Community Empowerment by Dr. SBM Prasanna, Dr. K Puttaraju, Dr.MS Mahadevaswamy (books under 200 pages TXT) 📕

Abstract

The concept of Self Help Group has its roots in rural areas and it has been mooted along the rural and semi urban women to improve their living conditions. Though it is applicable to men in our country, but it has been more successful only among women and they can start economic activities through SHG movement. In India, this scheme is implemented with the help of NABARD as a main nodal agency in rural development. It is self employment generation scheme for especially rural women, who don’t have their own assets. The 'empowerment' of social, political and economic goals or status. Empowerment provides a greater access to knowledge and resources, more autonomy in decision making, greater ability to plan lives, more control over the circumstances which influence lives, and freedom from customs, beliefs and practices. Thus, empowerment of women not just a goal in itself, but key to all global development goals. Empowerment is an active multidimensional process to enable women to realize their identity and power in all spheres of life. This paper examines the women empowerment through SHGs and also explains the current position of women empowerment in India.

Introduction:

The movement of Self-help groups (SHGs) as the most effective tools for financial inclusion was started some thirty years ago with NGOs promoting self help groups. This has evolved into a national movement with the proactive role of the governments gaining recognition from all the major stakeholders. The concept of SHG services the principle, ‘by the women, of the women and for the women’. Self-help groups are voluntary associations of people with common interests formed to achieve collective social and economic goals. Such groups are organized for mutual help and benefit. It is formed democratically without any political affiliations. They may comprise of 15–20 women and/or men, although they generally consist exclusively of women members. In India, more than 90 per cent groups are formed by women. is done at micro or group level. The initial operations of SHGs start with collecting savings from members. These groups inculcate the habit of thrift among the members. By collecting small saving huge amount can be raised. These groups advance loans to the needy members. The total funds owned by the group are thus circulated in the form of loan among the members.

The identification, formation, and nurturing of groups is carried out by NGOs, other development agencies or banks with the promoters inculcating habit of thrift among members. Once the groups are trained and strengthened, they are linked to nearby banks, usually within six months of formation. Banks provide collateral-free credit in increasing proportion to the group’s accumulated savings. All the initiatives such as selection of borrowers for availing credit, identification of activity, unit cost volume of loan, management of finance and procedures for repayment are undertaken by the poor at the group level. Briefly, SHGs can be stated ‘as a plan by the people, of the people for the people. It reflects the real people’s participation in the process of development at micro level.

Objectives of the study:

The objectives of this paper are to access the growth and progress of the SHGs in India.

The objectives of this study are:

To study the Origen of SHGs.

To study the women empowerment throw of SHG .

To analyses the genesis and growth of SHGs in India.

To study the progress of women SHGs (microfinance progress)

To study the savings growth by SHGs in India.

Methodology:

The present study is based on the secondary data. The necessary data has been collected from various reference book, published journals, Status of micro Finance 2012-13, NABARD. Report on trends and performance of banking and RBI reports. The required data for the study purpose were collected from the number of reference books, Journals and Internet. The study covers from 2008 to 2013. This paper aims at examining the role of SHGs in India. It is mainly based on relevant literature available on the subject.

Origen of SHGs

People’s participation in self-help organizations is not new, but a strategy spread across many countries and executed in various location-specific ways. In the areas of urban development and housing, self-help takes the form of neighborhood groups, tenant groups and slum development committees, while in rural development, SHGs focus more on the establishment of credit groups, development committees and specific user groups. In East Africa (for example, Kenya), for example, the tradition of local self-help development efforts is characterized by local initiatives to control and collectively work to use local resources focused on rural development (Thomas 1985). In Southeast Asia (for example, Vietnam), the Tontine or Hui (also Hawala or Fei Chein) tradition of SHGs focuses on financial activities through cash or kind (Abiad 1995), while self-help efforts in Indonesia, are also organized around credit unions and village-based banks, with some SHGs composed of fishermen and irrigation groups (Gaonkar 2004). Generalised as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCA), the SHG function of locally provided, organized material support – or, informal banking – has been seen as a “middle rung in development”, historically contextualized by peasant social structure (Geertz 1962). In recent times, however, it has been given a new lease of life with the concept of microcredit, the extension of small loans to support the entrepreneurial ambitions of the poor, those least able to gain access to capital. The specific SHG form of microcredit groups has been set up in different countries in the South now. The origin of SHG is from the brain child of Gramin Bank of Bangladesh, which was found by the economist, Prof. Mohammed Yunus of Chittagong University in the Year 1975, to provide micro-finance to rural women. In Bangladesh, micro-finance has been established as a most powerful instrument to tackle poverty. Bangladesh are the most well-known example of this phenomenon, and various microcredit groups have also been formed in other countries in the region, such as in Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka, as well as in India where SHG’s have been helping to set up micro-enterprises for income generation. It has also facilitated social targeting within the general class of the poor, most notably of the rural poor and of women and women’s groups. Against this, however, microcredit has also been criticized, among other reasons for tending to operate only around the border of poverty (especially helping people with pre-existing businesses) rather than in its deeper reaches, and for typically offering a one dimensional support (financial credit) without other services (Islam 2007). Thus, for example, a study of the gender aspect of micro financing in the South Indian context (Holvoet 2005) leads to an argument for the need for financial and social group intermediation as part of the microcredit input so as to support women’s involvement in decision making processes.

