SHG

SHG or Self Help Group are mainly women groups formed inorder to facilitate economical and social empowerment.

My recent visit to few SHG showed me that the SHG are being pushed into financial crisis both by the banks and the micro credit agency. Above all in this time of acute financial crisis their family members are not beside them. The women are left alone to handle it. One cannot imagine the amount of stress and depression they are going through are pathetic. I feel that it is the worst situation that they are going through.

The banks have rendered loans upto one lakh to each SHG without proper assessment of the members regarding their utilisation capacity. No viable IGP is being showed to the SHG members. It was the duty of DRD cell.

The women were happy that they got a loan and the banks as well as DRD cell of West Bengal government were glad too, as they could fulfill their target of credit disbursement. But for the long run they had planted the seed of economical crisis for the women. In between the panchayat election came and some political parties for securing their votes in the ballot box (now EVM) announced that their loan has been pardoned by the government. (I do not know why they said so or what did they mean.) But the immedicate result was that SHG members stopped repaying their loan. It is now one year that the SHG members have stopped paying back their loan. (One can imagine the amount of interest and principal amount that have cumulated)

Suddenly after one year the bank woke up from their deep sleep and organised a meeting with the panchayat and ordered the SHG to start repaying their loan as it has not been pardoned. Now the women are in a great problem.



When I talked with the members of SHG I found that each of them are indebted with more than Rs. 20,000 loan. They have not only taken loan from SHG but from several micro credit agency for their own valid reason. But one thing is common that the loan money has been utilised for unproductive purposes like building houses, repairment, buying mobile set, TV, DVD etc... Few of them have bought cow but all of them died (the reason for death lies somewhere else - use of excessive chemical fertilisers in their field).



Now the women are puzzled as how to pay back the loan. Above all the utilisation of loan money has been decided by the men flok (women's husband). But now during the repayment the men folk has shown their back. Everyone form the bank to the micro credit agency calls the women and force them for repayment. The women are really stressed and are standing helpless. One cannot imagine the extent of impact this indebtedness has on the life of the women. The impact can be seen through the amount of domestic violence that has increased in the area among the husband and wife, high blood pressure, child labour, excesive malnourishment, tension and so on....



What can be done....

Who is responsible for this....

Who should help them.....

Who stands accountable....

What are the ways to help them...

The women cannot pay back the loan till they get some work. But the hurdle in it is the patriarchy scoiety which do not allow the women to go out for work. The less opportunity in the village. What should the women do now.... migrate or do suicide????