Dr. Banarsi Lal
In a diverse country as India, tackling socio-economic issues is a monumental task. Gender equality and empowerment of women is accepted universally as an important aspect of development. Women empowerment is a buzz word in present time. The empowerment of women is one of the vital issues in the progression and improvement of countries across the globe. Women play a significant role in the development of any nation and it has proved in the history that no development is possible without the participation of women in the world. India is committed to empowerment of women. Rural India’s self-help group movement has been a powerful incubator of female resilience and entrepreneurship. The concept of Self Help Groups(SHGs) is a powerful instrument for the economic empowerment of rural women. The empowerment of women is crucial for the economic development of a nation and also plays a significant role in building a base for change. It is important to empower the rural women economically by enhancing their role to the utmost level. SHGs has the potential to drastically change the social construct of gender in villages. The term ‘Self Help’ was coined by Samuel Smiles in his book in 1859 to describe the people whom we might today call entrepreneurs. The critical factor that he found in people was not their individualism but their willingness to help themselves rather than waiting for others to help. The concept of Self- Help Groups gained significance after 1976 when Professor Mohammad Yunus of Bangladesh began experimenting with micro-credit and women SHGs. His planning made a revolution in Bangladesh in poverty eradication.
Sufia Begum was a 21 years old villager and a mother of three children when an Economics Professor Mohammad Yunus of Bangladesh (Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2006) met her in 1974 and asked her how much she earned. She replied that she borrowed 5 takas (about $0.09) from a middleman for the bamboo for each stool. About $0.02 of that went back to the lender. He thought that for five taka’s she has become a slave. He thought that why she was so poor when she was making such beautiful things. The following day he and his students did a survey in the woman’s village, Jobra, Bangladesh and discovered that 43 villagers owned a total of 856 taka’s (about $27). He was unable to bear anymore. He put the $27 out there and told them that they could liberate them. An idea of self- help groups came in his mind. His momentary generosity grows into a full-fledged concept that came to fruition with founding of Grameen Bank in 1983.Self-Help Group is a small, economically homogenous and affinity based group of people who have decided to save and contribute to a common fund to be lent to its members as per the group decisions. SHGs are a way to involve rural men and women actively in the developmental process by increasing the income, technical skills, mutual help, address constraints etc. The agenda of SHGs is ‘Empowerment’ and shift from dormant masses of the rural women to vibrant masses by bringing more income in the hands so that they can live better social life. The group can be formed by the initiative of a group of people or by the initiation of an NGO, bank, project, govt. programme etc. Programmes like National Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM) are playing significant role in SHGs formation and women empowerment. KVKs are also playing pivotal role in empowering the rural women by providing them technical skills.
President represents the SHG as group leader and he/she is selected by the members of the group. It is expected that the person who occupies this position should have good communication skills, leadership quality maintaining cohesiveness in the group and encourage participation of every member in all activities of the group. Secretary is responsible for organising all the meetings. He/she plays the role of president in his or her absence. Secretary keeps all the records of the group. Cashier acts as the financial custodian of the group. He/She is responsible for the maintenance of accounts of the group. He/She keeps the accounts of the members of the group for savings, internal lending, repayments, linkage with the banks, etc. Every SHG needs to pass through three stage of development, viz. forming and storming stage (0-3months),Norming stage(3-4months) and functioning and developing stage(6-12 months).
SHGs general objectives are : to encourage small saving habits among the people, to bring an overall change in socio-economic conditions of people living below poverty line, to understand the dynamics of managing and collection of money, to make the people aware of banking procedures, to identify the leadership qualities in the people and also to encourage the people to avoid the traditional source of financing i.e. money lenders and also encourage the people to develop cordial environment within and outside the group. President represents the SHG as group leader and he/she is selected by the members of the group. It is expected that the person who occupies this position should have good communication skills, leadership quality maintaining cohesiveness in the group and encourage participation of every member in all activities of the group. Secretary is responsible for organising all the meetings. He/she plays the role of president in his or her absence. Secretary keeps all the records of the group. Cashier acts as the financial custodian of the group. He/She is responsible for the maintenance of accounts of the group. He/She keeps the accounts of the members of the group for savings, internal lending, repayments, linkage with the banks, etc. Every SHG needs to pass through three stage of development, viz. forming and storming stage (0-3months), Norming stage(3-4months) and functioning and developing stage(6-12 months).
By forming the self help groups members can increase their income and employment, they can identify their potential to perform, they can develop collective approach, dependence on money lender is reduced ,they can gain social recognisation, women can become more assertive in confronting social evils and problems, initiate new ventures through which the group members can be benefited, facilitates group members to have easy access of information regarding state and central government schemes ,programmes, projects etc., speedup developmental efforts by developing the self-confidence and self reliance. Self-Help Groups can promote holistic development of rural India.
(The writer is Chief Scientist & Head of KVK Reasi SKUAST-J)