CHAPTER – I

Introduction

Since time immemorial Society’s attitude towards women is very

bad. The women folk always became the victim to the injustice. Mostly
Asian customs and tradition are fully dominated by its male member. In
this male dominated world women didn’t have the freedom of decision in
any sphere; social, political, or economical. This inequality is much wider
in rural areas. In most of the rural families male child is given priority
over the female child in number of places, like; education, health,
vocational and skill development training to earn a livelihood. The female
child forcefully stays back at home to look after her younger siblings and
the household chores, so that her parents will earn for the family. At a
very early age the female child play the role of a mother to her younger
siblings, in absence of their biological mother.

Health wise also, the male child is given priority over the female
child. Around 50% of women aged between 15-49 years suffer from
Anemia. Women were deliberately and purposefully neglected during the
pre-natal and post-natal period of pregnancy. If she gives birth to a
female child then the conditions get worse. In cases of medical
emergencies, adequate medical attention was not available, leading to
high mortality rate, especially maternal mortality.

In political field also women seldom have any part to play. Even
after the introduction of Panchayat Raj system in rural India and 30%
seat reserve for women, they are not aware of their voting rights. They
are isolated from the Panchayat meetings. However, if they do participate
in the meeting their views and opinions were seldom asked.

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 While efforts from various institutions in the state towards poverty
reduction and women’s empowerment have not been lacking, the impact
has fallen short of expectations. Orissa has one of the highest incidences
of poverty in the country with 47% households below the poverty line
compared to all India average of 26%. Women and children suffer more
on account of poverty, literacy, social and material deprivation,
dependence on agriculture and non-timber forest produces for livelihood,
lack of avenues for supplementary income, coupled with physical
distances from the center of development and developed market
contribute toward overall poverty, the major brunt of which is faced by
women. The women constitute an important segment of the labor force;
the unpaid economic activities of women and their contribution in the
domestic sector remain unreported and go largely unrecognized.

There is an urgent necessity to improve the status of women by

well conceived, planned development programs which would have active
community participation based on the women’s needs in order to
emancipate and empower them. The physical strength and alleged
dominance of men has been an important instrument of controlling
women’s freedom of action. The poor women of the household hardly get
any money for her or get a few amount of money to run the household.
Sometime, in time of their emergency they run to the door of the
landlords and money lenders to fulfill their credit needs and this come
usually at a very high interest. To meet the emergency need of the
women folk the Self-Help Groups evolved. Members of the SHG collect
their savings and save it in banks. In return they receive easy access to
loans with a small rate of interest to start their micro unit enterprise.
Thousand of the poor and the marginalized population in India are
building their lives, their families and their society through self help
groups. In no time SHGs flourished in the development sector as a major
tool for bringing economic development of the women folk. It has become

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a great boon for the rural women folk. Self-Help Group’s main activity is
the establishment of savings and credits. Savings encourages people to
plan for their future needs. The SHG movement in Orissa has become
almost synonymous with economic empowerment of Women.

The strength of Self-Help Group is its ability to unite growth and

poverty agendas. There are many options that have the potential to
reduce poverty, many that have the potential to increase the economic
growth and profit making capacities. Self-Help Group is one of the
options, which can reduce poverty and increase economic growth in
sustainable manner in people centered approach. The innovation of Self-
Help Groups was not only to provide a range of financial products to the
rural households but also to facilitate livelihood promotion and livelihood
protection.

Present status of women:

The reality of women’s lives remains invisible to men and

women alike and this invisibility persists at all levels beginning with the
family to the nation. Although geographically men and women share the
same space, they live in different worlds. The impact of inequality is
reflected in the status of women worldwide and in India. About, 70% of
the 1.2 billion people living in poverty are female. Women as workers do
more than 67% of the hours of work done in the world. But, they only
earn 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the world’s property.
The value of unremunerated work was estimated at about $16 billion,
from which $11 billion represents the invisible contribution of women.
About 60-80% of the food in most developing countries is produced by
women and still they are paid 30-40% less than men for comparable
work on an average.

3
 In education, approximately 67% of the world’s 875 million
illiterate adults are women. About, 60% of the 130 million children in the
age group of 6-11 years who do not go to school are girls.

In the year 2000, there were 80 million unwanted pregnancies, 20

million unsafe abortions and 5 lakhs maternal deaths.

According to India’s constitution, women are legal citizens of the

country and have equal rights with men. Even though the constitution
guarantees free primary schooling to everyone up to 14 years of age
(Indian Parliament), very few females attend school. Close to 245 million
Indian women lack the basic capability to read and write. Only about 39
percent of women in India actually attend primary school. And, only
47.8% of women in India are literate compared to the 73.4% of literate
men. There are several reasons why families choose not to educate their
daughters. One reason is that parents get nothing in return for educating
their daughters. Another reason is that all the females in a household
have the responsibility of the housework. So, even though education
does not financially burden the family, it costs them the time she spends
at school when she could be doing chores.

Because women are not educated and cannot hold a

prestigious job, they take on the most physically difficult and
undesirable jobs. Women do the majority of the manual labor that uses a
lot of energy compared to the men who do mostly machine operating.
Even then, the men say that “women eat food and do nothing”. As
workers, female share of non-agricultural wage employment is only 17%.
Participation of women in the workforce is only 13.9% in the urban
sector and 29.9% in the rural sector. Women’s wage rates are on an
average, only 75% of men’s wage rates and constitute only 25% of the
family income.

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 Women occupy only 9% of parliamentary seats, less than 4% seats
in High Courts and Supreme Court, and less than 3% administrators
and managers are women. Over 40% of married Indian women face
physical abuse by their husband. One in every two women faces
domestic violence in any of its forms – physical, sexual, psychological
and/or economical.

Govt. attitudes towards women:

Women & Child Development (W&CD) Department, Govt’s of

Orissa is the largest promoter of programs related to women’s
empowerment in the state. Two main programs being run by the W&CD
Department are the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) and
Women Development Program (WDP). ICDS is being run in all the 314
blocks in all the 30 districts of the state addressing issues of child
survival and safe motherhood, implemented through ‘Anganwadi Centers’
at the village level. Currently the program covers 34,201 Anganwadi
Centers.

Women Development Program has been started in the state with

the objective of social, political and economic empowerment of women.
The SHG program is now integrated with other programs of W&CD –
sexual health, adolescent development and capacity building of women.
The government programs such as RMK (Rastriya Mahila Kosh), SGSY
(Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana) and “Swayamsiddha” etc. have
influenced the microfinance scenario in Orissa. Over past 10-15 years,
public policy on poverty alleviation has focused strongly on microfinance
initiatives with substantial thrust on subsidy.

5
Concept of Women Empowerment:

Women are an integral part of every economy. All round

development and harmonious growth of a nation would be possible only
when women are considered as equal partners in progress with men.
Empowerment of women is a holistic concept. It is multi dimensional in
its approach and covers social, political and economic aspects. Of all
these facets of women’s development, economic empowerment is of
utmost significance in order to achieve a lasting and sustainable
development of society. The World Bank’s Empowerment and Poverty
Reduction: A Sourcebook, defines empowerment in its broadest sense as
the “expansion of freedom of choice and action” ( Narayan, 2002). United
Nations (2001) defines empowerment as the processes by which women
take control and ownership of their lives through expansion of their
choices. In order for a woman to be empowered, she needs access to the
material, human and social resources necessary to make strategic
choices in her life. Access to resources alone does not automatically
translate into empowerment or equality, however, because women must
also have the ability to use the resources to meet their goals. Women who
have been excluded from decision making for most of their lives often
lack this sense of agency that allows them to define goals and effectively
to achieve them. However, these goals also can be heavily influenced by
the values of the society in which women live and so may sometimes
replicate rather than challenge the structures of injustice.

Link between Microfinance and women Empowerment:

Though there has been a remarkable growth in the number of

SHGs in the state and increasing micro-finance delivery channels with
the involvement of Govt. NGOs and SHPIs, their sustainability and
quality have emerged as a significant issue over the years. NGOS along

6
with government realized that micro finance is one of the major tools for
poverty reduction. But NGOs dealing with micro-finance programs are
still finding it difficult as to understand where to go next in the absence
of adequate handholding/promotion support. One school of thought is
that access to credit by the poorest of the poor is the objective of micro
finance practices whereas some say credit is meant for productive use
thereby enabling the family earn more, employ more and develop a habit
of repayment for further linking to mainstream financial institutions and
so on and so forth. Microfinance for the poor and women has received
extensive recognition as a strategy for poverty reduction and for
economic empowerment. Increasingly, in the last five years, there is
questioning of whether micro credit is most effective approach to
economic empowerment of women. Credit for empowerment is about
organizing people, particularly around credit and building capacities to
manage money. The focus is on getting women to mobilize their own
fund, building their capacities and empowering them to leverage external
credit. Perception women is that learning to manage money and rotate
funds builds women’s capacities and confidence to intervene in local
governance beyond the limited goals of ensuring access to credit. The
Government measures have attempted to help the poor by implementing
different poverty alleviation programs but with little success. Since the
credit requirements of the rural women cannot be adopted on project
lending approach as it is in the case of organized sector, there emerged
the need for an informal credit supply through SHGs. The rural women
with the assistance from NGOs have demonstrated their potential to self
help to secure economic and financial strength. Women SHGs are taking
up varieties of income-generation activities such as piggery, goat rearing,
pisciculture, dairy, setting up PDS (Public Distribution System) outlets,
kerosene dealership, execution of labor intensive works, vegetable

7
cultivation, floriculture, horticulture, carpet making, leaf plate stitching,
bee keeping, rope making etc.

Importance of study:

Society’s attitude towards women is very confusing. Our customs and

tradition are fully dominated by man. In this man dominated world
women didn’t have freedom of decision in any sphere; social, political, or
economical. This inequality is much wider in rural areas.

 Women had no access to political participation;

 They lacked organization in groups, and were consequently

isolated;

 They had no access to credit or resources;

 They lacked education, vocational training, and skills to earn a

livelihood;

 Women’s health and nutritional status was poor, with around 50%
women aged 15-49 years being anemic.

The study seeks to explore the impact of participation in Self-Help

Groups on the empowerment of women in the context of the great
importance being given to the group approach while conceptualizing
any program for rural women. The introduction of self-help group
enabled women to participate in groups and take decisions on all
issues that affect their lives in relation to their poverty and its
eradication. It improves their social, political and economical
conditions.

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The Objective of the Study:

The main Objective of the study has been:

 To study psychological, social and economical benefits

accrued by women participating in SHGs

 To understand the genesis of the formation of SHGs

 To know how the group processes of SHG can impact

empowerment at individual and community level

 To analyze the effect of the program interventions on the

position of women members in their families; whether project
participation has led to greater autonomy, decision-making power and
their greater control over resources.

 To find out if there has been a transformation of relations of

subordination between men and women, change in power relations at the
level of the larger society

 To suggest measures for making SHG an effective

instrument of Empowerment.

The study looks at various dimensions of empowerment – material,

cognitive, perceptual and relational. Access to credit can help in
expansion of material base of women by enabling them to start and
expand small businesses, often accompanied by market access; the
women also experienced ‘Power Within’ feelings of freedom, strength, self
identity and increases in levels of confidence and self-esteem. However,

9
gender discrimination is most deeply entrenched in the family, evident in
attitudes towards daughters-in-law, daughters, the gender based division
of work, roles and responsibilities as well as the mind-set towards
domestic violence and issues of ownership and inheritance of land. This
topic was selected to analyze how far the SHG has influenced rural
women to work for their own betterment.

Hence, the Research Objective of this study is to determine

whether and to what extent participation in Self-Help Groups has an
impact on the empowerment of women members. Given the great
importance being given to the group approach while conceptualizing and
implementing any program for the rural poor, especially women, this
study becomes both essential and relevant. More specifically, in this
work, to see if the SHG approach has been successful in the
empowerment of rural women living in the highly patriarchal and
traditional societies of the Raygada Block of Gajapati District in Odisha.

Study design:

The study was conducted in the Raygada block of Gajapati District

of Odisha. The choice of Gram Panchayats is: Sanatundi, S.Karadasing,
Jeerango, Koinipur and Gandahati. The total no of villages covered in
these five Gram Panchayats is 34. And, the total no. of households under
study is 1284. The villages consist of tribal and semi-tribal people,
mostly Christians. The tribal people in these areas were mostly illiterate.
They were just educated enough to put their signature when and
wherever required without asking any question.

Hypothesis:

The present study is based on the following hypothesis;

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 That SHGs have done a commendable job in Women
Empowerment,

 SHGs have imparted confidence among women to abort their

problem in society,

 There is a close link between women evolvement in SHGs

and Women Empowerment,

 Growth of SHGs has been significant in recent years, and

 SHGs need to be encouraged through sufficient incentives.

