RURAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES THROUGH SELF-HELP GROUPS
RURAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES THROUGH SELF-HELP GROUPS
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), inter-alia, is implementing Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana –National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in which Self Help Groups (SHGs) are involved. These Schemes are implemented through State Governments/UT administrations. In addition, SHGs are being involved by other Departments/Ministries and State Government Departments dealing with rural development from time to time.
DAY-NRLM is being implemented across the country in a mission mode since 2011 with the aim to bring at least one woman member from each rural poor household, as per the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data and process of Participatory Identification of Poor (PIP), into the fold of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and to support them to take economic activities. As on 31st January, 2024, about 9.98 crore Women households have been mobilized into 90.39 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs). The State/UT wise details of the number of households mobilized into SHGs since 2011 under the Mission is given below:
State/UT wise details of the number of households mobilized & SHGs Formed as on 31st January, 2024
Sl. No
States/UTs
No. of Households Covered
No. of SHGs mobilized
1
Andhra Pradesh
9066655
855580
2
Assam
4018731
356601
3
Bihar
12708238
1096939
4
Chhatisgarh
3036956
275109
5
Gujarat
2765861
278079
6
Jharkhand
3586912
291417
7
Karnataka
4168120
356942
8
Kerala
3999493
270993
9
Madhya Pradesh
5792134
484453
10
Maharashtra
6469304
635183
11
Odisha
5715076
546490
12
Rajasthan
3804161
321801
13
Tamil Nadu
4002881
336044
14
Telangana
4777041
441943
15
Uttar Pradesh
9489816
840280
16
West Bengal
12106660
1181104
17
Haryana
623171
59789
18
Himachal Pradesh
373629
44931
19
Jammu & Kashmir
791032
90767
20
Punjab
531855
51213
21
Uttarakhand
486283
64390
22
Arunachal Pradesh
84416
9897
23
Manipur
92267
8725
24
Meghalaya
442150
45151
25
Mizoram
85393
10256
26
Nagaland
134192
15336
27
Sikkim
56610
5908
28
Tripura
492588
51693
29
Andaman & Nicobar
13064
1286
30
Goa
50020
3765
31
Ladakh
10844
1432
32
Lakshadweep
4146
344
33
Puducherry
57831
4564
34
Daman DIU and Dadar & Nagar Haveli
11844
1144
Total:
99849374
9039549
Under MGNREGA, SHG members are involved in the planning of works through participation in Gram Sabha, play the role of Social Auditors and are also engaged as worksite supervisors (mates). In addition, efforts are being made to progressively engage Federations of Women Self-help Groups as Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) at the Gram Panchayat / Block / District level.
Under DAY-NRLM, various sub-schemes like Mahila Kisan SashaktikaranPariyojana (MKSP), Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP), Deendayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI) are being implemented for enhancing the income on sustainable basis of the rural poor. The mission seeks to achieve its objective through investing in four core components viz., (i) social mobilization and promotion of sustainable community institutions of the rural poor (Self Help Groups-SHGs, Village Organisations -VOs, Cluster Level Federations-CLFs); (ii) financial inclusion, (iii) sustainable livelihoods; and (iv) convergence and entitlements. Accordingly, within the ambit of the mission and with the converging schemes of the other Ministries, SHG members are being facilitated for promotion of sustainable livelihoods, so that they may reach an aspirational goal of having minimum of one lakh rupee as annual income.
The Ministry in collaboration with Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has created “SARAS Collection” as a Store Front in GeM for marketing of SHG products. Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) have been entered on 2nd November, 2021 and 12th May, 2022 and 16th February 2023 between Ministry and Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd., Amazon and Fashnear Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Meesho) respectively to allow the Self Help Groups (SHGs) producers including the artisans, weavers and craftsmen to access national markets through the Flipkart Samarth programme, Amazon Saheli initiative and Meesho for marketing of SHGs products. An MoU has also been signed by the Ministry with Patanjali on 2nd November, 2022 for collaboration in various fields including online marketing of SHGs products. An e-Commerce platform (www.esaras.in) has also been launched by the Ministry for online marketing of SHG products. Recently, an MoU has been signed between MoRD and JioMart on 22nd December 2023 for on-boarding and marketing of SHGs products. Further, some States have also developed their own e-Commerce platforms to support marketing of products of SHGs.
This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.