IMPACT OF MICRO-FINANCE ON WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN PRAYAGRAJ DISTRICT, UTTAR PRADESH

Microfinance is a widely accepted tool for poverty alleviation and socio-economic development of its beneficiaries and currently promoted as a key strategy for women empowerment and for reaching the unreached poor. There was lack of knowledge on the impact of microfinance on women empowerment; hence there arises the need for the study. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study in Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh. Six villages in Holagarh block of Prayagaraj district is selected for the study. From each village, 20 respondents were selected constitutes 120 respondents. The primary data were collected with the help of interview schedule and with appropriate statistical tools the data is processed. The findings of the study are majority of the respondents were middle aged, literate, earns medium level of annual income, low level of mass media exposure, had above 3 acres of land holding, medium level of leadership capacity and medium level of social participation. Further, nearly half of the respondents had medium level of impact on operational aspects and individual aspects of micro-finance on women empowerment and more than two-third of the respondents had medium level of impact of micro-finance on family aspects.