Income Generating Activities of Women Self Help Groups of

Dharwad District of Karnataka: An Insight

K.K. Malshet* & Dr. L. Manjunath**

Mrs. Ashalatha K.V*** & Mrs.Geeta S Chitgubbi****

Abstract:

Each SHG has a unique system of organizing and managing it’s own finance and

operates as an independent unit. The SHG also provides a forum for social interaction,

which serves as an alternate social structure for peer level interaction with this

background the present study was conducted during 2004-05 in Dharwad, Kalghatagi and

Kundgol taluk of Dharwad district of Karnataka, covering 12 women SHGs. The

purpose was to obtain comprehensive knowledge for the participation of women Self

Help Groups of Dharwad district of Karnataka in various Income Generating Activities.

All the members of SHGs and grass root level workers of NGOs were interviewed

through a structured questionnaire. The study revealed that, the most popular economic

activities taken up by the individuals after joining the SHGs were, raising paddy nursery

for sale (25.83%) and pickle making (19.16%). The group activities included joint

purchase of groceries in bulk (58.33%). Independent variables like Age, Education,

Family size, Landholdings and Mass media participation had noticeable correlation with

income per month of the SHG group member. Aged, illiterate women earned less

compared to the members who had more exposure to mass media. Those SHG members

with large landholdings had an edge over members with small land holdings.

Introduction

Poverty and unemployment are the twin evils faced by many of the developing

nations of the world today. In the past decade the number of women living under poverty

* Asst. Professor (Extension), University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka)* * Professor of Agril Extension, Dept. of Agril. Extension Education, University of Agricultural

Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka) *** Asst. Professor Statistics, Agri.College,UAS, Dharwad (Karnataka)**** Jr. Scientist(FRM), AICRP Scheme, R.H.Sc, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad

(Karnataka)

has increased disproportionately to the number of men living under poverty. Women

contribute two-thirds of world work hours, comprise half of humanity yet she earns only

one –third of total income and owns less than one-tenth of the world resources. (Anon,

1975). Female poverty is most directly related to the absence of economic resources

including credit land ownership and inheritance, lack of access to education and support

services minimal. Participation in the decision making process, credit is among the most

vital element in this combination of factors.

Self-help groups' concept is not new to India. But the various constructive

activities that can be undertaken to enhance the economic conditions of concerned

members and boost their social status is a new dimension added to it.

In recent years, SHGs have become significant institutions for rural

development. This has been particularly so in the case of poor women. The poor women

do not have enough capital to take up business enterprise on an individual basis. The

group approach makes the available collective wisdom and combined resources for any

task. In addition rural society’s self-help takes various forms. Activities like housing,

farm operations, which have to be completed within the stipulated time depend upon such

arrangements like wise people share implements required in production of agricultural

produce, sharing of irrigation water, bullocks etc., self-help in essence is a form of co-

operation. SHGs believe to serve as ladder for them. Hence, the present investigation is

taken up to study the various aspects of SHGs and its utility to members.

Methodology

Locale of the Study

Selection of the district

Dharwad district of Karnataka was purposely selected keeping in view the

availability of time, other resources and convenience of the researcher and also

considering the proximity of the University for guidance from the experts.

Selection of the taluk

Dharwad consists of only five taluks. Among the five taluks, maximum member

of SHGs are concentrated in three taluks namely, Dharwad, Kundgol and Kalghatgi was

purposively selected for study as they have more self-help groups.

Selection of sample for the studyA list of all the NGOs and other organizations promoting SHGs in Dharwad

district was obtained from NABARD, Dharwad. From this list the NGO, which had

promoted the maximum number of SHGs in Dharwad taluk, was selected. Amongst all

the SHGs promoted by the NGO women's SHGs working for four years or more were

sorted out. Finally twelve SHGs situated in six different villages were selected as the

sample with the due consideration to avoid overlapping of SHGs performing same

activity in one village as well to include a wide variety of SHGs. All the members of

SHGs selected formed the main respondents.

The number of respondents interviewed for the study totaled to 120 programme

co-coordinators and grass root workers of the NGO involved were also interviewed. The

study was conducted during 2004-05.

