DEVELOPMENT OF SELF HELP GROUPS AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIO - ECONOMIC STATUS OF RURAL PEOPLE

This Paper reviews the vital role of Self- Help Groups (SHGs) in poverty eradication in villages. The SHG Movement has become extensive, successful component of rural India. SHGs are generally small group controlled ,consisted of homogenous members who generally belong to poor marginalized sections of the society, who come together in to groups and motivate each other to build new opportunities for income generation. The system of SHG has proven to very suitable to the poor and vulnerable women community in the society and this system breaks the exploitation and isolation of women from men. This paper examines the development of SHGs and impact on the socio-economic condition of SHG member's households. The programme has grown at a tremendous pace during last two decades and emerged as the most prominent means of delivering micro- finance services in India .The average annual net income, assets and savings of SHG member's households increased significantly in the post-SHG situation. The average amount of loans and the regularity in repayment of loans increased, and the dependence on moneylenders decreased remarkably. The percentage of loans used for productive purposes and employment per household increased, the incidence of poverty among SHG members declined, and the social empowerment of women improved significantly.