ECONOMIC IMPROVEMENT OF RURAL BPL HOUSEHOLDS THROUGH SHGS: A STUDY AT AURANGABAD DISTRICT OF MAHARASHTRA

This study was carried out among the members of self-help groups (SHGs) at Aurangabad District of Maharashtra in the Month of March 2019. Altogether, two SHGs located in two different areas along with the few members of SHGs were contacted to get an idea about the functioning of self-help group (SHG) in the district as well as earning (income) of members after joining in the SHG. The SHGs were part of earlier Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), a self-employment scheme sponsored under Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. In view of this few lines about SGSY and its progress are presented here for the benefit of readers. So, the study is based on both primary and secondary data.


Introduction
To generate self-employment in the rural areas during 1980s and also in 90s different selfemployment programmes were introduced in India. These were Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Supply of Improved Toolkits for Rural Artisans (SITRA), Million Wells Scheme (MWS) and Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY). Later on in 1999, 1st April all these self-employment programmes were merged into one i.e. Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) and again from June 2011 a new Programme namely National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM, now known as DAY-NRLM, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-NRLM) was launched in all the rural areas after restructuring SGSY by the Ministry of Rural Development , Government of India. DAY-NRLM has set out with an agenda to cover 7 Crore BPL households, across 600 districts, 6000 blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats and 6 lakh villages in the country through self-managed Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federated institutions and support them for livelihoods collectives in a period of 8-10 years. In addition, the below poverty line (BPL) households would be facilitated to achieve increased access to their rights, entitlements and public services, diversified risk and better social indicators of empowerment. DAY-NRLM believes in harnessing the innate capabilities of the poor and complements them with capacities (information, knowledge, skills, tools, finance and collectivization) to participate in the growing economy of the country (www.aajeevika.gov.in). For the benefit of researchers and readers progress of SGSY are presented for few years' particularly initial year and fag end of the Yojana. The data were collected from the Annual Report 2009-10 of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India so any researcher can use the data according to the requirement.

1)
Although table is self-explanatory but few important points as observed from the above are: 2) Over a period of time, allocation of fund both by the Central and the State Governments increased. 3) Although allocation of fund was increased but utilization to available funds/ allocation was low as it never touched even 100 percent in any year. 4) The data reveal that per capita investment, which is an important indicator of incremental capital output ratio, increased over a period of time. 5) Credit -subsidy ratio was hovered around 2 over the years indicating more credit was given than subsidy. 6) With the increase number of SHGs and 77 percent women SHGs (of the total SHGs) indicates more and more women members joined in the income generation activities. 7) As per norm, the percentage of SC/ST assisted should be 50 but only in 2009-10 the same was achieved and in other years it less than the target. 8) As per guidelines of SGSY, the percentage of women assisted should be 40 but it always crossed the target which is praiseworthy. 9) The assistance given to minorities and disabled was always short of the target.

Study Area and Methodology
The study is based on field visit and PRA methodology (earlier used to call Participatory Rural Appraisal, now PRA is used) was used. Again under PRA, Group Discussion tool was exercised where along with SHG members, local villagers, local officials were present so scope of suppressing information was ruled out. The two SHGs are Rohidas Maharaj SHG of Dhawalapuri village, Aurangabad block and Sri Sai SHG of Fardapur village, block Soyegaon of Aurangabad district and study was conducted in the month of March 2019.
The SHGs were part of earlier Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), a selfemployment scheme sponsored under Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. In view of this, few lines about SGSY have been already mentioned here for the benefit of readers. So, the study is based on both primary and secondary data.
Before presenting the cases, few lines about PRA collected from the book of "Whose Reality Counts? Putting the first last" by Robert Chambers are presented PRA as a methodology helps interacting with local communities, understanding them and learning from them.  It is pertinent to mention that every SHG which was in existence at least for a period of six months and which demonstrated the potential of viable group was provided a revolving fund (one time assistance given by the Government through District Rural Development Agency, DRDA) and cash credit limit (CCL) from the bank which was a sort of loan. Later on, the SHG was extended an amount of Rs.1.90 lakh as loan and Rs.60,000.00 subsidy as per SGSY.
During the course of study, the members informed that they repaid bank loan. The SHG members were involved with making girls/ ladies cloth-wears known as 'top' similar to 'salwar' where embroidery is done for gorgeous looking. The activities were carried out near Aurangabad city in a rented building as it facilitates for marketing as well as raw materials which come from New Delhi can be stored easily. The members come from their village located nearby and after the work goes back.
With the funds received as loan and subsidy, the SHG purchased five embroidery machines, two tailoring machines, one cutting machine and one over-locking machine which are required for making the cloth wears. Http://www.granthaalayah.com ©International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH [333] which was in addition to husband's income so each of them could manage the family satisfactorily. According to them, other SHG members were also earning almost the same amount. It is pertinent to mention here that except Sri Ankush Yadhav all the members were earning through agriculture and allied activities so it is not easy to calculate earning of the member, even then at attempt was made to get an idea about the same. And rough calculation reveals that income of each (out of three members) was in the range of Rs. 15,000.00 to Rs20,000.00 per month.

Conclusion
This field-based study glaringly portrays that by forming SHG, members have been greatly benefitted as whenever required they borrowed from the SHG's corpus fund and both SHGs were functioning for a long time i.e. sustainable one. Even one SHG was functioning with male and female members for last nine years without any hassle. It was also observed that no one was fallen in 'Debt Trap' as members meticulously managing the SHG's corpus fund for many years. Therefore, it is suggested that for economic development of the rural families SHG approach is one of the best strategies.