Data collection procedure

Primary data in the study has emerged from the following sources founder,

promoters of SHGs, middle and grass root level personnel of NGOs and members of self-

help groups. The schedule consisted of three points. The first part of the interview

schedule was a semi-structured interview schedule, which was used to interview all the

SHG members. The second part was structured interview schedule, which was used to

interview the spokespersons of the groups, and the third part had opened questions for the

middle and grass root levels personnel of the NGO.

The interview schedule was pre-tested by a pilot study conducted only thirty non-

sample respondents. Based on the experience gained for pre-test, necessary corrections

and modifications were done especially to ensure that the instructions and questions were

clear and unambiguous.

Data collected from the SHG members were completed and analyzed. In this

study, performance referred to the economic activities undertaken by the members and

activities undertaken by the group as a whole for the benefit of its members.

Results and Discussion

Sources of information for SHG

Age: As it is seen in table 1 majority of the respondents (68.33%) were middle aged

while 18.33 per cent were young and the remaining were old. Predominance of middle

aged women might be due to their presence sin large number in the society, greater free

time and being more responsible citizens than their younger counterparts. Older women

are discouraged due to poor health and stamina. Kumaran (1997), Prasad (1998),

Puhazhendi and Jayaraman (1999) as well as Murgan and Dharmalingam (2000) reported

similar findings.

Education: The educational level of the members shows that 72.50 per cent were

illiterate followed by 15.83 per cent who had primary level education, 4.17, 5.00, 2.50

per cent, respectively had middle school, high school and intermediate level education,

respectively. Seventy per cent of the respondents were illiterates and 16.00 per cent who

were literates had studied only up to the primary level. This situation might have risen

due to the poor education facilities, paucity of schools, absence of schools in the village

and nearby villages, it might also be resultant of the common belief that women do not

require education and that education is meant only for men and people from the elite

class.

Educated women wherever present are an asset to the group as they take care of

the maintenance of all the records and documents of the groups. In groups where all

members were illiterates the group was dependent on other like educated spouse or

school going children. In some groups they have paid accountants to take care of the

documentation process.

Kumaran (1997), Prasad (1998), Puhazhandi and Jayaraman (1999) reported

similar findings.

Landholding

Vast majority of the respondents were landless (47.50%) while a little above a

quarter of respondents were marginal farmers with less than 2.5 acres small farmers

comprise 20.83 per cent of the respondents. Medium farmers and big farmers comprised

6.67 and 1.67 per cent, respectively. As recorded by Puhazhendi (2000) this study also

revealed that the landowners farm a minority. Among those who possessed land majority

were marginal or small farmers. Most of it was dry land and rarely more than a single

crop was raised. Thus, the plight of the landed respondents was as bad as that of the

landless respondents.

Mass media participation

The table 2 projects that majority of the respondents did not listen to radio

(49.17%) of the remaining 40.00 per cent listened occasionally while 10.83 per cent were

regular listeners.

The television viewing habit was found to be regular amongst 15.83 per cent,

occasional among 56.67 per cent while the remaining never watched. Newspaper reading

was very poor with only 24.17 per cent reading it occasionally while the remaining never

read. Majority of the respondents listening radio regularly and random paper

occasionally, which further might have awakened the women to realize the current

situation across and the same might have lead to build self confidence to further munch

towards empowerment of themselves, their facilities and society as well.

Correlation between the independent variables and income per months of the SHG group members

The table 3 revealed that, the correlation study indicates there was a positive

relation between independent variables i.e., Age, Family size and Land holding with

dependent variable i.e., income per month. However, they are not significant. There was

a positive significant at five per cent level correlation between Mass media participation

and Income, and, also positive significant relationship at one per cent level between

Education and Income. This indicates that as education increased, income increases.

Similarly, the relation between Mass media participation and income was positive

significant at five per cent indicating as Mass media participation income also increases.

Income generating activities undertaken by the SHG members

Table 4 revealed that, a birds eye view of the content of table 5 reveals that the

wide range of activities undertaken by the SHG members. A maximum of one-fourth of

the respondents were found to indulge in raising paddy nursery and another one-fourth in

pickle making less than one-fourth took up leaf plate making.