The participation of women in SHGs enables them to acquire an

inimitable psychological benefit, to rise up psychologically powerful
which is an essence for women empowerment in any socio-cultural and
economic environment and situations. The psychological benefits can
include: Self awareness, high self-esteem, self confidence and courage,
understanding about own rights, roles and responsibilities, power of self
determination, positive attitude, risk taking ability, power to face
challenges of daily life, gaining knowledge and new ideas and skills,
leading happy and satisfied life without any mental worry and anxiety
and so on.

The Self-Help Group has enabled the women living below poverty
line to develop socially and economically. It has help to bring out the
potential in women and develop their self-confidence. By being in the
group the women learnt to work in unity, which has enhanced
community harmony. The Self-Help Group has encouraged women to
take over the village level administration. The women in the group are
entitled to take small loans, which they spend for themselves and save it
for rainy day. Being in the group has enabled them to pay for school fees
of the children, fulfill their domestic needs and meet emergency medical

11
expenses. Now, they don’t have to pledge jewels with money lenders or
pledge land documents in the banks. The women are well informed about
the economic, political situation and don’t fear to visit different places
like government offices, banks etc. The SHG helped women to secure his
position in the mainstream of decision-making.

Generally, SHGs are expected to be platforms for women to help

themselves for their social and economic empowerment. This suggests
that SHGs basic philosophy lies in the principle of their self-management
and self-regulation.

Methodology:

One of the critical issues in the choice of methodology used in this

study was that although women’s empowerment is extensively
acknowledged as a vital aim in development, the concepts related with
it’s differ and standards and yardsticks for logically measuring changes
in empowerment are not uniformly accepted. In particular, it is the
ability to make and carry out significant decisions affecting one’s own life
and the lives of others.

While doing the research a non-hierarchical relationship with the

women should be maintained. It is not necessary to go to the village
accompanied by government functionaries. A full disclosure of the
researcher and the purpose of study have to be done, as it is difficult to
build trust with half truths. The knowledge of the local dialect will help
in face to face communication. It will be very helpful to talk to the
respondents in their homes or at their work places, and as far as
possible, alone. Apart from this, it is necessary to talk to a number of
government officers, program planners and implementers, NGO workers
and community leaders to understand their perceptions and experiences.
However, the researcher has to be careful about drawing on the wisdom

12
of the informed perspectives of key informants, keeping in mind that
their perspectives are selective.

It is a long process of getting along with the women folks and

gaining their trust. It starts with knowing each other, taking interest in
their activities and life, giving an attentive ear to whatever they want to
share. The end result is the project itself.

Sample Design:

The study gives account of 115 SHGs of 34 villages. These 34

villages come under 5 Gram Panchayats. These are mostly tribal villages.
Some are hill top villages with no transportation facilities. Out of these
SHGs, those which existed for more than two years were separated and
selected for the study. So, the study was conducted among women of 88
SHGs.

The government schemes are well known in road side villages and
the implementation of the schemes is also noteworthy. But, in order to
get the result that the scheme promises one has to visit the interior part
of India. From the year 1980, how far SHG has spread its wing has to be
verifying in rural area only. If it has empowered the tribal women also,
then we can be confident about its success. And, by choosing this study
area we can see how tribal women are getting familiar with financial
security, how outward they become, etc.

Method of Data Collection:

In this research process both the questionnaire and the interview

were used as the tools of data collection. The questionnaire has included
a series of questions pertaining to psychological, social, educational or
any such issues which are sent to an individual or a group, with the aim
of obtaining relevant data on the topic of research.

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 During the project preparation both the tools of data collection are
combined together. A set of structure questionnaire has been prepared
well in advance and asked those questions in an interview format. Both
the individual as well as the group interview have been conducted to
gather information regarding the subject matter. Additional questions
were used when further details were required.

Besides, using the questionnaire and interview method of data

collection; many research records, journals and information from the
course of studies have been gone through to get some more relevant
data.

Limitation of the Study:

The study findings and recommendations given are based on the

limited coverage of 34 villages of Gajapati District. The report has been
prepared based on the data collected from the field and published
secondary data. The study has taken the 88 no. of women SHGs
functioning in Raygada Block. There is more than 100 SHG in this
particular Block, which includes women, men and group for disabled
people. The women SHGs have been separated by their activities. From
these separated groups two SHGs were chosen randomly from each
activity. The facts presented are based on the information provided by
the SHG members and SHG volunteers.

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CHAPTERIZATION:

Chapter I of the paper briefly gives the subject idea, present status
of women, Gov’t attitudes towards women, concept of women
empowerment, link between Microfinance and women empowerment,
importance of the study, objective of study, Hypothesis, study design,
sampling, method of data collection, chapterization.

Chapter II looks at the study of past literature, national Policy for

Women Empowerment, Link between Microfinance and Women
Empowerment

Chapter III reflects upon the Concept of SHGs, Growth of SHGs

and Working of SHGs.

Chapter IV looks at the socio-economic profile of Block and village

under study.

Chapter V discusses the role of SHGs in Women Empowerment – a

case study of Block/village.

And, Finally, Chapter VI, delineates the summary and findings,

and thus comes to the conclusion of this research project.

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 CHAPTER - II

Study of Past Literature:

Empowerment cannot be defined in terms of specific activities or

end results because it involves a process whereby women can freely
analyze, develop and voice their needs and interests, without predefining
or imposing them from above by planners or other social factors. The
women empowerment takes place when women challenge the existing
norms and culture, to effectively improve their well being.

A review of the literature raises question about the degree to which

women keep a control over assets acquired as a result of loans from
SHGs. Research (Goetz and Sengupta 1996; Mayoux 1998) shows that
only a minority of women receiving credit from poverty oriented micro
finance programs are controlling their loans; many women are merely
‘post boxes’: passing on the full amount of loans directly to their
husbands, sons or sons-in law, with little or no access to the income
generated and receiving back only enough money to make weekly loan
repayments. Montgomery and Hulme (1996) found that only 9% of first-
time female borrowers were primary managers of loan funded activities
while 87% described their role in terms of “family partnerships”. By
contrast, 33% of first-time male borrowers had sole authority over the
loan-assisted activity while 56% described it as a family partnership.

In an insightful reflection on the measurement of women’s

empowerment, Kabeer (1999) explains that women’s empowerment refers
to the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make

16
strategic life choices acquire such ability. This ability to exercise choice
incorporates three inter-related dimensions: resources which include
access to and future claims to both material and social resources; agency
which includes the process of decision-making, negotiation, deception
and manipulation; and achievements that are the well being outcomes.

The interpretation of women empowerment and its measurement

also varies across different studies. Most researchers construct an
index/indicator of women empowerment. Ackerly creates an indicator,
“Accounting Knowledge”, to measure the probability that the changes
associated with empowerment intervene. Goetz and Sengupta (1996)
build an index of Managerial Control in order to classify the borrowers
into five categories ranging from no control to full control of the use of
the loans. Mayoux argues that the very process of taking decisions within
the group is an empowering process and so can lead to broader
development outcomes, such as the greater participation of women in
local government process, and so on. The “Active” women loaners had
higher consumption standards and a role in household decision making,
either on their own or jointly with their husbands, than “Passive” female
loaners.

In another study, Hashemi, Schuler and Riley (1996) investigate

the change in women empowerment with the help of an ethnographic
study and quantitative survey. The analysis uses 1,300 women sample
data to measure the effects of Grameen Bank and Bangladesh Rural
Advancement Committee. They create an empowerment indicator build
on the following eight criterions: mobility, economic security, ability to
make small purchases, large purchases, involvement in major household
decisions and relative freedom from domination by the family, political
and legal awareness, participation in public protests and political
campaigns.

17
 Measuring women empowerment by constructing indices is an
inappropriate technique as it allows the use of arbitrary weights. Most
researchers, for instance, will agree that impact of a woman’s decision to
buy cooking oil for the family is different in nature from her participation
in a decision to buy a piece of land. Both these decisions have different
implications and magnitude of impact on her empowerment. As such
giving equal weight age to both these decisions does not make sense. At
the same time suggesting an arbitrary weight for these decisions also
inappropriate, as it is not for the researchers to decide the factor by
which the latter decision contributes more to women empowerment.

In a comprehensive study, Pitt et al.(2006), use Item Response

Theory (IRT), where the element of analysis is the whole pattern of a set
of binary indicators that proxy for woman’s autonomy, decision making
power, and participation in household and societal decision making.
They find that credit programs lead to women taking a greater role in
household decision making, having greater access to financial and
economic resources, having greater social networks, more bargaining
power vis-à-vis their husbands and having greater freedom of mobility.
Holvoet (2005) finds in her study of women in rural Kenya that in direct
bank borrower minimal credit, women do not get much in terms of
decision making power within the household. However, when loans are
channeled through women’s group and are combined with more
investment in social intermediation, substantial shifts in decision
making patterns are observed. She finds that the effects are even more
striking when women have been members of a group for a longer period
and especially when greater emphasis has been laid on genuine social
intermediation.

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 Some argues that micro-finance programs divert the attention of
women from other more effective strategies for empowerment (Ebdon,
1995). Evidence suggests that, even in financially successful
microfinance programs, actual contribution to empowerment is often
limited (Mayoux, 2000):

1. Most women remained confined to a narrow range of female

low income activities.

2. Many women have limited control over income and/or what

little income they earn may substitute for former male household
contributions, as men retain more of their earnings for their own use.

3. Women often have greater work loads combining both

production and reproductive tasks.

4. Women’s expenditure decisions may continue to priorities

men and male children, while daughters or daughters-in-law bear the
brunt of unpaid domestic work.

5. Where women actively press for change, this may increase

tensions in the household and the incidence of domestic violence.

6. Women remain marginalized in local and national level

political processes. This is not just a question of lack of impact but may
also be a process of disempowerment.

7. Credit is also debt; savings and loan interest or insurance

payments divert resources which might otherwise go towards necessary
consumption or investment.

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8. Putting the responsibility for savings and credit on women
may absolve men of responsibility for the household.

9. Where group meetings focus only on savings and credit, this

uses up women’s precious work and leisure time, cutting program costs
but not necessarily benefiting women.

It has also been studied that women’s increased economic role may lead
to change in gender roles and increased status within households and
communities (Mayoux, 2000). Hashemi, Schuler and Riley (1996)
explored the impact of credit on a number of indicators of empowerment:

 The reported magnitude of women’s economic

contribution;

 Their mobility in the public domain;

 Their ability to make small and large purchases;

 Their ownership of productive assets, including house

or homestead land and cash savings;

 Involvement in major decision making, such as

purchasing land, poultry or livestock for income earning purposes;

 Freedom from family domination, including the ability

to make choices concerning how their money was used, the ability to
visit their natal home when desired and a say in decisions relating to the
sale of their jewelery or land or to taking up outside work;

 Political awareness such as knowledge of key national

and political figures and the law on inheritance and participation in
political action of various kinds; and finally,

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 A composite of all these indicators.

According to UN Human Development Report 1995, the human

development paradigm contains four main components-productivity,
equity, sustainability and empowerment. Economic growth is combined
with equitable distribution of its benefits. Equitable opportunities must
be available both to present and to future generations. Human
development is impossible without gender equality. Empowerment is a
process of awareness and capacity building leading to greater
participation, greater decision making power and control, and to
transformative action. It is a process aimed at changing the nature and
direction of systematic forces, which marginalize women and other
disadvantaged sections in a given context. Empowerment is also
visualized as an enabling process. The process of empowerment is both
individual self-assertion to collective resistance, protest and mobilization
that challenge basic power relations. For individual groups where class,
caste, ethnicity and gender determine their access to resources and
power, their empowerment begins when they not only recognize the
systematic forces that oppress them, but act to change existing power
relationships.

Any successful strategy for women’s empowerment will have to

account for the fact that:

 Empowerment cannot be successfully achieved till aspects-

social, economic and political are addressed.

 Empowerment should cover women in all regions of the

country

 Gender concerns have to be mainstreamed in all aspects of

public expenditure and policy as women are equal citizens in the country

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 Participation of women in decision making is necessary given
their specific needs and to recognize them as equal members of the
society

 Societal attitudes have to be re-engineered

Mayoux’s (2000) definition of empowerment relates more directly

with power, as “a multidimensional and interlinked process of change in
power relation”.

It consists of:

 ‘Power within’, enabling women to articulate their own

aspirations and strategies for change;

 ‘Power to’, enabling women to develop the necessary skills

and access the necessary resources to achieve their aspirations;

 ‘Power with’, enabling women to examine and articulate their

collective interests, to organize, to achieve them and to link with other
women and men’s organizations for a change; and

 ‘Power over’, is changing the underline inequalities in power

and resources that constrains women’s aspirations and their ability to
achieve them. These power relations operate in different spheres of life
and at different levels.

