and each livelihood story is a reminder that real progress begins when women take the driver’s seat.
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