Mushroom cultivation and seed storage was practiced by 10.00 and 13.33 per

cent, respectively. Less than 15.00 per cent of the members took up goat rearing, buffalo

rearing, pottery and soap box makings, book selling, tailoring and vermicomposting and

rabbit rearing was professed by less than 5.00 per cent of the members. Less than two

per cent each took up bee keeping, poultry rearing after joining the SHGs.

The members of SHGs could take up a number of income generating activities

due to the credit and support provided by their respective SHGs. The most common

activities were found to be raising of paddy nursery and pickle making which was taken

up by one-fourth of the respondent each. This could be become of the familiarity of the

women with these activities complemented by the easily mastered skills involved and the

enumerative nature of the jobs. Leaf plate making was also practiced by almost one-

quarter of the respondents. Some women made leaf plates using bits of Jowar or Maize

barks sticks to join the leaves while other stitched the leaves together using machines.

The later technique was followed by young and middle aged women, the production of

leaf plates was double in mechanized form and it also fetched higher returns in the

market. Mushroom cultivation was popularized among the women folk by the NGO

workers, it was raised for household consumption and was later discontinued when

spawn become unavailable.

Those engaged in goat and buffalo rearing were less than ten per cent each. This

might be due to the high input cost involved in purchase of cattle. Pottery was practiced

by women who were traditionally potters or married to potter families. These potter

women remained as housewives before theirs formation of SHGs, but after joining the

SHGs they have availed loans and have becomes deeply involved in profession. A small

percentage of the women had taken up activities like tailoring, rabbit rearing, bangle

manufacturing, bee keeping, poultry rearing and vermicomposting.

Most of the women practiced traditional jobs, which were suitable to the local

conditions and for which raw materials were available within the village itself. Some

women had taken up non-conventional jobs like bee keeping, rabbit rearing,

vermicomposting and the like due to the training and exposure provided by NGO as well

as the encouragement from the family and personal degree.

Bulk purchase of groceries was found to be a common group activity taken up by

two-thirds of the groups. This might be due to the margin gained by them by purchasing

it from a wholesaler in the nearby cities as well as the common purchase reduce the

drudgery of the women at the same time as two women representing the entire group get

all the grocery items from the city to the doorstep of the members.

Conclusion

It was observed from the study that income per month of SHG members had a

positive relation with respect to the factors like Age, Family size and land holding, TV,

Radio ,Education level of the members. The most common income generating activity,

which was found raising of paddy nursery,.

Activities undertaken by SHGs had a remarkable influence on the income

generated by the group and bulk purchase of groceries as their common activity.

References

ANONYMOUS, 1975, World Conference of the United Nations, the Decade for the Women, Nairobi, Kenya.

KUMARAN, K.P., 1997, Self help groups – An alternative to institutional credit to the poor – A case study in Andhra Pradesh. Journal of Rural Development, 16(3): 515-530.

KUMARAN, K.P., 1997, Self help groups – An alternative to institutional credit to the poor – A case study in Andhra Pradesh. Journal of Rural Development, 16(3): 515-530.

MURGAN, K.R. AND DHARMALINGAM, B., 2000, Self help groups – new women’s movement in Tamil Nadu. Social Welfare, 46: 9-12.

PUHAZHENDI, V. AND JAYARAMAN, B., 1999, Increasing women's participation and employment generation among rural poor – An approach through informal groups. National Bank News Review, 15(4): 55-62.

PUHAZHENDI, V., 2000, Evaluation study of SHGs in Tamil Nadu. NABARD, Mumbai.

SNEHALATHA, M. AND REDDY, M.N., 1998, Impact of thrifts and credit groups in income generation of rural women. Journal of Extension Education, 9(2): 2031-2032.

Table 1. Socio-economic Profile of the members

N = 120

Variables Frequency Per cent

Age

Young (19-30 yrs) 22 18.33

Middle (31-50 yrs) 82 68.34

Old (Above 50 yrs) 16 13.33

Education

Illiterate 87 72.50

Primary School 19 15.83

Middle School 5 4.17

High School 6 5.00

PUC 3 2.50

Land holding (acres)

Land less 57 47.50

0.1 – 2.5 28 23.33

2.51 – 5.0 25 20.83

5.01 – 10.0 8 6.67

10.01 – 25.0 2 1.67

Note: Multiple answers are received by the respondents.