Batliwala writes, “empowerment must be externally induced, by

forces working with an altered consciousness and awareness that the
existing social order is unjust and unnatural. They seek to change other
women’s consciousness; altering their self-image and their beliefs about
their rights and capabilities; creating awareness of how gender

22
discrimination, like other socio-economic and political forces, is one of
the forces acting on them; challenging the sense of inferiority that has
been imprinted on them since birth; and recognizing the true value of
their labor and contributions to the family, society and economy”. An
outside agency or NGO can perform definite roles in self-help groups.
One is to act as facilitator mainly in the early stages of group formation
and by giving support to the leaders and members to work out its role
and modalities. Social mobilization is necessary for organizing women
into SHGs, bringing about banks SHG linkage and organizing training
programs. NGOs especially with local staff are the most apt agency for
this.
Rahman’s (1999) research is a study of Grameen Bank lending to
women in Bangladesh as well. Rahman questions the degree to which
microfinance benefits women and explains that women in Bangladesh
are often unable to use loans by themselves in the structure of
patriarchy and the rural market economy. The absence of investment
opportunities for rural women and the lack of control by the lending
institution as to how loans are used and by whom lead women to pass on
their loans to others (generally men) and lose control of their loans
altogether. “The figure shows that men are users (persons who control
and use the loan and arrange for installments) of more than 60% of
women’s loans. The study also shows that approximately 78% of total
loans approved in the village are actually used for different purposes
than sanctioned by the project”.

Gibbons (1999) also specifically addresses the work of Rahman:

“There is of course a flip side to this miracle story. Aminur Rahman
(1999) who suggests, from his village level observations in Bangladesh,
that the Grameen Bank prefers women more for strategic reasons in
relation to investment and recovery of loans than for the benefit of the

23
women themselves has described it most fully, because they are more
compliant and easier to discipline than the men. Moreover as the honor
of their wives (and themselves) is at stake in repayment the husbands
also pressure their wives to repay as required. Thus poor women are
pressured from both sides, and some describe this as intolerable.”

In India, during 2001, about 31% of women in rural areas and

about 11.6% of women in urban areas were in the workforce as
compared to about 52.4% of men in rural areas and 50.9% of men in
urban areas. This clearly indicates the difference in the participation of
women and men in the Indian economy.

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian

Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties
and Directive Principles. The constitution not only grants equality to
women, but also empowers the state to adopt measures of positive
discrimination in favor of women. The main objective of this policy is to
bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of women
and to ensure their active participation in all spheres of life and
activities. The policy also stresses on the importance of earmarking
allocations under the women’s component plan and prioritizes the need
for gender budgeting. Within the framework of a democratic policy, our
laws, development policies, plans and programs have aimed at women’s
advancement in different spheres. From the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-
78) onwards has been a marked shift in the approach to women issues
from welfare to development. In recent years, the empowerment of
women has been recognized as the central issue in determining the
status of women. The National Commission for women was set up by an
act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements
of women. The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1993) to the constitution of

24
India have provided for reservation of seats in the local bodies of
Panchayats and Municipalities for women, laying a strong foundation for
their participation in decision making at the local levels.

JSI researchers identified six general areas or domains on which

empowerment of women is believed to be taking place as a result of
Grameen Bank, BRAC and other credit programs: a sense of self and
vision of a future, mobility and visibility, economic security, status and
decision making power within the household, ability to interact effectively
in the public sphere and participation in non-family groups. Thus their
concept of empowerment can be looked at in a behavioral sense as the
ability to take effective action.

UNDP has identified two crucial routes as imperative for

empowerment. The first is social mobilization and collective agency, as
poor women often lack the basic capabilities and self-confidence to
counter and challenge existing disparities and barriers against them.
Often, change agents are needed to catalyze social mobilization
consciously. Second, the process of social mobilization needs to be
accompanied or complemented by economic security. As long as the
disadvantaged suffer from economic deprivation and livelihood
insecurity, they will not be in a position to mobilize (UNDP 2001). In
many developing countries (especially in South Asia), one strategy which
has been found to be promising is participatory institution building in
the self-help groups, often coupled with savings and micro-credit loans
(ESCAP, 2002).

The first people in history to demonstrate the power of self-help

groups were alcoholics. Alcoholics Anonymous was started in 1935 to
help “hopeless alcoholics” recover from alcoholism, something the
medical profession had been unable to do.

25
 In the 1960s, Civil Right Movements began to evolve in many
developed countries, as people became aware of their collective power.
These power to the people movements provided avenues for the
development of the self-help group movement.

In 1970s, the emphasis moved from mass movements to small

group movements in some countries. Then, in 1976, two edited books
(Caplan & Killilea, 1976; Katz & Bender, 1976) and two journal issues
(Borman & Lieberman, 1976; Riessman, 1976) written by social
scientists appeared which featured self help groups in North America.

In Vietnam, Tontines or Hui with 10-15 members involved in

financial activities in cash or in kind have been in existence for
generations. In Indonesia, Credit Unions, Fisherman Groups, Village
Based Bank like institutions, Irrigation Groups, etc. have been in
existence since long. In Bangladesh the success story of the Grameen
Bank is well known. Other countries like Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka and
India have also experienced the role of SHGs in uplifting the socio-
economic conditions of the rural poor, particularly rural women.

The World Bank has suggested the empowerment of women should

be a key aspect of social development programs. India has also ratified
various international Conventions committed to securing equal rights to
women. The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (2000)
states that “the women’s movement and a wide spread network of NGOs
which have strong grassroots presence and deep insight into women’s
concerns have contributed in inspiring initiatives for the empowerment of
women”. However, the policy also speaks of “a wide gap between the
goals enunciated in the constitution, legislative policies, plans, programs
and the related mechanisms on the one hand and the situational reality
of the status of women in India, on the other. Gender equality manifests
itself in various forms, the most obvious being the trend of continuously

26
declining female ratio in the population in the last few decades. Social
stereo typing and violence at the domestic and social levels are some of
the other manifestations.

National Policy for Women Empowerment:

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution

in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive
Principles. The constitution not only grants equality to women, but also
empowers the state to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favor
of women. The main objective of this policy is to bring about the
advancement, development and empowerment of women and to eliminate
all forms of discrimination against women and to ensure their active
participation in all spheres of life and activities. The policy also stresses
on the importance of earmarking allocations under the Women’s
Component Plan and prioritizes the need for gender budgeting. Within
the framework of a democratic policy, our laws, development policies,
plans and programs have aimed at Women’s advancement in different
spheres. From the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-78) onwards has been a
marked shift in the approach to women’s issues from welfare to
development. In recent years the empowerment of women has been
recognized as the central issue in determining the status of women. The
National Commission for Women was set up by an Act of Parliament in
1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women. The 73 rd
and 74th Amendments (1993) to the constitution of India have provided
for reservation of seats in the local bodies of Panchayats and
Municipalities for women, laying a strong foundation for their
participation in decision making in the local levels.

27
 India has also ratified various international conventions and
human rights instrument committing to secure equal rights of women.
Key among them is the ratification of the Convention on Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1993.

 The Mexico Plan of Action (1975), the Nairobi Forward Looking

Strategies (1985), the Beijing declaration as well as the Platform for
Action (1995) and the Outcome Document adopted by the UNGA Session
on Gender Equality and Development and Peace for the 21 st century,
titled “Further action and initiative to implement the Beijing Declaration
and the Platform for Action” have been unreservedly endorsed by India
for appropriate follow up.

 The policy also takes note of the commitments of the Ninth Five
Year Plan and the other sectoral policies relating to empowerment of
women.

 The women’s movement and a wide-spread network of Non-

Governmental Organizations which have strong grass roots presence and
deep insight into women’s concern have contributed in inspiring
initiatives for the empowerment of women.

 However, there still exists a wide gap between the goal enunciated
in the Constitution, legislation, policies, plans, programmes, and related
mechanisms on the one hand and the situational reality of the status of
women in India, on the other. This has been analyzed extensively in the
Report of the committee on the status of women in India, “Towards
Equality”, 1974 and highlighted in the National Perspective Plan for
Women, 1988-2000, the Shramashakti Report, 1988 and the Platform for
Action, Five-Years after an Assessment”.

 Gender Disparity manifests itself in various forms, the most

obvious being the trend of continuously declining female ratio in the

28
population in the last few decades. Social stereotyping and violence at
the domestic and societal levels are some of the other manifestations.
Discrimination against girl children, adolescent girls and women persist
in parts of the country.

 The underlying causes of gender inequality are related to social

and economic structure, which is based on informal and formal norms,
and practices.

 Consequently, the access of women particularly those belonging to

the weaker sections including Scheduled Castes/Schedules Tribes/Other
Backward Classes and minorities, majority of whom are in the rural
areas and in the informal, unorganized sector – to education, health and
productive resources, among others, is inadequate. Therefore they
remain largely marginalized, poor and socially excluded.

Link between Microfinance and Empowerment:

The idea of power is at the root of the term empowerment. Power

must be understood as working at different levels, including the
institutional, the household and the individual. Empowerment involves
challenging the forms of oppressions, which compels millions of people to
play a part in their society on terms, which are inequitable, or in ways,
which deny their human rights. The direct empowerment through
microfinance takes place, when women become members of a group or
when they are exposed to training or workshops leading to greater
awareness creation. Feminists’ activists stress that women’s
empowerment is not about replacing one form of empowerment with
other. Women must empower themselves.

Empowerment is a process having personal, economic, social and

political dimensions with personal empowerment being the core of the

29
empowerment process. The scheme of micro-financing through SHG
create empowerment promoting conditions for women to move from
position of marginalization within household decision-making process
and exclusion within community, to one of greater centrality, inclusion of
voice.

Links between microfinance and women’s empowerment are

viewed as optimistic, limited by design, cost effective in eliminating
poverty, and a misplaced diversion of resources. Microfinance program
range from small scale self-help groups to large poverty targeted banks.
One model may vary in delivery, group functions and structures, and
complementary services. This project identified 3 contrasting approaches
to microfinance and women’s empowerment: the financial sustainability
approach, the integrated community development approach, and the
feminist empowerment approach. However program evaluation revealed
the need to question the assumptions underlying all three approaches. In
most programs, women benefited to a limited degree. Many women did
not control the loan use. Most women were engaged in low paid,
traditionally female activities, and increases in income were small.
Resources and time invested in economic activity were limited by
responsibility for household consumption and unpaid domestic work.
Microfinance programs sometimes created domestic tension between
spouses and loss of their income and support. Group repayment
structures sometimes created pressures between women. Many women
focused on personal rather than social activities.

Some evaluations paint appositive picture of the impact of credit

programs on women’s lives (Kabeer, 2001). Access to savings and credit
can initiate or strengthen a series of interlinked and mutually reinforcing
‘virtuous spiral’ of empowerment (Mayoux, 2000).

The first set of assessments point out that women can use savings
and credit for economic activity, thus increasing incomes and assets and

30
control over these incomes and assets (Mayoux, 2000). Rahman (1986)
established that “active” women loaners had higher consumption
standards and a role in household decision-making, either on their own
or jointly with their husbands, than ‘passive’ female loaners. Both in
turn had significantly higher consumption standards and were more
likely to partake in household decision-making than women from male
loaner households or from households who had not received credit.
Similarly, Self-help groups through micro credit have an important role
in lessening the vulnerability of poor by creating assets, income and
consumption smoothing, providing emergency assistance, and
empowering and making women confident by giving them control over
assets and increased self-esteem and knowledge (Zaman 2001). A World
Bank study found that a 10 per cent increase in borrowing had led to an
increase in women’s non-land assets by 2 per cent for loans from the
Grameen Bank and 1.2 per cent for loans from the Bangladesh Rural
Advancement Committee (BRAC) (World Bank 1998). In India, micro
credit studies done on groups dealing with dairy farming have noted
positive, profit levels and short payback periods for loans (Lalitha and
Nagarajan 2002). During the South East Asian economic crisis, self-help
groups proved to be important cushions and safety nets; a high
proportion of the funds made available for self-help micro credit schemes
were utilized by women, facilitating them to meet the subsistence
requirements of their families during those hard economic times (ESCAP
2002).

Another group of evaluations have tried to establish that economic

contribution may increase their role in economic decision making in the
household, leading to greater well being for women and children as well
as men (Mayoux, 2000). A study by Pitt and Khandker (1995) in
exploring the impact of female membership of credit programs found that

31
women's preferences carried greater weight (compared to households
where either men received the loans or in households where no loans
had been received) in determining decision-making outcomes including
the value of women's no land assets, the total hours worked per month
for cash income by men and women within the household, fertility levels,
the education of children as well as total consumption expenditure.

CHAPTER-III

Concept of SHG:

The Self-Help Groups are the voluntary organizations which

disburse micro credit to the members and facilitate them to enter into
entrepreneurial activities. It offers a way out of the predicament of
collateral, physical access and too much documentation which reduced
the ability of formal institutions to serve the poor. Members are trained
in the habit of banking.

