SHGs
– WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
News:
Govt. close to achieve
target of 10 crore women members in Self Help Groups, says Minister
What's
in the news?
●
The government is well on its way to reach
the target of 10 crore Self Help Group members by 2024.
Key
takeaways:
●
Union Minister for Rural Development
Giriraj Singh said the number of members, which was just 2.35 crore when the
BJP government came to power in 2014, has now touched 9 crore.
●
The Government has set itself a target
that every woman associated with SHGs should be able to earn ₹1 lakh per annum.
However as of now, the target is far off its mark as only 20% of the nine crore
beneficiaries fall in this bracket.
●
SHGs tie-ups with e-commerce portals will
bring the market closer and help in enhancing the revenue.
●
The cumulative loans of SHGs have now
crossed over ₹6.25 lakh crore.
●
The non-performing assets (NPA) of SHGs is
revolving around just 2.08%.
What
are SHGs?
●
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are small, informal and voluntary associations of
poor people, who come together for the purpose of solving their common problems
through self-help and mutual help.
●
The SHGs usually comprise very poor people
who do not have access to formal financial institutions.
●
Example:
SEWA in Gujarat, MYRADA in Karnataka, TANWA in Tamil Nadu, Ramkrishna mission
in Jharkhand, ADITHI in Bihar.
Functions
of SHGs:
1.
Savings and Investment:
●
All SHG members regularly save a small
amount. The amount may be small, but savings have to be a regular and
continuous habit with all the members.
●
“Savings first - Credit later” should be
the motto of every SHG member.
●
SHG members take a step towards self-dependence when they start small
savings. They learn financial discipline through savings and internal lending.
2.
Internal lending:
●
The SHG should use the savings amount for
giving loans to members.
●
The purpose, amount, rate of interest,
schedule of repayment etc., are to be decided by the group itself.
●
Proper accounts are to be kept by the SHG.
3.
Discussing problems:
●
In every meeting, the SHG should be
encouraged to discuss and try to find solutions to the problems faced by the
members of the group.
●
Individually, the poor people are weak and
lack the resources to solve their problems. When the group tries to help its members,
it becomes easier for them to face the difficulties and come up with solutions.
4.
Taking bank loans: The SHG takes loans from the bank and
gives them as loans to its members.
Objectives:
●
To sensitize people of the target area for
the need of SHG and its relevance in their empowerment process.
●
To create group feeling among members.
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To enhance the confidence and capabilities of members.
●
To develop collective decision making among members.
●
To encourage the habit of saving among members and facilitate the accumulation of
their own capital resource base.
●
To motivate
members taking up social responsibilities particularly related to
development.
Significance
of the SHGs:
1.
Social Capital:
●
The SHGs provide a forum in which people
can meet on a regular basis and discuss various issues or concerns that the
members face in their day-to-day life
which acts as the basic source of social capital generation.
●
SHGs play a crucial role in overcoming social evils like
alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, etc.
2.
Women empowerment:
●
Women's SHGs make their members independent from social constraints and
allow them to make independent decisions. They can even actively participate in
the Gram Sabha.
●
SHGs can actively participate in the aspects
of local governance. This would mean
the inclusion of weaker and marginalised sections of the society in the local
governance.
3.
Entrepreneurship:
●
It allows for micro-level entrepreneurship
within the rural society and reduces too much dependence on agriculture.
4.
Rural poverty:
●
SHGs have become a vehicle to lift people
from below poverty line, generate awareness about welfare and developmental
schemes of the government, monitor its implementation etc.
●
Positive correlation between SHGs and
poverty can be inferred from the fact that southern states with a high number
of SHGs (71%) have an average poverty rate at 9% as against the nation's
average of 21%.
5.
Livelihood:
●
Improves the standard of living, family
planning, and healthcare, of the vulnerable sections of society.
6.
Financial inclusion:
●
The members of the SHGs are encouraged to
open savings accounts in banks. This assures improved living conditions,
increased spending on education, health, etc.
7.
Literacy rates:
●
With more women participation and their
enhanced status address issues such as nutrition poverty and low literacy rate.
8.
Skill development:
●
Skill development program undertaken by
SHGs improves employability of members involved.
