Strong Women, Thriving Villages: The Self-Help Group Movement

Rural women empowerment is not only for gender equality but also mandates achieving the sustainable development goals of the United Nations for the upliftment of the entire society. Women are the real architects of society who change the entire landscape drastically. To accelerate the growth of the society and upliftment of rural background, Self Help Groups play a significant role. This study tries to analysis the impact of self-help groups on the socio-economic status of rural women and finds the problems and challenges faced by self-help group members during the operative activities of the group. According to a study SHG-Bank Linkage Program has saved the existence of many SHGs from ending. Bank-linked SHGs have increased significantly from 255 in FY 1992-93 to 144.22 lakh in FY 2023-24, along with the credit disbursed to SHGs increasing from 29 lakh in 1992 to 209286 crores till 31 March 2024. The savings of SHGs are gradually increasing each year. In addition to SHGs, they face many problems like challenges of the market, low-quality products, conflicts among group members, and many more. In spite of all the flaws, SHGs are a driving force for the rural economy to overcome people from the vicious cycle of poverty.