Women Empowerment through SHG

Self employment is a significant step to have sustained incomes and remove the shackles of poverty. Programme for self-employment of the poor has been an important component of the antipoverty programmes implemented through government initiatives in the rural areas of India. Government have introduced an effective Self-Employment programme ‘Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar’, or SGSY This new programme has been launched from April 1999. This is a holistic programme covering all aspects of self employment such as organization of the poor in to self help groups, training, credit, technology, infrastructure and marketing. SGSY will be Funded by the centre and the states in the ration of 75 : 25. With the coming in to force of SGSY, the earlier programmes IRDP, TRYSEM, DWCRA, SITRA, GKY and MWS are no Longer in operation. Self-help groups (SHGs) is as an instrument to change the conditions of women socially and economically. Once socio-economic experiment is achieved it would have implication on the overall development of women. SHGs enable economic, social, political and psychological empowerment of women.

Economic Empowerment: The economic contribution of women has been found to be related to her role and status in the society. The Self-help groups provide economic benefits to the women by providing income generating activities. Economic independence facilitates in bringing about sexual equality and increase in women’s income translates more directly into family well being.

Social Empowerment: Self-help Groups improve the equality of status of women as participants, decision-makers and beneficiaries in the social, democratic, economic and cultural spheres of life. SHGs ensure the equality of status of women as participants, decision-makers and beneficiaries in the democratic, economic, social and cultural spheres of life.

Political Empowerment: SHGs as active, articulate and organized citizenry act on a range of issues, holding the Panchayats accountable in terms of the use, production and distribution of public resources for the common public good. SHGs enable women to develop their communication skills to speak at the Gram Sabah, public meetings, etc. An SHG functions through its regular meetings, where members perform transactional activities and discuss over different related issues. Social mobilization through SHGs is inevitable for political empowerment.

Psychological Empowerment: Self-help groups enhance the equality of women as participants, decision makers and beneficiaries in the democratic, economic, social and cultural spheres of life. The SHGs inculcate a great confidence in the minds of rural women to success in their day-to-day life.

Genesis and growth of SHGs in India:

Over the decades of planned development, the shift of emphasis of women’s programmes from purely welfare oriented approach to a more pragmatic and development oriented one has recognized woman as a productive worker and contributor to the economy. The formal financial institutions have failed to perform their role of supplying institutional credit to the women folk in our country for undertaking the income generating activities. As a result, a large segment of poverty stricken people and particularly the women who constitute a significant number still remain outside need for the emergence of a new institution to tackle the situation.

The SHGs in India were formed by Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency (MYRADA), a NGO in 1985 due to breakdown of the large cooperatives organized by MYRADA. By 1986–87, there were nearly 300 SHGs in MYRADA’s projects. MYRADA then approached NABARD for an action research project on self-help groups which funded the research. Within the same timeline, Asian and Pacific Regional Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) weighed options and agreed on further action for effectively increasing credit access for the poor. In India, NABARD and a member of APRACA, carried out an elaborate study which gave useful insights into the dynamics of group organization, saving potential and repayment ethics of the poor. Encouraged by the results of the study and action research project of MYRADA, NABARD, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Commercial Banks and NGOs, launched a pilot project in 1991–92 for linking of SHGs with banks. late 1990s when the central government of India introduce a holistic program, Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) based on the group approach for rural development Thus, the micro finance activity is the result of NABARD’S work that started in February 1992 through an initial pilot project promoting 500 SHGs. RBI had advised Commercial Banks in July 1991 to extend finance to SHGs as per NABARD guidelines. Subsequently, the linkage project was extended to RRBs and Cooperatives. The Self-Help Group movement became a silent revolution within a short span in the rural credit delivery system in many parts of the world. It has been documented that nearly 53 developing countries including India, have taken up this on a large scale. The Government of India is supporting the SHG movement. The main object of National Policy for Empowerment of Women (NPEW), 2001 is economic empowerment of women. The policy aims at enhancing supply of credit to the women through SHGs.

Table 1. Growth SHGs in India ( 2006-07 to 2011-12)

Year

No of SHGs

Growth rate (in percentage)

2006-07

2924973

7.54

2007-08

5009794

12.29

2008-09

6121147

15.79

2009-10

6959250

17.95

2010-11

7547269

19.47

2011-12

7960135

20.53

Source: Status of micro Finance 2012-13, NABARD

Table-1. Shown that the number of SHGs is increased 2924973 to7960135 in the period 2006-07 to 2011-12. In 2006-07, 2924973 SHGs were linked with the banks. In 2007-2008 the number of SHGs has been increased by