The Grey Areas of Self Help Group

The Grey Areas of Self Help Group in Indian Context

In our country usually the poor people in time of their emergency run to the door of the landlords and money lenders to fulfill their credit needs and this comes usually at a very high interest. In India it is too difficult to find a financial institution to meet such requirements. To meet the emergency need the Self Help Groups evolved. Members of the SHGs started savings as the prime work and this savings of the members opened the way for different income generating activities. In no time SHGs flourished in the development sector as a major tool for bringing economic development of the poor people particularly among the women folk. The government as well as Non government sectors and most recently the corporate sectors involved themselves in SHG. It’s a fact that in few part of the country this has brought tremendous result but in most of the states the real situation is quite disappointing.

The failure of SHG movement points out to a number of causes. We Indians are good followers and we blindly follow lots of thing. Sixty years have gone but our planners have not yet realized the fact that we are having a diverse culture all over and one thing accepted in any part, among a particular community may not be accepted in the other part or among the other community. We will organize the SHGs of the women folk only and all over the country irrespective of caste, tribe, community, religion. And we are doing the same. We never take into account which gender among different community is the working force and who can be entrepreneur and decision makers. Among the different tribes while the women folk mostly contribute in the family income, among the other general caste this thing is mainly taken care by the males. If we are trying to develop the poor then it must not count the female only. Poverty is similar to all and it creates similar problem for all. “Poverty has no caste, gender, community and over all religion”!!

Looking to the fast spread of SHGs now ICDS, Bankers and NGOs all are organizing SHGs. Banks are giving linkages looking to the savings and ICDS is also promoting different other activities. Now it has been a general feature of most of the tribal Orissa that in many of the villages one can not find a single woman who is not in SHG whether she understands anything or not. If there is any effective NGO and working with good fund for SHGs, then looking to that fund Bankers are also making linkages. Now in few part of the country the SHGs have overburdened with loans and funds from bank, NGO, and Government programs.

As most of the time the major part of the Government and non government fund are channelized for the tribal development here emphasize has given to different aspects of SHGs in respect to tribal culture. 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.” And the last important point to be emphasized is that a tribe is 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. So in the initial stage of formation of SHG the real problem arises in regularizing the savings. Six month regular savings opens 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 loan 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 always comes to mind- Do we ensure the following few things before assisting or attaching fund with the SHGs. In most of the cases it is no. And in most of the bankers make linkages with these ICDS promoted SHGs without giving any second thought whether the fund will be utilized in proper manner or not. One must go for linkage when,

Members can say

• Effective functioning of office bearers
• Differentiating between consumers credit and production credit
• Ensuring repayment and continuity
• Setting viable norms for interest rates, repayment, schedules, gestation period, book keeping, writing bad debts
• Assisting the members in getting access the formal credit institutions

If it is yes then I would like to say please go ahead with SHGs as it can really bring dramatic result in the field of economic development of the poor. And if it is no then please wait and ensure the above things and then attach with fund.

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