9.
Pressure Groups:
●
SHGs act as pressure groups through which
pressure can be mounted on the government to act on important issues.
Successful
case studies:
●
Kudumbashree
in Kerala has helped in providing skill training and poverty
eradication of women.
●
SHGs like SEWA, Lizzat papad promotes entreprenurial culture among women.
Challenges
of SHGs:
1.
Illiteracy:
●
About 30% of rural people are illiterate
according to government data.
●
Lack of practical knowledge and
information adversely affects the efficacy of SHG.
2.
Lack of Stability:
●
In the case of SHGs dominated by women, it
is found that there is no stability of the units as many married women are not
in a position to associate with the group due to the shift of their place of
residence.
3.
Social barriers:
●
Women SHGs in India face various social
barriers. For example, women in villages are still seen as caretakers of
children and housewives. They are not allowed to work or participate. This
hinders women’s participation in SHG.
●
Various women, even if they participate, often
do not attend the meetings due to house activities.
4.
Caste and Religion:
●
In rural areas caste and religious systems
dominate and are very deep.
●
Group formations based on caste and
religious lines hinders the working of SHGs.
●
People belonging to different castes are
not ready to participate and cooperate with each other.
5.
Patriarchy:
●
Prevalence of patriarchal mindset in the
rural areas, see women as weak in all respects.
●
Female child discrimination restricts the
women to take active part in various decision-making processes.
6.
Lack of funding:
●
Generally rural people lack funds or are
not ready to spend out of pocket.
●
It is found that in most of the SHGs, the
financial assistance provided to them by the agencies concerned is not adequate
to meet their actual requirements.
●
Inability to provide collateral security.
●
Poor credit absorption capacity.
●
Inadequate reach of the institution.
●
Weak community network.
7.
Exploitation by Strong Members:
●
It is also observed that in the case of
many SHGs, strong members try to earn a lion’s share of the profit of the
group, by exploiting the ignorance and illiterate members.
8.
Too much dependence on government and NGOs:
●
Many SHGs are dependent on the promoter
agencies for their survival. In case these agencies withdraw their support, the
SHGs are vulnerable to downfall.
Government
Initiatives:
1.
DAY-NRLM:
●
The objective of Deen Dayal Antyodaya
Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission is to organise the rural poor women into SHGs and continuously nurturing and
supporting them to take economic activities till they attain appreciable
increase in income over a period of time to improve their quality of life and
come out of abject poverty.
●
The programme aims to ensure that at least
one woman member from each rural poor household (about 9 crore) is brought into
the fold of women SHGs and their federations within a definite time frame.
●
National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM),
aimed at raising the annual income of
each woman in self-help groups (SHGs) to Rs 1 lakh by 2024, it is
aggressively promoting entrepreneurship and economies of scale among them.
2.
E-Shakti:
●
E-Shakti is a program by NABARD for digitisation of all Self Help Group (SHG)
in the country. The project is being implemented in 100 districts across the
country.
WAY
FORWARD:
●
The Government should create a supportive environment for the growth and development of
the SHG movement in India.
●
SHG should be expanded to credit deficient areas of the like Madhya Pradesh,
Bihar, UP and the north eastern states.
●
Efforts should also be made to increase income generation abilities of the
urban poor who have become a victim of rapid rise in urbanisation.
●
Government functionaries should treat the
poor and marginalized as a responsible customer and as a possible entrepreneur.
●
There is a need to establish a separate SHG monitoring cell in every
state.
●
These cells should have direct links with
district and block level monitoring systems.
●
Commercial Banks and NABARD in
collaboration with the State Government need to continuously innovate and
design new financial products for SHG groups.
●
Efforts must be made by removing various taboos and awarding
people about Increasing role of women. Gender sensitisation efforts must be
made.
●
Non-Government
Organisations (NGOs) can play a significant role in empowering
women entrepreneurs by providing basic education, motivation training, and
financial help.
SHG and the
socio-economic programmes reinforce each other and promote all-round
development of the children, the women, the households and the communities. It
is a process which ultimately leads to self-fulfilment of each member of the
society. It is in this direction that SHGs are moving towards fulfilling their
objectives with a meaningful strategic direction.