With SHGs, Telangana women in their own right
Over 10 lakh women from across Telangana have set up their businesses, courtesy SHGs
Hyderabad: Self-help groups in Telangana have been exceedingly successful in enabling women to be financially independent, build their skills and confidence.
Nearly 10 lakh women from across the State have taken steps to change their lives by becoming part of SHGs and set an example in the right direction. Though their initiatives have been diverse, all the women members share similar ambitions – to be financially and socially independent.
Most of them are engaged in various income generation activities such as embroidery, zardosi, garments, durries, handloom sarees, jute products, bed sheets, mirror decor, stone crafts, fabric painting, wood carvings as well as the regular line of pickles and ready-to-eat snacks.
In Telangana, there are more than a lakh SHGs and GHMC boasts of 45,000 strong women groups comprising 4.5 lakh women. The government has been facilitating these groups get financial support through banks for lesser interest rates and at regular higher doses of loans through which its women members can set up different small scale projects and works.
Aruna, a resident of Amberpet and a member of SHG, has been good at tailoring and wanted to open her own shop. Six months ago, she applied for a loan through the SHG bank linkage and received Rs 70,000, which was enough to realise her dream. After buying five sewing machines, she recently started her tailoring centre and has also been training four girls.
“Now I earn around Rs 10,000 per month. The self-help concept has created a platform for us to organise, make our voices heard and increase relative strengths. SHGs have brought a kind of financial independence in our lives,” Aruna said.
Jhansi, who discontinued her MBA due to financial constraints, runs a leather and jute bag making establishment at Karmanghat
After the formation of separate Telangana in 2014, bank loans to the tune of Rs 27,092 crore had been extended to the SHGs till 2019. In 2018, GHMC provided Rs 376 crore bank loans to the SHGs in city limits and earlier this year, it provided Rs 600 crore loans.
In July, the State had secured the first position by achieving 17.56 per cent of the target in bank linkage to the SHGs in the first quarter itself. This was announced by the National Rural Livelihood Mission.
Apart from micro-financial assistance and bank linkage, the government also promotes skill training by way of jute product making, stitching, embroidery, English training, and computer skills to SHG women.
Jhansi, from Hyderabad, who discontinued her MBA due to financial constraints, was taking tuitions, hardly making enough money. She took training in bag making for 90 days. By the time she decided to set up a business, she was married off. She later joined an SHG and took a loan worth Rs 50,000. In 2015, she was able to set up a leather and jute bags making establishment at Karmanghat. She now not just receives orders locally but also internationally, and has turned into a successful entrepreneur.
Sujatha, a member of SHG for nearly a decade, took an SHG loan worth Rs 8 lakhs and set up a business of herbal products. “We are a group of 10 women running this and earnings will be distributed equally among ourselves. We also set up a stall in exhibitions regularly,” she says.
The GHMC is also promoting women entrepreneurs through Self Employment and Group Employment programmes in coordination with the banks under all the government-sponsored schemes. Earlier this year, 206 women were offered Rs 1.70 crore loans under the self-employment programme.
The civic body apart from imparting skill development and skill up-gradation programs is providing free space at the different exhibitions to support marketing opportunities to the women entrepreneurs. At Numaish every year, at least one SHG from each circle sets up stalls offering a wide and varied range of products.
To help SHG women find employment in online delivery platforms, the GHMC trained nearly 100 women in two-wheeler driving and after the training, helped in getting driving licences. These women were being picked up by different delivery platforms.
Under a unique concept of ‘unite families and divide waste’ GHMC has taken on the mantle of bringing together estranged families by way of family counselling through its extensive network of SHG women. Under this process, effective negotiators among SHG women are identified and trained to act as family counsellors and solve issues of estrangement and separation. So far, GHMC has been able to unite more than 120 families with the help of the SHGs.
This apart, women SHGs are in forefront of the battle against Covid-19 and are working round-the-clock to meet the urgent demand for masks. These women stitch dozens of masks every day. In April alone, they have stitched over 3 lakh masks and the municipal corporation paid Rs 12 per mask.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