In order to improvise the condition of rural women Government

through local NGOs started giving group loans to the rural female
population. To get the benefits of loan they have to be in a group, which
they will form through group meetings. Then group will be formed by
taking 10-12 likeminded people. They, themselves will elect their
President and Secretary, who will organize the meetings and take care of
the finance. This type of group is called as Self Help Group or in short
SHG. The concept of SHG is based on the following principles:

 Flexible Democratic system of working

 Periodic meeting and non-traditional savings

 Loan amounts are small, frequent and for short duration;

32
 Loaning is done mainly on trust with a bare documentation and
without any security;

 Every individual is equal and responsible in the group;

 Self-help supplemented with mutual help can be a powerful vehicle

for the poor in their socioeconomic development;

 To build the functional capacity of the poor and the marginalized in

the field of employment and income generating activities;

 Poor need not only credit support, but also savings and other services;

 Creation of a common fund by contributing small savings on a regular

basis.

A Self-Help Groups members drawn from a relatively homogeneous

economic class, self selected on the basis existing affinities and mutual
trust; members meet regularly at a fixed time and place and put their
savings into a common fund from which they take need based loans. The
group develops its own rules and regulations and sanctions for
violations; the meeting procedures and processes, leadership change
norms, intensive training and handholding, are designed to enable SHGs
to function in a participatory and democratic manner. The members have
a joint saving account. The photographs of both the President and the
Secretary of the SHG have been attested in the passbook. Both of their
signatures are required while doing any transaction of money with the
bank. The President and the Secretary go to withdraw or deposit the
group money. The objectives of the SHGs to go beyond thrift and credit –
and include the overall development of members in the social, political,
cultural and economic arena; thus the SHGs are ‘Credit Plus’
institutions.

33
 It is to be kept in mind that the Self-Help Groups have to be
different from caste or other traditional groups that already exist in the
village. The people who live below the poverty line have to be motivated to
become members of Self-Help Groups. The motivation can come only if
somebody explains the importance and benefits of group formation to the
people concerned. This has to be done by the elected members of
Panchayats and voluntary organizations. On an average one SHG
consists of 15-20 members. A group leader is nominated on the basis of
rotation from amongst the group members to conduct meetings.

The following are some of the characteristics of SHG

members:

 Meet regularly (weekly or fortnightly)

 Function in a democratic manner by allowing free exchange of views

 Participate in the decision making process

 Draw up an agenda for each meeting and discuss items/issues

according to the agenda

 Follow common rules and procedures for working together

 Build their corpus through regular savings and use it to advance

loans to the members; and

 Maintain simple basic records and operate a group account.

The Self-Help Group in India has come a long way, since its
inception in 1992. The spread of SHG has been phenomenal. It has made
dramatic progress from 500 groups in 1992 (Titus 2002) to some 16, 18,
456 groups that have taken loans from banks. About 24.25 million poor
households have gained access to formal banking system through SHG

34
bank linkage program and 90% of these groups are only women groups.
The SHG model emerged in the year 1980s and 1990s. With the
tremendous support from the Government of India, state governments,
NABARD, the banking sector and NGOs, the movements spread like
anything. Even such a situation arise that the Indian Government
Budget presentation has emphasized on SHG bank linkage each year as
in many cases it gave the ruling party a political mileage. The Self-Help
Groups are promoted by NGOs, Banks and Cooperatives. The National
Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) launched a pilot
project for linking SHGs in February, 1992. The Reserve Bank of India
advises the commercial banks to participate actively in the linkage
program.

As per the report of NABARD, by the end of 2006 there were 3.37
million SHGs in India covering 40.95 million poor households. As of
March 2007, 2.92 million SHGs had received bank loans of Rs.180, 410
million. The NABARD (2006), in its homepage, declares that more than
400 women join the SHG movement every hour.

Looking to the fast spread of SHGs now ICDS, bankers, NGOs, MFI
and corporate all are organizing SHGs. Banks are making linkages
looking to the savings and ICDS is also promoting several other activities.
Now it has been a general feature of most of the tribal Odisha, that in
many of the villages’ one cannot find a single woman who is not in SHG
whether she understands anything or not.

Growth of SHG:

India is brimming with Self Help Groups who are part of a bank
linkage program supported by the National Bank for Agricultural and
Rural Development (NABARD). This program, involving Banks, NGOs na
government agencies throughout the country, is now the largest

35
microfinance movement in the world with 3 million Self Help Groups and
over 25 million members. SHGs represent a unique approach to financial
intermediation. The approach combines access to low-cost financial
services with a process of self-management and development for the
women who are SHG members.

Normally, after six months of existence of SHGs and after

collecting a sufficient thrift fund, the group approaches the link banks
(either commercial or cooperative) with its credit plan. The group
formation stage lasts for about six months or more depending upon the
literacy, awareness level and the socio-economic background of the
people being organized, as well as the capacity of the facilitator involved
in the process of social mobilization and group formation. It is at this
stage of group formation that the SHG are brought into contact with the
local banks, where they open saving bank accounts to provide them
opportunities for learning the modes of dealing with banks. At the end of
group formation stage, it is necessary to put every SHG so formed to a
list of know how far the SHG has evolved into an effective group and
whether it is ready to advance to the next stage. This is done through a
grading exercise and the DRDAs have to play an effective role in the
grading exercise. After formation, the SHGs have to go through the
grading exercise every year. There are certain indicators that help in
evaluating/grading the SHG as a successful one if it shows the following
traits:

 Gradual increase in the per capita loan amount

 Shift from consumption loans to production loans

 Ability to identify training needs of the members and calculate

the value of the training input

 Ability of the members to investigate and asses their poverty

situation and articulate the opportunities for overcoming it

36
 Ability to develop portfolio/list of opportunities

 Capacity to undertake participatory monitoring of its assets

 Implement community action programs

 Self sufficiency in managing the various aspects of the group

including its financial affairs

 A clear idea of the role and responsibilities of the members

 Evolves effective strategies for participatory management.

Working of SHGs:

The Self-Help Groups are the voluntary organizations which

disburse micro credit to the members and facilitate them to enter into
entrepreneurial activities. The SHGs after creation started collecting a
fixed amount of saving from each member regularly on a monthly basis,
thereby creating a common fund. The SHG meetings are usually held
once in a week. There is a President, a Secretary and a treasurer in each
SHG. The term of office bearers is on rotational basis, normally one year.
All the groups maintain the records; such as, membership register, cash
book, saving ledger and the loan ledger. They prepare action plan after a
detailed discussion of their proposed activities. A record of loans, savings
and fines are maintained by an educated member of the SHG. Every
member of the group gets an opportunity to put forth her views. Opinion
of the majority is considered while arriving at important decision.
Normally, the agenda in disbursement of loans, savings and fines are
maintained by an educated member of the SHG, by the group leader or
by a facilitator who is paid honorarium by the group.

SHGs are formed by the three Self-Help Promoting Agencies

(SHPA), namely; NGOs, Government Agencies or Banks. There is no age
limit in being a member of any SHG group. Anybody who has
requirement and is interested in gaining some money can join the group.

37
As per the guidelines of SHG, only one person per family can register
herself as the member of one particular SHG. All members of a SHG save
the same amount at each meeting. Initially they start with Rs.10/-After
that they increase their contribution money. When they become eligible
for bank loan, they contribute money to repay the loan as well as to save
some amount in their saving account. They get money from the bank and
distribute the money equally among themselves. After that they repay the
loan on a weekly or monthly basis. The question of equity refers to
whether access to available credit is equitable. ‘Equitable’ here doesn’t
mean equal. Since as noted earlier, all members of a SHG are not
economically equal (have the same ‘wealth rank’) it follows that all
members do not have equal credit absorption and repayment capacity.
Group member themselves are well aware of this and generally prefer to
allocate credit according to individual demand and capacity.

Newer groups are more positive about dynamics and start with a
larger amount of saving. Older groups, however, started with a small
amount, thirty rupees, then increased it to fifty rupees and now the
average savings or thrift rate of the SHGs is Rs.100 per month per
member. For about six months the group only collected thrift; no loans
were given. During this period the groups opened a saving account with
a bank, usually the service bank in the area and also started lending to
its members; generally around the eighth month of their creation. The
groups by and large evolved flexible systems of working and managing
their collective resources in a democratic way, generally with chipping in
of all members in decision making. The amounts loaned are small,
numerous and for a short duration. The loans cover an array of purposes
and the interest charged by banks but much lower than that charged by
moneylenders. Most of the loans are being taken for agricultural
activities, small business, allied activities, marriages and house building.
The SHG members took a number of loans since the loan are obtainable

38
at doorstep. The repayment of the loan along with interest and regular
saving enlarged the working fund and augmented the scope of lending, in
spite of this; the working fund generated by the group was obviously not
adequate to meet the credit needs of all the members. The group then
approached the bank where it had opened the saving account. The bank
after ascertaining the validity of demand for credit, credit handling ability
of the members, repayment behavior within the group, and finally the
accounting system and maintenance of the records, extended a term loan
of smaller amount to the group. The group in turn continued to take
decisions as in the past; the only difference being it has now a higher
amount of resource. In addition, the group is jointly liable to the bank for
repayment. Thus a sustainable financial relationship between the bank
and the SHG members develops for their mutual benefit. Members are
trained in the habit of banking. This credit process deters informal
money lending. Bank provides financial assistance for various
entrepreneurial activities such as setting up of shops, vegetable
cultivation, small businesses, goat rearing, etc. The NABARD gives 100
percent refinance to the banks on their lending through the SHGs.
Currently, over 90% of SHG in India consist exclusively of women and
SHGs are the preferred strategy for both credit delivery for the poor and
women’s empowerment. Target of NABARD to credit link one million
SHGs by 2008 have been overshot by the exponential growth of these
groups. Latest data showed that cumulatively banks have lent 39.04
billion (US $ 156 million) to 1,079,091 SHGs. About 16 million poor
households have gained access to formal banking system through SHG
bank linkage program. The Self-Help Groups have become the focal point
of development schemes under the unified poverty alleviation program,
Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) launched by the
government of India.

39
 In some cases, a number of close by groups are federated. This
federation is a coordinating apparatus with no hierarchical position.
Critical decision-making process for sanctioning loans to members
remains with the SHG. The federation is essentially supposed to help in
the federation of more SHGs, act as a catalyst for fledging SHGs and
carry out entrepreneurial jobs like backward and forward linkage and
liasoning with outside agencies.

Besides, focusing on entrepreneurial development of the

beneficiaries, the SHGs undertake the responsibility of delivering non-
credit services such as literacy, health and environmental issues. It
offers a way out of the predicament of collateral, physical access and too
much documentation which reduced the ability of formal institutions to
serve the poor.

The women in Northern belt in India have largely been non-

participants in the development process of their respective states. Unlike
South, where women are understood to have a pragmatic approach
towards globalization, the scene in the north is fraught with confusion
and embarrassment.

In the Mid-Eastern State Odisha too, the women are yet to come in
terms with the reality of industrialization and modernization. However,
too late, Odisha also jumped into the development bandwagon to come
out of the poverty tag attached with it for a long time. The present
government invited the big business players to join hands with them in
exploring the possibility of the elusive growth. And the state desperately
requires skilled human resources to work as development agents. The
huge task ahead is not possible without the participation of its
womenfolk, who consist of large chunk of the population. But the
question is: How can they be ready for action?

40
 CHAPTER – IV

Socio-economic profile of Block and Village under study:

Brief Profile of the District:

This study is situated in Gajapati District, which is one of the

southern located districts in Odisha. The district is relatively new and is
formed in the year 1992 by subdividing the erstwhile Ganjam District. It
is bounded by the Phulbani District in North, the state Andhra Pradesh
in South, Ganjam District in the East and Raygada District in the West.

The district has two sub-divisions, three Tahasils, seven

development Blocks, 129 Gram Panchayats, one municipality, and one
NAC. The total geographical area of the district consists of 4325 sq.km.

Topography:

Major part of the district is hilly terrain. The hilly areas are mostly
inhabited by tribal. The highest mountain of the district Mahendragiri
lies at an altitude of 4923 feet above the sea level. The soil quality is of
alluvial, brown, laterites, clay loam, sandy loam and red. The district
comes under “North Eastern Ghat Agro Climatic Zone” with light
textured brown forest soil which is highly acidic in nature with medium

41
percentage of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potash. Due to typical
characteristic of the agro climatic zone, the terrain has rolling
topography, rugged hills and perennial streams. The Raygada block is
considered as tribal block that consists of hill and table land. There is a
map of the District given here.

42
District Map of Gajapati

43
Climate:

The climate of the district is subtropical with extreme variation in

temperature and rainfall. The temperature varies from 16 to 48 degree
Celsius. The lowest temperature has been experienced in the month of
November-December and the highest temperature occurs during May-
June. The second fortnight of March to the first fortnight of June is the
hottest period with the Mercury rising up to 49degree Celsius.

Population:

The District has a total population of 518837 which constitutes

1.41% of the total population of the state. Out of this, 7.5% belongs to
Scheduled caste and 50.5% belong to ST population. Nearly 90% of the
population lives in rural areas. The population in the District exhibits
imbalance with a sex ratio of 1031. The sex ratio in the urban area is
988 while that of rural area is 1036. The total male population is 49.2%
and the total female population is 50.8%.

In the Raygada block the total male population is 30990 and the
total female population is 33053.

