WOMEN SELF HELP GROUPS AND SUSTAINABILITY INDICES: A STUDY OF SUCCESSFUL SELF HELP GROUPS IN URULI KANCHAN VILLAGE, PUNE DISTRICT

In India half of the population comprises of women but businesses owned and operated by them constitute less than 5%. This is the reflection of developing India on social, cultural as well as economic front. Women Self Help Groups in India are formed with a view to mobilize savings of poor and marginal sectors of society. This will help to eradicate poverty and strengthening of weaker sections of society. With this view Self Help Groups in Maharashtra are formed in the form of village organizations under the guidelines provided in' Dashasutras'. Formation of self help groups is much easier process than to make them sustainable. This paper discusses about various indices which influence sustainability of self help groups. Those indices are leadership index, index of meeting, record keeping index, conflict index, goal clarity index. Each index factor is considered as index of sustainability. Using confidence interval method analysis mean of indices is calculated and conclusions are drawn.