The scheme under which one has to apply in ru¬ral areas now is Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SJGSY). All the earlier self-employment generating programmes has now been re-designed and restructured to improve their effectiveness and merged into a single programme (SJGSY) from 1st April, 1999.
The objective of this scheme is to help the poor families to cross the poverty line by providing them income yielding assets through a mix of bank loans and government subsidies. If the shop is to be opened in urban area then one should apply under Swamajayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) which seeks to provide self-employment to urban poor.