The Economic Survey states that SHGs have had a positive impact on women economically, socially and politically, empowering them in various ways. Image for representation purpose only. , Photo credit: Biswaranjan Raut
With 75% of women workers employed in agriculture in rural India, there was a need to upskill them and create employment in related sectors like food processing, and Self Help Groups (SHGs) can play a vital role in this. economic survey Where is 2023?
The survey states that the transformative potential of SHGs is exemplified by the key roles played by them during the COVID-19 pandemic. The SHGs took the lead in making masks, sanitizers and protective gear. They also created awareness about the pandemic, for example ‘journalist didis’ of Jharkhand distributed essential goods like floating supermarkets in Kerala, ran community kitchens like Prerna canteens in Uttar Pradesh and supported agricultural livelihoods.
It states that SHGs have had a positive impact on women economically, socially and politically, empowering them in various ways such as handling money, making financial decisions, better social networks, asset ownership and livelihood diversification. get acquainted with
Their resilience and resilience performance during crises, including pandemics, needs to be moderated for long-lasting rural transformation, the survey said.
There are about 12 million SHGs in India, of which 88% are women. Success stories of SHGs include Kudumbashree in Kerala, Jeevika in Bihar, Mahila Economic Development Mahamandal in Maharashtra and more recently Looms of Ladakh.
The SHG Bank Linkage Project (SHG-BLP), which was launched in 1992, has become the largest microfinance project in the world. With active participation of stakeholders, SHG-BLP covers 14.2 crore households through 119 lakh SHGs with savings deposits of ₹47,240.5 crore and 67 lakh groups with collateral-free loans of ₹1,51,051.3 crore by March 31, 2022 .
The Economic Survey also stated that there was a significant increase in the rural female labor force participation rate (FLFPR) from 19.7% in 2018-19 to 27.7% in 2020-21. This can be attributed to the increasing rural amenities freeing up women’s time and higher agricultural growth over the years.
However, it noted that India’s female LFPR could be an underestimate with improvements in survey design and content needed to more accurately capture the reality of working women.
“There is a need to broaden the horizon of measuring work, which constitutes the entire universe of productive activities along with employment,” the survey said.
According to the latest International Labor Organization (ILO) standards, limiting productive work to labor force participation is narrow and only measures work as a market product. This does not include the value of women’s unpaid domestic work, which can be seen as expense-saving work such as collecting firewood, cooking, teaching children, etc., and which contribute significantly to household living standards.
The Survey states that there is even more significant scope for reducing gender-based disadvantages to enable freer choice for women to join the labor market.