Literacy and Education:

The literacy level in the district is very low, only 42% compared to
the state average of 62%. There exists wide variation in literacy level in
urban areas and rural areas. Disparities are also found in male and
female literacy rate. As per the 2001 census, the literacy rate is 29.37%
and during 2008, it has been increased to 41%. The female literacy rate
is only 28.1% while male literacy rate is 55.14%. Wide variation is visible
in the literacy rates in urban and rural areas also. The urban literacy is
nearly 71.11% while rural literacy is only 37.59%. The literacy rates of
Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribe were 21.74% and 15.88%

44
respectively. There were 67 nos. of High schools, 11nos. of general
colleges, two ITI centers and one private Engineering college in the
district during 2006-07.

Religion:

All most all the village people are Christian. In Raygada block some
12987 no. of people were Christian. Very rarely people of any other
religions are found. In most of the villages nuclear family is prevailing.
Siblings of family though living in the same village live in separate
household and do separate work for their livelihood. Mostly all the village
people belong to the BPL category. In some villages the percentage may
differ between the BPL and APL families. The head of the family is the
male person of the family; sometimes differ at the death of the male
bread winner.

Table: 4.1 Religion wise population data

SL. Name of the Christian Muslim Jain Budhist Hindu total
No. Block/District

1 Gajapati 173663 1623 7 1972 341572 518837

2 Raygada 12987 0 0 0 51056 64043

Source: District Statistical Handbook: 2005. Human Development

Report, Orissa-2004.

In Gajapati district also Christianity prevails with 173663no. of

people.

Rainfall:

The District receives annual rain fall in between 1500mm to

2080mm. the average annual rain fall is 1403.30mm with nearly 71

45
rainy days in a year. The maximum precipitation is received between
July-September. During February and May the rain fall is almost erratic.

Water Resources:

There are three major rivers namely Vansadhara, Mahendratanaya

and Badanadi, flowing through the district. Water from these major
rivers is the sources of irrigation. The river vansadhara originates from
Lanjigarh area of Kalahandi District and passes through Kashinagar
block and flows southwards along the borderline of Gajapati district. The
river Mahendratanaya is originated from the Mahendragiri range and
flows in the westward direction through Rayagada block and then
southward direction through Gosani block. The river Badanadi flows
through western part of Mohana block.

Forest Resources:

The total forest area of the district is 2,301.98 sq.km. out of which
437.52 sq. km. is reserve forest. Timber, bamboo, hill broom, patala
garuda, soap nut, B. kaliakhali, marsinga leaf, dhatuki flowers, kochila
seeds, genduli gum, siali leaves and kathalai etc. forms the major forest
products of the district.

Mineral Resources:

The granite decorative stone found in some part of

Paralakhemundi are the mineral resources available in the District.

Land:

Out of the total geographical area of 432500 ha, the land available
for agriculture is nearly 77335 ha. The forest land constitutes 68785 ha
and barren and uncultivable waste 119718 ha. Cultivable land
constitutes nearly 3619 ha. The land utilization data of the district

46
reveals a net sown area of 76125 ha and 46322 ha as area sown more
than once.

Cultivation:

Due to steep and rugged terrain and non availability of water, the
land available for cultivation is very less. The farmers mostly practice
shift cultivation which some time is the main cause of land sliding and
damage of life and property.

The soil type and climate is suitable for both agriculture and
horticulture crops. More than 60% of lands are situated in hilly terrain,
which has been treated as high lands, mainly suited for horticulture
plantation and rest of the cultivable land belongs to the category of
medium lands and low lands. The climate is suitable for cultivation of
Orange, Mango, Pineapple, K-Lime, Guava, Turmeric, Casuarinas etc.
The major crops in the district consists of paddy (38560 ha), pulses
(30680 ha), oilseeds (17080 ha), sugarcane and cotton. As on 2006-07
the total food grain production in the district was 109870 MT. the cereals
production consists of 92450 MT. the total pulses produced in the
district were 17420 MT. Paddy is one of the major cereal crops in the
district. The total area under paddy constitutes nearly 38560 ha with a
production of 69070 MT.

Livestock Resources:

Next to crop production, animal husbandry is the most important

income generating activity that supports livelihood. The major livestock
resources of the district consist of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and poultry
etc. Data on livestock resources reveals that the district has 239997
cattle, 24967 buffaloes, 10492 sheep, 122391 goats, 17039 piggery and
359781 poultry. Under different anti-poverty programs, different banks
of this district are supplying dairy animals, goats, poultry and bullocks

47
to the needy tribal farmers. A large share of the cattle and buffaloes
population is indigenous. In Gajapati district, there are 10 veterinary
dispensaries and one veterinary hospital.

Fishery:

In order to develop the inland water resources and economic status

of the fisher community, a new Fish Farmer Development Agency (FFDA)
had been created in the District. The collector, Gajapati is the Chairman
of F.F.D.A. The F.F.D.A. is included under different schemes. Creation of
new water area through excavation of new tanks, conversion of derelict
water bodies by renovation, technical guidance to fish farmers through
training are the main functions under these schemes. Subsidy for
excavation and renovation of tanks with pisciculture and stipend for
under-going training under F.F.D.A. is provided through this scheme to
the beneficiaries.

Industry:

Except a few agro processing industries, there is no industry and

industrial estate in the district. However, some activities of cottage
industries like Horn work, Jaikhadi bag, cane and bamboo, Ganjappa
card and pattachitra mukha, Tibetan woolen carpet, Broom work and
siali leaf plate making find some place in the industrial sector of the
district. The current employment in the industrial areas is very low.
Small scale and household industry constitutes 2.31%, construction
0.5% and rural artisans at 0.77% of the population.

Work Participation:

The district has a total workforce of 276,000. The total workforce

constitutes nearly 54% of the total population of the district. Nearly 87%
of the workforce is engaged in agriculture sector. Industrial workers

48
constitute a very small proportion of 2.31%. Out of the total workforce
50.2% are cultivators, 35.39% are agricultural laborers, and nearly
8.73% in trade, commerce, and mining and other than household
activities. Only 5.6% of the work force is engaged in service sector. The
table below shows the number of workers engaged in the different type of
works in the district during the year 2006-07.

Table: 4.2. Occupational Qualification of total workers in the district: 2006-07

Types of workers No. of workers
Total workers 275534
Marginal workers 95542
Main workers 179992
Cultivators 76595
Agricultural laborers 55101
Industrial workers 3719
Other workers 44577
Work Participation Rate(WPR) 53.18
WPR(rural) 55.32
WPR(urban) 34.31
WPR(female) 49.8
WPR(male) 56.6

Source: Odisha Agricultural Statistics: 2006-07, Human

Development Report, Odisha: 2004

The table indicates that the male Work Participation Rate in,
Gajapati district, is more than 50 % whereas the female WPR is less than
50%.

Drinking Water and Sanitation:

The data of availability of drinking water and sanitation reveals

that nearly 121 villages are not have access to safe drinking water. The
district has nearly 1033 sanitary wells, and 2293 tube wells.

Transportation and Communication:

49
 The district has a total road length of 5895 kilometers. This
consists of state highway (250 km), district roads (105 km), forest roads
(107 km), village and gram panchayat road (5033 km).

Health and Medical:

The health facilities in the district consist of one district hospital,

two Ayurvedic hospital and dispensaries, 20 primary health centers and
one TB center. The district hospital has facilities for out patient and in
patient treatment. Along with modern medicine, there are also facilities
for Ayurvedic and Homeopathic treatment.

Banks:

There are about 37 Nationalized Bank as well as Regional, Rural

Bank branches in Gajapati District. Out of which there are 22
Commercial banks and 10 regional rural branches, 4 co-operative banks
and one OSCARD bank. In Raygada block there is one Syndicate Bank
and one Rushikulya Gramya bank.

Tourism:

This district has some famous historical places such as,

Mohendragiri, Taptapani, Gondahati etc. The World famous Lakheri
valley has been declared as wild life elephant sanctuary during the year
1985.

CHAPTER – V

50
Working of SHGs in women empowerment:

Before the advent of SHG, women were not independent, in regards

to monetary matters, to make decisions in their household. But after
joining the group they have money in their hand so in some matters they
don’t have to depend upon the male folk of the family. It can enable her
to make investments in health and education and assist her to build up
assets like housing.

Growth in the number of self-help groups and the amount of loan

disbursed to them is the two important indicators to judge the success of
the program. In India the SHG-bank linkage program has emerged as the
largest micro-credit program in the world (National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development, 2004). The pilot project started in 1992 has
turned into a national movement, linking more than one million SHGs
with bank credit and leading to the socio-economic empowerment of
women.

Table: 5.1: Number of SHGs linked with Bank and the amt. of loan disbursed
Year No. of SHG % of change over Bank % of change
linked with previous year loan over
bank previous year
1992-1993 255 - 0.10 -
1993-1994 620 143.14 0.20 100.00
1994-1995 2122 242.26 0.78 290.00
1995-1996 4757 124.17 1.81 132.05
1996-1997 8598 80.74 3.33 83.98
1997-1998 14317 66.52 6.40 92.19
1998-1999 32995 130.46 13.57 112.03
1999-2000 114775 247.85 44.53 228.15
2000-2001 263825 129.86 105.26 136.38
2001-2002 461478 74.92 215.20 104.45
2002-2003 717360 55.45 455.00 111.43
2003-2004 1079091 50.43 867.00 90.55

Source: Annual Reports (2000-01 to 2003-04), National Bank for

Agriculture and Rural Development, Mumbai, India (Adapted)

The number of Self-Help Group linked with banks increased from

255 in 1992-1993 to 1079091 in 2003-2004 registering a growth of
nearly 4,231 times higher than the base year. The amount of bank loan

51
disbursed reveals a staggering growth. It increased from 0.10 million US$
in 1992-1993 to 867 million US$ in 2003-2004, 8,670times higher than
the base year. The increasing number in linking self-help groups with
banks and the loan provided by the banks reveal the success and
acceptance of micro credit program among the poor people and the
sustainability of the program.

In Rayagada block, the study covered 88 women Self-Help Group

of different Gram Panchayats. In the following table the no. of SHG is
given.

Table 5.2 : No.of SHG in Panchayats

Name of Gram Panchayat No.of village No. of SHG
Sanatundi 11 34
S.Karadasing 3 9
Jeerango 2 5
Koinipur 8 21
Gandahati 10 19

Source: primary data

The table shows the total no of women SHG in these 34 villages of

different Gram Panchayats. The Women of these SHGs mention that they
have found a new individuality through the self-help groups.
Membership of SHGs aided the women to move from an inactive state to
being dynamic agents and work for their own change. The women
elucidate how they had discovered their power. They have chosen
different type of works according to the availability of the raw materials
and resources.

The following table gives account on the different type of activities

that the SHG members were engaged in.

52
Table 5.3 : Activity wise SHG data
SL No. Type of Work No. of SHG
1 Nursery 22
2 Leaf plate making 11
3 Tamarind packaging 16
4 Livestock 8
5 Fishery 14
6 Cashew processing 3
7 Bamboo craft 6
8 Grass rope 6
9 Seasonal fruit 2

Source: primary data

The above table shows that most of the SHGs in Raygada block are
engaged in nursery business. It is a profitable one to start with. The
nursery consists of plants like; Mango, Cashew, Orange, Pineapple, K-
lime, Guava, Teak, Simaruba, Harada, Neem, Amla, Sandal, Turmeric,
Karanja etc.

The male SHGs of this block buy these plants for further
plantation in waste land or common land of the villages. That way the
SHG members don’t have to look for buyer for their products.

After years of nursery plantation they are confident enough to start

backyard plantation or kitchen garden for the consumption of their own
family. It is cheaper than the market, but the quality is far better as they
are getting it fresh everyday. They avoid using chemical fertilizers as far
as possible, but use animals extract as fertilizers as it is very convenient
to them.

After nursery, Tamarind packaging and fishery are the most

adopted activities of the SHG members. The SHGs initially go for fishery
only for the consumption reason. They take the village pond on lease for
a minimum of one year period. Marketing is also not a problem here, as
buyers come to them and only very few fishes get to the local markets.

53
 The SHGs that do the seasonal fruits, they make jackfruit chips
and pickle, jelly and squash out of mango, lime etc. They sell these
products at the local market. Some of these activities need training
before starting out as an Income Generative Activities.

The SHGs members have gone through training before starting an

enterprise like tamarind packaging, cashew processing etc. For other
activities the local NGOs provide refresher and awareness training.
Duration of the training for the activities may vary sometime. The table
below shows the duration of training, usually, the activities required.

Table 5.4 : Training duration of SHG members

SL Duration of Type of Activities
No. Training
1 1-2 days Nursery, fishery, sewing bags
2 1 week Leaf plates, tamarind packaging, cashew
processing
3 Fortnight Mushroom cultivation, bamboo craft

Source: primary data

Mushroom Cultivation is a long and gradual process which has to

be followed by a step-by-step method, that’s why this training takes
longer than the other training. The easiest and the quickest training
period are of Nursery. While doing the training programs the Resource
Persons of the training program distribute some raw materials required
for the income generative activities to get their interest to start the
activities. Like; after the nursery training they distribute seeds and
demonstrate the proper way of planting a seed.

