Prof (Dr) R D Gupta
In spite of the best growth of banking system in rural areas of India, poor people in general and farmers in particular, are still outside the ambit of credit phenomenon. Only 30-40% of the rural families have an access to avail of bank financial facilities due to complex type of formalities one has to perform before sanctioning credit. An alternative now known as Self Help Group (SHG) through which there is no need to go to money lenders and has become easy for approaching the banks.
SHG came to fore through cooperation’s of both men and women. It is one of the method to lessen women’s dependence on men and has proved to play a big role in shaping their lives. It is in fact, an important tools to overcome exploitation and generate confidence for self reliance amongst women, who are invisible for social circle. The importance of women participation in SHGS at all levels viz; as members, leaders and employees cannot be overemphasized these days, when privatization, liberalization and globalization has totally metamorphosed an economic scenario.
How SHG is defined?
The working group report on promotion of SHG as a subsystem in Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society has defined SHG as a “group of association of individuals with common economic needs who undertake a systematic economic activity participating directly in decision making and sharing benefits on an equitable basis” (Gupta, 2003).
Principal
The basic principle that controls the members of SHG is “one of all and all for one”. It is a voluntary organization of 10-20 members of poor people whose social and economic condition is homogeneous. SHG can be of men or women or men and women together. Such a group functions democratically and works with a common interest without any political or religious affiliations to mobilize savings to manage credit, encouraging group members to take loan for productive income units and solve family financial problems with low rate of interest. Hence members make small savings equally out of their income. The savings so made are utilized not only for agricultural purposes but can be used for other requirements.
As early as 1986, Mysore Rural Development Agency took up initiative to commence with credit management groups in Karnatka and Andhra Pradesh. There were 2489 SHGS consisting of 641 men, 1006 women as heads and the rest mixed, which indicated the dominance of women in SHGS (Gupta et al. 2003). Per capita saving by women SHGS was found more than those of men. It was also found that number of fines imposed per capita was less among women SHGS. In Andhra Pradesh alone there were 4,23,366 SHGS of women covering 56.45 lakh women members which were organized in just 2 years i.e. 2000-2002. Comparing this data with total number of 4,61,478 SHGS during 2002, the contribution of Andhra Pradesh in this respect was 11%. The Andhra Pradesh Government thus dedicated to empower the women by enhancing the gender sensitivity and removing gender in equalities in education, employment and preventing atrocities against them and ameliorated their living standard.
The SHGS developed by NGO-Besahara in various villages of Tehsil Hiranagar, Kathua district of Jammu region, contributed much better than those of men in returning loan and performing rural activities like cultivation of crops, vegetables and fruits. Women SGHS formed under Council for Advancement People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) also went on very well at village Barori, Khedian, Suchani-Samba tehsil, Samba district, Jammu region. The women of these villages not only owned of their rights guaranteed under constitution but also contributed much to the economy of their households through gaining home science technology.
In cold arid zone of Ladakh, a SHG of local women varying in numbers from 6 to 15 came together with dual purposes-to empower the women in the changing times and to strengthen the indigenous culture and agriculture (Lhamo-2012). The women of SHGS after performing their daily chores as house wives, contributed to the group spinning wool, knitting woolen clothes and dyeing them in traditional manner. As most of the hard working season is the season of farming so every women of SHG helps everybody else in the agricultural field. Agricultural produce of the season sets the base of many SHG products like apricot jam and seabuck thorm juice. Besides, decorative home items and local winter clothes are also manufactured by the women of these SHGS which are sold in local Leh market. The income so generated is used for the benefit of the members of SHG.
In West Bengal in2012 there was a proposal from the Government to set up fair prices shops through all women SHGS for the Jungal Mahal region which spans the three districts viz; West Midnapur, Bankura and Purulia. This was resorted on two counts-one, it would promote women’s empowerment and two; it would enable SHGS to effectively establish themselves in the area. However, most of the SHGS did not come forward to run 65 ration shops that the Government had wanted to open for the people of Jungle Mahal.
A large number of SHG women members in Madhya Pradesh were trained in various aspects of food processing. These training programmes combine the technical knowhow for value addition and skills for operation and maintenance of small processing units (Sharma, 2006). Technical training captures common techniques for value addition like evaporation, dehydration vacuum and for freezing, pulping, juice making, grindding and pickling. Livelihood generating technological activities like poultry, brick making and agricultural works-preparing of vermicompost , use of green manure and botanical pesticides were very common.
( The author is Ex Associate Dean Cum Chief Scientist KVK, SKUAST, Jammu)
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