Atmanirbhar Narishakti Se Samvad:
Prime Minister (PM) of India participated in ‘Atmanirbhar Narishakti se Samvad’ and interacted with women Self Help Group (SHG) members promoted under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).
Highlights of the Conference:
- The PM lauded the Self-Help Groups of women for their unprecedented services during the Covid-19 period.
- For example, women’s unparalleled contribution in making masks and sanitizers and providing food to the needy and spreading awareness.
- The PM released support funds to SHGs, for PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME) Scheme and for Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).
- The PM also announced that now the limit for loans available to SHGs without guarantee has been doubled to Rs 20 lakh.
- In the pursuit of making the country free from single use plastic, SHGs can play an important role.
- SHGs can raise awareness about single use plastic and work for its alternative.
- In this context, SHGs can take full advantage of the online Government e-marketplace.
About Self-Help Groups (SHGs):
- SHGs are informal associations of people who choose to come together to find ways to improve their living conditions.
- It can be defined as a self governed, peer controlled information group of people with similar socio-economic background and having a desire to collectively perform common purpose.
- Villages face numerous problems related to poverty, illiteracy, lack of skills, lack of formal credit etc. These problems cannot be tackled at an individual level and need collective efforts.
- Thus SHG can become a vehicle of change for the poor and marginalized. SHG relies on the notion of “Self Help” to encourage self-employment and poverty alleviation.
- In 1999, Government of India, introduced Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) to promote self-employment in rural areas through formation and skilling of SHGs. The programme evolved as a national movement in 2011 and became National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM).