Some members needed training and some just needed money to

start the enterprise, which were previously trained. Like some women
knew tailoring but didn’t have enough money to get a sewing machine, so
with the loan money they can purchase the machine and other necessary

54
items. Training women in tailoring, pickle making, papad, sauce, squash
etc. may enable women to earn supplementary income.

Not only skill up gradational training program but also some

capacity building program were also organized for the SHG members to
give them maximum benefit of being in a group. In the capacity building
program they learn to maintain cash register, attendance register,
general ledger, saving ledger, Bank passbook, individual pass book,
receipt voucher etc.

Since 2003 SHG has been started to form in these areas. Every
year some new SHGs have formed. The table below states the no. of SHG
formed over the year, starting with the year 2003.

Table 5.5 : SHG formation over years

Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

G.P
Sanatundi 22 3 3 4 2 0
S.Karadasing 6 1 0 2 0 0
Jeerango 2 0 0 3 0 0
Koinipur 16 0 0 3 2 0
Gandahati 12 0 5 0 2 0

Source: primary data

The figure of the above drawn table indicates that the maximum
no. of SHGs were formed in its beginning year that is, 2003. Since then
every year new SHG was being formed. Now, the situation is such that
there won’t be a woman in these villages who is not registered in a SHG.
They long to be in a group.

As per the Education status of the members, very few members

were been through primary education, but they were not able to do the

55
documentation work of the SHGs without any outside help. Only 85% of
women are educated enough to put their signature on the documents.
But after the involvement of SHG, the literacy level of the members
increased from 12% to 38%. They are able to do the documentation and
record maintenance by themselves. They show keen interest in educating
their female child. About 85% of the SHG members’ children are
studying in residential school.

The members’ strength in the SHG differs from group to group. As

per the guidelines, the members should be in between 10-15 in a SHG.
But in some villages the members of SHG are to a maximum of 20, where
the village population is very few like in the Dung Dung village of
Koinipur Panchayat, which consists of not more than 10 families. The
following chart indicates the size of SHG according to the membership in
different Gram Panchayats (GP). The SHGs were consisting of BPL
members only. As per the rule the groups were homogeneous.

Chart 5.1 : Size of SHG (According to Membership)

56
 Source: Primary data

GP1 – Sanatundi

GP2 – S.Karadasing

GP3 – Jeerango

GP4 – Koinipur

GP5 – Gandahati

The colors in the chart represent the no. of members. The left hand
side nos. represents the no. of SHGs. For example: in the GP1-
Sanatundi, there are 20 SHGs that consists of 15 members, 8 SHGs of
12 members, 2 SHGs of 20 members and 4 SHGs of 10 members.
Likewise all the Gram Panchayats have SHGs with different members
strength. The reason for this difference varies from group to group.
Sometimes geographical distance also becomes a reason for more or less
members in a group.

The major aim of the SHGs is to promote savings and to credit for
the productive and consumption purposes. This is true because many
people in the study area joins the SHGs for getting loan and promote
their personal savings, in addition to get social status. In the study area
many people (43.28%) joins the SHGs for getting financial assistance,
32.84% of the respondents joins the SHGs for the social status, because
SHG give identity to the members. 14.92% of the respondents join for
improving their savings.

Table 5.6 : Reasons for joining SHGs

Sl. No. Reasons Percentage

57
1 For getting loan 43.28
2 For promoting savings 14.92
3 For social status 32.84
4 For other reasons 8.96
5 Total 100.00

Source: primary data

All the SHG members have both group and individual saving
accounts. Through group accounts they borrow or repay the loans and
they save for themselves in the individual account. Some SHGs are
engaged in internal loaning and some even give the money on credit to
other SHGs (male). The table below shows the gram panchayat wise
SHGs’ financial details that include their average savings in the group
account, average annual profit of the group and defaulters in the group.
It gives the average figure of all the 88 women SHGs regardless of all the
different types of activities that the women were doing.

Table: 5.7 : Gram Panchayat wise financial activities

Sl Gram Avg. Saving on Avg. annual profit Defaulters
No. Panchayat pass book
1 Sanatundi 60,000 26,000 5
2 S.Karadasing 58,000 22,000 3
3 Jeerango 45,000 25,000 2
4 Koinipur 70,000 32,000 2
5 Gandahati 42,000 18,000 2

Source: primary data

As per the table, defaulters also can be found in some SHGs.

Reasons can be so many. Some thinks the bank loan is GROUP money
and they don’t think as a group member they have to contribute their
share also and take the responsibility upon themselves to pay the loan
money. Some do have genuine problems like, sudden health problem,
crop lost, and death of the main breadwinner in the family etc. While
doing research; it was found that 2 members of a SHG (Bijaylaxmi SHG

58
of Koinipur gram Panchayat) were on the verge of leaving the group. But,
after a lot of persuasion from the local NGO worker they are continuing
with the group again. Many women report an increased workload and
responsibilities as a result of their loans. They are more than happy to
assume the extra burden because of the respect, personal satisfaction
and improved standard of living they experienced as a result of their
income generating activities.

In Sanatundi Gram Panchayat the average savings in SHGs (of the

34 SHGs) pass books are Rs. 60,000. Likewise the average annual profit
in these SHGs is Rs. 26,000. This is the profit that the group gets, after
excluding their initial investment, bank loan and repaying the loan to the
bank with interest. According to the amount they had in their saving
accounts the SHG get the loan for different activities. For example: a
SHG who has Rs. 25,000 in it’s Bank Account and is interested in doing
poultry business and approach the bank for some loan then they can get
upto Rs. 60,000 as bank loan on 10% interest. Rate of interest is always
very low, in between 10%-12%. In the following table the credit
utilization and repayment status of the SHGs has been given in the next
page.

Table: 5.8 : Credit Utilization and Repayment

Sl Activities No. of Bank Rate of Repayment
No. SHG Loan interest Status
1 Nursery 22 1,20,000 10% Delayed
2 Leaf plate 11 10,000 8% Sometime on

59
 time
3 Tamarind 16 25,000 8% On time
packaging
4 Livestock(goat, 8 2,80,000 10% Delayed
poultry)
5 Fishery 14 80,000 10% Sometime on
time
6 Cashew 3 2-4 lakhs 12% On time
processing
7 Bamboo craft 6 10,000 8% On time
8 Grass rope 6 10,000 8% Delayed
9 Seasonal fruit 2 20,000 8% Delayed

Source: primary data

Form the above table it is clearly stated that for activities like; leaf
plate making, bamboo craft, grass rope and seasonal fruit; women don’t
require high bank loan. They don’t have to buy anything to start the
activities, because they get the raw materials from the forest for free.
And, whatever training they require to improve their skills, they get it
from the local NGOs. They even get refresher training frequently to
improve their skill and efficient level. The local NGOs, who work with
them, help them with the records and all other financial documentation.
They remind them of the due dates of loan repayments. Sometime when
the SHGs delayed the loan repayment or the interest on the bank loan
they became entitled to pay flat interest on the loan. As per the rule, in
the SHG’s saving account the minimum balance should be Rs. 5000/-
always.

There is a Block wise report, of the Gajapati district, on the

Economic status of the SHGs is given below in a table format. The figure
given in the table shows the amount of fund circulates in each block and
that too in what numbers of SHGs.

Table: 5.9 : Economic Status of SHG (of Gajapati District)

Block BPL 15000- 25000- 35000- >50000 Total

60
 (<15000) 25000 35000 50000
Gumma 3199 822 147 21 1 4190
Rayagada 4955 910 175 77 29 6146
Nuagada 4073 451 61 1 3 4589
Gosani 2684 1005 235 121 11 4056
Kasinagar 1745 579 176 56 16 2572
R.Udayagiri 3191 147 111 126 445 4020
Mohana 10552 2089 227 54 41 12963
District 30399 6003 1132 456 546 38536

Source: District Statistical Handbook: 2005. Human Development

Report, Orissa-2004.

From the above Table it is clear that the number of SHGs whose
economic activities is below 15000 is more. But that doesn’t mean they
are not increasing their financial standard. Because, there are SHGs,
that, do business of more than 50000 also.

During the years, the income of SHG members has changed a

great deal. Since the year of their starting it has been increasing till date.
Hence women members of the groups are independent to meet their
personal expenditure, and they contribute more to their household
income. Many housewives did not earn anything before joining SHGs,
but after becoming a member of the SHGs, they are also earning
reasonably. This increases the willingness to participate in the SHGs
activities. Many women members independently involve in the SHGs
economic activities individually and with other group members after
joining SHGs. Therefore they are now economically independent and
contribute to increase their household income.

Table: 5.10 : Monthly income of the members before and after joining
SHGs
Sl No. Before joining SHGs After joining SHGs
Monthly income Percentage percentage
1 Less than 1000 21.95 5.22
2 1000-2000 22.05 21.63

61
3 2000-3000 32.34 33.58
4 3000-4000 4.96 10.45
5 4000-5000 7.46 24.63
6 Non-earning members 11.16 4.49
7 Total 100 100

Source: primary data

The above table shows the before and after picture of monthly
income of the members. Before the advent of SHG, the monthly income,
which was less than 1000, was about 21.95 percent. But after joining in
the Self-Help Group their monthly income increased and the previous
percentage decreased to 5.22%. It is a great achievement, as the major
aim of the SHGs is to promote savings and credit for the productive and
consumption purposes.

Empowerment also implies expansion of assets and capabilities of

people to influence control and hold accountable institution that affects
their lives. It is the state of feelings of self empowered to take control of
one’s own destiny. It includes both controls over resources (physical,
human, intellectual and financial) and over ideology (belief, values and
attitudes). The increase in income leads to asset building in members.
Research found that women are able to acquire assets through group
loan programs. The following table gives account of such assets build or
acquire by women.

Table: 5.11 : Assets acquired by SHG members

Sl No Assets Percentage
1 House 43
2 Water tank 13
3 Latrines 27
4 community hall 8

62
5 Store room 9

Source: primary data

Before joining SHG most of the women have damp kaccha houses,
but joining a SHG enabled them to build their house with bricks and
cement. Now they have spacious rooms and electricity in their houses.
About 13% women members have water tank in their field and at home
for their household uses. Some 27% women have build latrines in their
backyards. About 8% community hall were built for conducting group
meetings and other community activities like marriage, etc. 9% store
room were built to store cattle feed, fertilizers, produced crops, etc.

A woman’s participation in the political space is also an important

indicator of empowerment. Microfinance programs offer services and
products that can enhance individual women’s abilities to participate
effectively in politics; few microfinance organizations explicitly seek
political mobilization or structure their programs in such a way as to
deliberately nurture collective action. Many examples testify that
women’s participation in lending centers and groups increases their
knowledge of political parties, processes and channels of influence. The
respondents are asked if they are aware that the woman had
reservations in the local political institutions called panchayats. They are
also interrogated on their involvement in the village level politics, for
instance, standing for local elections as a candidate, voting etc.
Information on these two indicators is used to proxy for the ‘political
activism’ aspect of women empowerment. Rural women are not far
behind from their urban counterpart in regards of political participation.
They are well informed about the Panchayati Raj rules and regulations.

Table: 5.12 : Women in Panchayati Raj Institution (2001)

63
 SL No W/M/T Figures in Thousand

1 Women 725
2 Men 1997
3 Total 2722

Source: Ministry of Rural Development, GOI, New Delhi.

In India, during 2001, about 725 women were identified, who have
active role in Panchyati Raj Institution. Whereas in Raygada Block, in
each Panchyat two women ward members are there in Panchayat and
they belong to SHG. In one out of every four SHGs in the study area,
there is a women member who ran for local political office, and in out of
every five SHGs, there is women member who has been elected. The
elected representatives included ordinary members as well as group
leaders. The Self-Help Group women are mentally ready now and have
moral courage to contest the local and legislative action. Through the
help of social worker and NGO working in the villages women folk were
aware of the reservation of seats. Education does play a major role in this
regard.

The data used for the estimation of the impact of SHGs on women
empowerment is a part of a larger study that investigates the impact of
SHG bank linkage program on poverty, vulnerability and social
development. The SHG program for the National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development (NABARD) in India is the largest and fastest
growing micro finance program in the developing world. Implemented
since1996 on a national scale, it has reached an estimated 121.5 million
people in March 2005, by mainly targeting women. It has disbursed more
than Rs. 68 billion in cumulative bank loans up to March 2005, using a
network of 41,082 bank branches and 4,323 Non Governmental
Organizations (NGO).