Table 2. Mass media participation by SHG members

n = 120Sl. No. Mass media

ParticipationRegular Occasional Never

1 Radio listening behaviour 13 (10.83)

48 (40.0)

59(49.17)

2 Television viewing habit 19(15.83)

68(56.67)

33(27.50)

3 News paper 29(24.17)

91(75.83)

-

Table 3. Correlation between the independent variables and Income per month of the SHG group members

Independent variables 'r' valuesAge 0.03

Education 0.28**

Family size 0.04

Land holdings 0.09

Mass media participation 0.18*

* Significance are < 0.05** Significance are < 0.01

Table 4. Income Generating Activities undertaken by the SHG members

Sl. No.

Activity Frequency Percentage

1. Raising paddy nursery for sale 31 25.83

2. Pickle making 23 19.16

3. Leaf storage + leaf plate making 21 17.50

4. Mushroom cultivation 12 10.00

5. Seed storage 16 13.33

6. Goat rearing 18 15.00

7. Buffalo rearing 21 17.50

8. Pottery 7 5.83

9. Soap box making 9 7.50

10. Selling books 5 4.16

11. Manufacture of lice killing medicine 2 1.66

12. Tailoring 4 3.33

13. Rabbit rearing 2 1.66

14. Bangle manufacture 2 1.66

15. Bee keeping 2 1.66

16. Poultry rearing 3 2.50

17. Vermicomposting 4 3.33

18. Bulk Purchase of Groceries 7 58.33

Note: More than one activity has been taken up by SHG members

Socio-economic profile of Women Self Help Groups of

Dharwad District, Karnataka

K.K. Malshet* & Dr. L. Manjunath**

Abstract:

A study was conducted during 2004-05 in Dharwad, Kalaghatgi and Kundgol

Taluk of Dharwad district of Karnataka, covering 12 women SHGs. The purpose was to

obtain a comprehensive knowledge of the performance of SHGs in Dharwad district with

special importance to the procedure followed in the formation activities undertaken,

benefits derived by the members, the difficulties encountered as well as their suggestions

and socio-economic profile of members. All the members of SHGs and grass root level

workers of NGOs were interviewed. The socio-economic profiles revealed that majority

of the members were middle aged (68.33%), married (71.60%), illiterates (68.33%) with

nuclear families (70%). 42.50% of them were farm laborers. Maximum percentage of the

sample (47.50%), were landless or small/marginal farmers below the poverty line. The

SHG members faced constraints like misunderstanding amongst SHG members

(39.16%), difficulties in diversification of activities or starting new activities (37.50%).

Introduction

Two major retarding factors which are affecting the developing countries of the world today are poverty and unemployment. Eventhough women comprise half of humanity and contribute two thirds of total world work hours they earn only 33% of total income and own less than 10% of the total world resources (Anon. 1975). Poverty among Women is directly related to the absence of economic resources including credit land ownership and inheritance, lack of access to education and support services minimal. Lack of participation in the decision making process and poor access to credit are the vital elements in the deprivation of status of Women in the society at large.

Unlike in many other countries, which have already adopted qualitative changes

in the creation & proper running of SHGs from the mid seventies, as a part of the formal

* Asst. Professor (Extension), University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka)* * Professor of Agril Extension, Dept. of Agril. Extension Education, University of Agricultural

Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka)

credit delivery system, India has been experimenting with the concept, for decades

(Karmakar 1998).

Self-Help Group concept is not new to India. It was there in many forms. But

the various constructive activities that can be undertaken to enhance the economic

conditions of concerned members and boost their social status is comparatively a new

dimension added to it. The various divergent groups, their divergent interest etc., have

been considerably modified and shaped so that a common goal emerges to initiate an

action plan, which is drawn to achieve the same through SHGs.

There is a growing interest among the villagers, irrespective of caste, creed or sex

to change their social & economic status. In recent years, SHGs have become significant

institutions for rural development. This has been particularly so in the case of poor

women.

The poor women do not have enough capital to start a business enterprise on

individual basis. The group’s approach makes available the collective wisdom and

combined resources for any task. In addition, in rural societies Self-Help concept takes

various forms. Activities like housing, farm operations, which have to be completed

within the stipulated time, depend upon such arrangements like wise people sharing of

implements required in the production of Agricultural produce, Irrigation water, Bullocks

etc., Self-Help in essence is a form of co-operation. SHGs contribute immensely to it.

