Nationwide campaign for expansion of Self Help Groups (SHGs)
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has announced a nationwide campaign for expansion of Self Help Groups (SHGs).
- The Ministry of Rural Development has announced a campaign under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) to expedite the inclusion of women who have been left out from joining SHGs.
- It aims to expand the coverage of SHGs.
- DAY-NRLM aims to cover around 9-10 crore rural poor families in SHGS in a phased manner. This will provide them with long term support.
- In this way they will be able to diversify their livelihood and improve their income and quality of life.
- As on August 31, 2022, more than 5 crore families have been linked to 78.33 lakh SHGs under DAY-NRLM.
- SHG is an informal group of people with similar socio-economic characteristics. These people join this group to achieve common goals.
Importance of SHGs:
- help in empowerment,
- promote small savings habits among its members,
- resolve conflicts through collective leadership,
- Connect the rural poor to the formal banking structure etc.
Challenges before SHGs:
- They lack resources, training facilities are not adequate,
- Not all members have much knowledge about the schemes,
- Possibility of exploitation by key members of the group
- The attitude of financial institutions towards such groups is not cooperative etc.
Initiatives Launched:
- Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) is being run.
- Reserve Bank of India has launched SHG Bank Linkage Programme,
- Startup Village Entrepreneurship Program (SVEP) and Women Farmers Empowerment Project (MKSP) are also being run. Both these are sub-schemes of DAY-NRLM.
Source – The Hindu