64
 The women are fortified with information. They are thrilled about
their newly acquired powers. They have found strength in numbers. The
group has enabled them to fight against domestic violence. Beside,
involvement in SHGs has enabled women to have a voice in the
community affairs and they have been able to tackle problems such as
lack of drinking waters and electricity, access to health services and
children’s education. It is assumed that an economically active woman
with her own independent savings has more economic power and thus a
higher bargaining power within the household, thereby making her more
empowered and likely to challenge the prevailing norms that restrict her
ability to make choices. Though women face handicaps to their
involvement in politics, their participation in SHGs has altered them, and
these women can be prospective leaders in the local political field.
Nonetheless various constraints like discriminatory practices in labor a
low level of skills etc. operate to contract a woman’s potential for
empowerment. It may be comparatively easier to ensure material change
than to cause a change in power structures and the ideologies and
attitudes which accompany them. However, no milieu is static and some
of the recommendations for a way forward include providing a
convergence of inputs, ensuring a proactive involvement of women in the
program, changing social norms and perceptions and anchoring with
wider movements of social change. Additional services like training,
awareness raising workshops and other activities over and above the
minimalist microfinance approach are also an important determinant of
the degree of its impact on the empowerment process of women.

Women who had so far been hesitant and inhibited have slowly
shed their reserve and stepped out of the four walls of their homes to
acquire an individuality of their own. They developed a sense of self-
worth as they understood that self-empowerment comes from within.
There are also specific events in women’s lives like schooling, paid works

65
and participation in development programs, and by secular life events
like marriage, birth of children, setting up of separate household,
marriage of children and divorce or widowhood, which can cause
empowerment. The common experiences of members, reciprocal help and
support and collective will power and faith, are some of the qualities and
processes of groups that help in empowerment. They offset isolation and
alienation by creating an organization to which the women can belong,
where they will be heard and would have the security of being one of a
majority and a movement, rather than being individual and alone.
Secondly, the women develop motivation that can lead to a stronger
personal identity and self worth. Long-term association also provides the
member a chance to give back, to help others and to acquire leadership
skills. It gives the member new opportunities for achieving self-growth,
increasing self-esteem, contributing to the community and acquiring a
sense of purpose. The access to credit was associated with an overall
reduction of the incidence of violence against women; women’s
participation in the expanded set of social relationships as a result of
membership of credit organizations rather than increases in their
productivity per se were responsible for reduction in domestic violence.
Additionally a modicum of economic independence can help increase a
woman’s bargaining power vis-à-vis other family members and build up
her capacity to take up cudgels against domestic violence.

All activities that lead to an increase in well being of women are

not necessarily empowering in themselves. For instance, activities like
improvement in nutrition of children, lead to greater efficiency in the
woman’s role in the household but it also falls within the existing role of
the women within the prevailing norms of the society. When a woman is
better able to perform such activities, it leads to an increase in her self
confidence and feeling of well being. This might create conditions leading
to women empowerment, but are not empowering on their own.

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Similarly, community driven Development activities, undertake under the
initiatives of the SHGs- for instance, solving drinking water problems in
the village, reduces the demand on a woman’s time while leading to
better health of all household members, particularly children.

CHAPTER – VI

Summary, Findings and Conclusion:

Summary :

67
 The common experiences of members, reciprocal help and support,
collective will power and faith, are some of the qualities and processes of
groups that help in empowerment. The offset isolation and alienation by
creating an organization to which the women can belong, where they will
be heard and would have the security of being one of a majority and a
movement, rather than being individual and alone. Secondly, the women
develop motivation that can lead to a stronger personal identity and self-
worth. Long term association also provides the member a chance to give
back, to help others and to acquire leadership skills. It gives the member
new opportunities for achieving self-growth, increasing self esteem,
contributing to the community and acquiring a sense of purpose. The
conditions of poverty in Orissa and current outreach of SHG movement
so far demands a vision for extending quality micro finance services to
over 25 lakh women from poor families in the coming years. It is
expected that such an outreach would have highly desirable returns in
terms of social and economic empowerment of women. The success of
any strategy of women empowerment depends upon the following factors:

 Level of education and hard work

 Social custom

 Family planning, small family

 Health, medical services and cleanliness

 Environment, tree growing, kitchen gardening

Unlike the self-help projects in Kenya, the SHGs in India are

primarily micro-credit groups and the direct objective of micro-credit is to
improve the ‘condition’ of women. Given a chance women can perform as
well as men in almost all activities. There have been umpteen numbers of
examples in the country where women showed what they can deliver.

68
Right from Kalpana Chawla, the late astronaut of Indian origin to; Indira
K.Nooyi, the Chief Executive Officer of Pepsi Co.; Kiran Desai and
Arundhati Roy the Booker prize winner; Sania Mirza, the mixed doubles
Australian Grand Slam winner to Aishwarya Rai, the International face of
Indian film Industry, there are ever increasing number of women
achievers from our country. These women are known to have been
assertive, a trait which implies exercising one’s own rights and having
conviction- a firmly held belief in one’s own self. Women in India are
mobilized to protest against domestic violence, legal discrimination,
rising prices, dowry, prohibition of liquor, rape, child marriage, female
infanticide, sexual abuse and so on. In dealing with women’s strategic
interests, women participate in collective activities through SHGs to
address these strategic needs. In the process, it aims to empower women
with several forms of powers.

The purpose behind every SHG formation is to enable its members

to meet their consumption, production and investment needs. In this
process they gradually save money for the rainy day. The membership of
SHGs lessens monetary pressure occurring out of sickness, expenditure
on wedding ceremonies, death of the bread winner and loss or
seasonality of employment. It can also help in meeting the expenditures
which are an integral part of daily life: expenses on food, clothing, health,
schooling, etc. There have undoubtedly been women whose status in the
household has improved, particularly where they have successful
entrepreneurs. Women themselves also often value the opportunity to be
seen to be making a greater contribution to household wellbeing giving
them greater confidence and sense of self worth.

There have been positive changes in household and community

perceptions of women’s productive role, as well as changes at the
individual level. It is likely that changes at the individual, household and

69
community levels are interlinked and that individual women who gain
respect in their households then act as role models for others leading to
a wider process of change in community perceptions and male
willingness to accept change. Being in a group empowers the women to
speak of their mind clearly and loudly; they can send their children to
schools; get medical facility for themselves and for their family; fight for
their rights or against domestic violence.

The social processes of micro financing program strengthens

women’s self esteem and self worth, instill a greater sense of awareness
of social and political issues leading to increased mobility and reduced
traditional seclusion of women. Most importantly micro finance program
enables women to contribute to the household economy, increasing their
intra household bargaining power. Thus, micro financing through self-
help groups has transferred the real economic power in the hands of
women and has considerably reduced their dependence on men.

The SHGs have achieved success in bringing women to the

mainstream of decision-making. Their quality of life has also improved
because of this. Following are the qualitative changes that have occurred:

 They could develop their skills and abilities in various

productive activities.

 There is an increase in their income, savings and

consumption expenditure

 Increased self-reliance and self confidence have improved the

ability of women to mobilize various public services for their benefit

 They have become bold and can speak freely in front of a big
crowd

70
 They can carry out any type of official work without any fear

 The social horizons of the members have also widened. They

have made many friends and feel that how they are more popular and
socially active

 The illiterate and semi-literate women have got a sense of

satisfaction and wish fulfillment. Now they have become productive and
important members of the family.

 They got high self esteem which enhances the capacity to

work

 With improvements in women’s economic opportunities and

their ability to take collective action, there has been a significant decline
in gender based problems such as domestic violence, dowry, polygamy,
etc. Interestingly, some of them are motivating other women to form
SHGs so that they also can reap the benefits.

Findings:

The spread of SHGs is highly concentrated in the southern part of

the country with very few in the north and the east. Since the advent of
SHG in India, its growth rate has been very low in the states of
Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and union
territory of Andaman Nicobar islands where the status of women is still
very backward and pathetic. Despite all legislation and policy
commitments and planning, women remain a vulnerable group. In
Odisha the birth of a girl child is seen as a tragedy even among people
belonging to educated class. The girl is considered as a burden. This is
the reason why the reports of female foeticide appear in media at

71
frequent intervals. The disgusting practice of dowry also cast the women
in a negative picture. She is treated as cattle in the marriage market; she
has no value of her own; her education and thoughts have no meaning.

The constitution of India provides for equality between men and

women according to Article 14, 15 and 16. But there is denial of equality
at various levels because of the strong feudal mindset in the state. The
feudal and agricultural societies of the yore brought in the male-
dominance concept because of the physical strength of men-folk. Women
preferred to play second fiddle by confining themselves within the four
walls of the house cooking food, giving birth and rearing children.

The situation still holds true for Odisha, especially the rural belts,
where nearly eighty five percent of the total population reside. And
despite dominance of mineral based industries, agriculture continues to
be the mainstay of about three-fourths of the total working force. As a
result, women keep themselves associated with only household work;
they do not want to think anything else; they restrict their outlook.

The socio-economic structure in tribal communities is markedly

different from that of the non-tribal or advanced groups of people. They
have a very simple technology, which fits well with their ecological
surroundings and conservative outlook. Moreover their economy can be
said to be of subsistence type. They practice different types of
occupations to sustain themselves and live on ‘marginal economy’. They
are usually considered an economically independent group of people
having their own specific economy and thus having economic status.
Most of them do not think for tomorrow as they live in today. So, saving
is not at all a part of their life. But, as a matter of fact, SHG has started
with the concept of savings only.

72
 So, in the initial stage of formation of SHG, the real problem arises
in regularizing the savings. Six month regular savings open the gate for
fund linkage and in most of the cases it has been marked that after
getting the linkage the members stop savings and the repayment of loans
becomes a question. So, in case of the communities having such cultural
background, the planners must think about the minimum savings period
before going for linkage.

Another question arising up here is, do we ensure the following few

things before assisting or attaching fund with the SHGs?

 Effective functioning of office bearers;

 Differentiating between consumers’ credit and production

credit;

 Setting viable norms for interest rates, repayment,

schedules, gestation period, book keeping, writing bad debts;

 Ensuring repayments and continuity; and

 Assisting the members in getting access the formal credit

institutions.

In many programs this aspect of SHG is quite ignored by the

planners and if it is at all planned, quite ill implemented by the
implementers.

The women should look at their neighboring states, Andhra

Pradesh and West Bengal, where women have strong political base. A
breakthrough initiative for industrialization and modernization of the
state is possible only through the active and collective participation of its
citizens at thinking and action level.

Mass struggle is required to help them break free from the mindset
of feudal societies. The women need to think beyond the four walls; they

73
need to lift themselves up. In the age of machines and computers,
Odisha requires large participation of women. Physical power the
emblem of feudal mindset is passé; mental power is the new mantra. It’s
time to dream big. Emancipation waits for them at the door.

In the household survey, respondents were asked questions on

what they would do if they were

(a) verbally abused;

(b) physically battered; and

(c) psychologically/emotionally abused within their family?

In response to these questions the respondents make any one of

the following ordinal choices to reflect their degree of resistance or
submission, which is a more direct reflection of their empowerment
status within the household. For instance, the respondent could choose
to reply with any one of the following options:

(a) Resisted,

(b) Submitted herself, or

(c) Lodged a complaint in the group or took their help,

(d) Complained to relatives,

(e) Warned or

(f) Did nothing.

The women are mostly engaged in agricultural and household

work. In agricultural field most of the works are done by women. Very
few female folk are engaged in small enterprise like small tea shop or
Grocery shop etc. If we calculate the working hours of women, both in
and out of their home than it will be 24 hours a day. But if we take into
consideration only the working hours for which they get wages than it

74
will vary according to the nature of work they perform. The women who
are engaged in construction work get comparatively more than other
working members.

The member of the SHG group approaches the bank for large
amount of loan. The bank after ascertaining the validity of demand for
credit, credit handling ability of the members, repayment behavior within
the group and finally the accounting system and maintenance of the
records, extended a term loan of smaller amount to the group. Loan
repayment by SHGs involves two stages of recovery. The first stage is by
members to the SHG, the second is by the SHG to the bank. The loan
repayment or collection of the group money happens on the meeting day
of the group. On that day they collect the group money. It is the duty of
the Secretary and the President of the group to collect the loan
repayment money and deposit the amount in the bank on time. In case
any member has any financial crisis and can’t deposit her share of
money then all the other members of the group take the burden on
themselves to deposit her due amount.

After becoming a group member in the SHG, the women become

financially sound. When their consumption need is fulfilled they thought
to increase their source of income for a better livelihood. For this reason
they start investing on small enterprise or producing things.

Some SHG groups were engaged in buying or preparing Sesame

ladoos and other infant food and selling these items to the Anganwadi
center. The training duration to learn making ladoos or sewing vegetable
carrying bags is 1-2 days. Press leaf plates requires heavy machine
handling so the training period for it is one week. Mushroom cultivation
is a long process and to master it one has to gradually go through it step-
by-step, so it will make a minimum of 15 days time for the training. The
maker of incense sticks, candles and soaps has to be very fast and

75
skillful with her hands, so it will take one month to speed up with the
techniques.

However, it is doubtful whether these skills are contributing to

women’s empowerment or just accentuating women’s established jobs.
The employment provided as a result of these skills doesn’t interrupt
women’s household tasks or take them away from home. Therefore when
selecting skill development programs for women, it was important to
impart skills which will deal with both women’s ‘practical’ interests (for
example: poor nutrition) and will at the same time rework the ‘strategic’
interests leading to a questioning of the power relations that avert
women from accessing these skills. This can happen if women are given
access to unconventional skills or technology. Training session which
looks at marketing, legal issues, accounting etc., should be arranged.

Some important agencies imparting training to rural women are

Central Board of Social Welfare (CBSW).

 State Boards of Social Welfare

 Literacy House

 Krishi Vigyan Kendra

 Mahila Mandals

 Various voluntary organizations

Mahila Mandals provides an opportunity to rural women to learn

from each other and from resource persons appointed by the
government, in areas; such as child care, environment, hygiene and

76
nutrition. Mahila Mandals caters to the need of housewives, mothers and
no-workers.

Through Krishi Vigyan Kendra women receive training in such

areas as nutrition, hygiene, kitchen gardening, poultry keeping, home
management, child care, rural sanitation, etc.

In India, we have multi-agency rural credit delivery structure

comprising commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative
Banks with a large network of more than 1, 53, 000 retail credit outlets
(one for every 4100 population). Yet reaching the poorest, whose credit
requirements are very small, frequent and unpredictable, is still a
difficult task and Sahukars’ (the rural non-formal Money Lenders)
continues to be the main agency. Further, the systems and lengthy
procedures of the banking institutions with emphasis on complicated
qualifying requirements, tangible collateral, margin etc. also kept them
away from these formal agencies. Banks too, experienced certain
problems like poor repayment, lack of supervision and monitoring, and
high proportion of non-performing assets. Since the credit requirements
of the rural poor cannot be adopted on project lending approach (like in
formal organized sector) there emerged the need for an informal credit
supply through SHGs.

Social intermediation is required for:

 Organizing rural poor women

 Educating them

 Imparting training and skill

Opening of Saving Bank Account with the service area bank

branch by SHGs is the first step in their linkage with the banks. The

77
groups can deposit the savings and other contributions from the
members into this account and withdraw money as per their
requirement. RBI has permitted bank to open saving bank account in the
name of SHGs which may be registered or unregistered after obtaining
certain documents, e.g. The SHG has to pass a resolution in the group
meeting, signed by all members indicating their decision to open saving
bank account with the bank. The group should maintain simple records
such as minute’s book, attendance register, loan ledger, general ledger,
cash book and individual pass book.

Conclusion:

There are certain misconception about the poor people that they
need loan at subsidized rate of interest on soft terms, they lack
education, skills, capacity to save, credit worthiness and therefore are
not bankable. But the experience of several SHGs reveals that rural poor
are actually efficient managers of credit and finance. The Self-Help
Groups really help the women folk to participate in organized activities
apart from helping members to mobilize funds. The empowerment of
women really starts with such kind of activities of Self-Help Group. The
SHGs have made a lasting impact on the lives of the women particularly
in the rural areas of Gajapati. Their quality of life has improved a lot.

78
 They could develop their skills and abilities in various
productive activities.

 There is an increase in their income, savings and

consumption expenditure.

 Increased self-reliance and self confidence have improved the

ability of women to mobilize various public services for their benefit.

 They have become bold and can speak freely in front of a big
crowd.

 They can carry out any type of official work without fear.

 The social horizons of the members have also widened. They

have made many friends and feel that now they are more popular and
socially active

 The illiterate and semi-literate women have got a sense of

satisfaction and wish fulfillment. Now they have become productive and
important members of the family

 They got high self esteem which enhances their capacity to

work

 With improvements in women’s economic opportunities and

their ability to take collective action, there has been a significant decline
in gender based problems such as domestic violence, dowry, polygamy
etc. interestingly some of them are motivating other women to form SHGs
so that they also can reap the benefits.

The truly empowering activities are those that reflect the changes
that women have effectively made to better their lives by resisting the
existing norms of the society. For instance, if a woman offers greater

79
resistance to any form of abuse from her husband or family, we consider
her more empowered as she is trying to improve her well being by
asserting herself.

Both Central and state government should work hand-in-hand to

promote the concept of SHG without political biasness and selfish
motives taking into account the welfare of the womenfolk in general by
incorporating as an important strategy for women empowerment in the
national policy and allocating more grant in the budget and developing
effective implementing machinery. NGOs, Educational Institutions and
Social Service Organizations etc engaged in the promotion and
development of SHGs should be encouraged at all levels with sufficient
financial grants, appreciation and awards.

But the lack of education often comes in the way and many a times
they had to seek help from their husbands or any other educated
man/woman for day to day work. The political as well as economic
empowerment will not succeed in the absence of women education in
skills and vocations they require the most. SHG members can contribute
to women’s election to Panchayati Raj, but does not appear to influence
what they can achieve if elected.

The government in developing countries therefore must take

effective steps to enroll the members of SHGs in the schemes of open
schooling or any other distance mode to impart education. Although it is
also true that economic empowerment alone does not always lead to
reversal in gender relationship.

A successful intervention to empowering women necessitates

several elements – an important one is imparting of new skills; the
consequence of women assuming new roles is also support through
training for enabling them to perform these roles. Training modules have

80
to make women recognize clearly how society structures their
perceptions. This would help in making women aware that society’s
perception of women’s appropriate roles and behavior should not shape
their actions. The training program must promote critical analysis in
women and encourage them to think independently and challenge
unequal gender relations and exploitation.

There is a necessity to alter both women’s and program

implementers’ view of the training they require. There has to be a break
from traditional training such as home science, in the direction of
organizations of sessions where they can discuss, build up and filter
their world view. Training women in tailoring, pickle making and papad
making etc. are may enable women to earn supplementary income.
However, it is doubtful whether these skills are contributing to women’s
empowerment or just accentuating women’s established jobs. The
employment provided as a result of these skills doesn’t interrupt
women’s household tasks or take them away from home. Therefore while
selecting skill development programs for women, it is important to impart
skills which will deal with both women’s practical interests and will at
the same time rework the strategies interests leading to a questioning of
the power relations that avert women from accessing these skills. This
can happen if women are given access to unconventional skills or
technology. Training sessions which look at marketing, legal issues,
accounting etc., should be arranged. Also, the peril of too constricted a
focus is to propose that is simply women who require training. It may be
male officer/worker who needs training, especially in terms of altering
his preconceived notion. This is a significant point for implementers who
have inclined to presume that the subject matter of their attention have
to be women per se; there may be a great need for sensitizing the staff
and program implementers in gender issues.

81
 SHG members reflect a diverse membership covering different
social and economic categories, including the poor. At group level, SHG
membership is not homogeneous by wealth, which affects ‘equity’ issues.
There are barriers inherent in the conditions of membership to a group
formed to mediate financial transactions – through regular meetings,
savings and loan repayments. Such conditions are difficult for women
who migrate for seasonal wage employment, and households with
variable or uncertain incomes. This type of financial difficulties in
making regular savings deposits is the main reason for very poor and
poor drop-outs. Usually it seems to be the member’s decision to leave;
otherwise it is a case of mutual agreement between the member and the
group. Though there are cases of groups expelling a member.

When a member leaves an SHG, she is, in theory, entitled to

receive back her savings plus interest (which should be a share of the net
profit from interest earned from on-lending within the groups). But in
practice we found that this is not communicated as the norm. It is clear
that, if she drops out, a member’s savings can be adjusted against any
outstanding loan (though whether interest due on savings is included in
this adjustment is not so clear). Excluding these, it is found that drop
outs do not usually lose their savings, but the majority does not receive
interest due.

The impressionistic evidence from interviews with Social field

workers and with drop out is that, there is not much follow up of drop
outs. Though NGO worker successfully resolving differences between
member and group, or encouraging a member not to drop out; to avoid
weakening of the group, provided the women in concerned is not
quarrelsome, or irregular in payments. The theory of social collateral that
underlies SHG borrowing implies that all members of a group are
responsible for ensuring loan repayments. This can take the form of

82
members making repayments on behalf of a defaulter. More often, it
takes the form of exerting, pressure on defaulters to pay, starting with
discussion within the group, giving a warning, and imposing a fine; and
leading, in some cases, taking possession of a defaulter’s assets, or
locking her out of her house. Dealing with default can entail a fine
balance, building and maintaining a culture of repayment discipline,
whilst exploring options to assist a member in case of difficulties.

The pattern of escalation depends on members’ understanding of

the defaulter’s situations, of whether she is facing genuine difficulties of
repayment or not, or whether there is pressure to ensure repayment as a
group so as to access a further bank loan and the type of relationship
that the defaulter has with the group.

This confirms the need for longer term and more sophisticated
SHG volunteer’s support, by people who have been trained on how to
advise SHGs to deal with default situation; which is much more
complicated than the process of getting a group going. Formation,
strengthening of SHGs, clusters and activity based federations of SHGs
and cooperatives as community owned institutions that provide
sustainable micro-finance services would be given top priority.
Strengthening the capacities of SHGs in terms of quality improvement
would be the goal of the state, especially to ensure that over 80% SHGs
are rated as “A” grade eligible for bank linkage. It would also be ensured
that there would be enhanced outlay per SHG so that some of the
members would be able to undertake micro-enterprises. Bankers would
also be sensitized to deepen the credit so that the poor would benefit
from linkage.

SHG membership can contribute to women’s election to Panchayati

Raj, but does not appear to influence what they can achieve if elected.
Probably more important than SHG support is the fact that the members

83
(or her family) often have political leanings and activities even before they
were members of SHGs. Local elections, when they take place, represent
an opportunity for building women’s awareness and involvement, which
NGOs may seek to respond to. Where there were SHPA interventions, by
NGOs, they were related to preparation for election: informing SHGs
about the election rules, how to register a nomination and encouraging
group members to campaign and to vote.

Some degree of follow up through post election guidance and

networking could also make a difference in supporting effective action by
the elected representatives.

A significant proportion of sampled groups have weak records.

SHGs records may be maintained by SHG office bearers, SHG volunteer,
locally recruited book keepers or other non-members. Part of the problem
lies in the relative complexity of the recording system – the number of
records, and the amount of work to record the transactions. Record
keeper may find them difficult to manage. Office bearer as well as group
members have had no or little schooling. It is the responsibility of SHG
volunteer to have a system for internal verification as well as arrange for
external audits.

Surveys have shown that many elements contribute to make it

more difficult for women empowerment through micro businesses. These
elements are:

 Lack of knowledge of the market and potential profitability ,

thus making the choice of business difficult.

 Inadequate book keeping

 Setting prices arbitrarily

84
 Lack of capital

 Inventory and inflation accounting is never undertaken

 Credit policies that can gradually ruin there business

 Burden of meeting

 Lack of economic empowerment: micro-finance assists

women to perform traditional roles better and thus women remain
trapped in low productivity sectors.

However, impact on incomes is widely variable. It is clear that

women’s choices about activity and their ability to increase incomes are
seriously constrained by gender inequalities in access to other resources
for investment, responsibility for household subsistence expenditure,
lack of time because of unpaid domestic work and low levels of mobility.

The rural women should realize that they are not the isolated
unproductive but important wheel for the smooth running of the society.
The economic incentives and effective NGOs participation will definitely
make the women empowerment a reality from a distant dream at
present.

A change in the outlook is possible with the willingness to

change along with a positive approach. The slogan ‘Yes, we can’ played a
key role in Mr. Barack Obama’s historic victory in USA; it was the
essence of his political campaigning. This attitude is required in Odisha
also. The women need to have self belief which will open up new vistas of
opportunity for them. They need a revolution in thinking level, a
complete overhauling of the mindset. They need to ignite their brain to
have a clear vision of the surrounding.

85
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Gender and Women’s health, publication by CHETNA, NGO

The Status of Women: A Reality Check By SWAYAM.

Indian Census Report, 2001

The Human Development Report, 1995

The Human Development Report, 2003

UN Statistics

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Women in India-How free? How equal? – Kalyani Menon Sen, A.K.Shiva
Kumar

Fernandez, A.P. 1998. The MYRADA Experience: Alternative Management

Systems for savings and credit for the rural poor. Bangalore, MYRADA.

Prof.D.Sambangi, Self Help Group as an effective strategy and Doable

approach to empower women in India, Tamilnadu, India.

Prof. Ghadoliya M.K., Empowering Women through Self-Help Groups: Role

of Distance Education.

Sen, Amartya.1999. Development as Freedom, Alfred A Knopf, New York

Study materials of MARD (MA in Rural Development), from IGNOU.

Lalitha, N. and B.S.Nagarajan (2002), “Self-Help Groups in Rural

Development”, New Delhi: dominant publishers and distributors.

Tomofumi Oka and Thomasina Borkman :The History, Concepts and

Theories of Self-Help Groups: From an international Perspective

Zaman, H., 2001. “Assessing the poverty and vulnerability impact of micro
credit in Blangladesh: a case study of BRAC”, unpublished background
paper for World Bank, World Development Report 2000/2001(Washington,
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