Hence, the present investigation is taken up to study the various aspects of SHGs and its

utility to members.

MethodologyLocale of the Study

Dharwad district of Karnataka was purposely selected keeping in view the availability of time, other resources. Among the five taluks, of Dharwad District, maximum number of SHGs were concentrated in three taluks namely, Dharwad, Kundgol and Kalaghatgi and hence they were purposively selected for study.

Selection of Sample for the StudyA list of all the NGOs and other organizations promoting SHGs in Dharwad

district was obtained from NABARD, Dharwad. From this list the NGO, which had

promoted the maximum number of SHGs in Dharwad taluk, was selected. Amongst all

the SHGs promoted by the NGO women's SHGs, working for four years or more were

filtered out. Finally twelve SHGs situated in six different villages were selected as the

sample with the due consideration to avoid overlapping of SHGs performing same

activity in one village as well to include a wide variety of SHGs. All the members of

SHGs selected formed the main respondents.

The number of respondents interviewed for the study totaled to 120. Programme

coordinators and grass root workers of the NGO involved were also interviewed. The

study was conducted during 2004-05.

Variables of the Study and their measurementsPerformance of SHGs

In this study, performance referred to the economic activities undertaken by the

members and activities undertaken by the group as a whole for the benefit of its

members.

Socio-Economic VariablesAge: It is referred to the chronological age of the respondents in completed years at the

time of investigation. The respondents were further categorized into three age groups.

Categories Age (in years)

Young 18-30

Middle 31-50

Old aged Above 50

Education: It is operationalised as the extent of formal education, the rural women have

undergone. The respondents were grouped into four different categories based on

frequencies. The procedure followed by Hiremath (2000) was used with slight

modification.

CategoriesIlliterate

Primary School

High School

PUC

Land holding: It is the actual land owned by the family of rural women in acres. The

procedure followed by Hiremath (2000) was followed with slight modification.

Categories Area (in acres)

Landless Nil

Marginal 0.1 – 2.5 acres

Small farm 2.51 – 5.0 acres

Semi-Medium farm 5.01 – 10.0 acres

Medium farm 10.01 – 25.0 acres

Occupation: It is the major occupation followed by the members of the self-help groups.

Frequency and percentage were calculated for each.

Annual income: It was measured by considering the total income of the family from all

the services and categorized the respondents according to the classification suggested by

Department of Revenue, Government of Karnataka as indicated below:

CategoriesBelow poverty level : up to Rs.11,500

Above poverty level : Above Rs.11,500

Marital status: Marital status of the respondent was noted by asking them directly and

were classified into single and married.

Type and Size of family: The respondents were categorized into two different

categories namely joint and nuclear based on which type of family the respondent

belongs. Family size was operationalised as total number of members residing together

in the family at the time of investigation. The size of the family was categorized as small

and large by following the general norm.

Categories SizeSmall Up to four membersLarge Above four members

Membership in other organizations: The respondents were asked whether they had

membership in any organization in addition to the SHG, their responses were noted and

were classified into members of village development sangh, village forest committee and

school board, in addition to the non-members.

Material possessions: It is the possession of materials like radio, television, two in one

system and sewing machines by the respondents. Frequency and percentage was

calculated for each possession.

Mass media participation: The radio listening television viewing and newspaper

reading habit of the respondent was asked and classified into regular, occasional and

never.

Data collection procedurePrimary data in the study has emerged from different sources like founder,

promoters of SHGs, middle and grass root level personnel of NGOs and members of self-

help groups. The schedule consisted of three points. The first part of the interview

schedule was a semi-structured interview schedule, which was used to interview all the

SHG members. The second part was structured interview schedule, which was used to

interview the spokespersons of the groups, and the third part had opened questions for the

middle and grass root levels personnel of the NGO.

The interview schedule was pre-tested by a pilot study conducted only thirty non-

sample respondents. Based on the experience gained for pre-test, necessary corrections

and modifications were done especially to ensure that the instructions and questions were

clear and unambiguous.

Data collected from the SHG members were completed and analyzed.

Statistical analysisThe respondents were categorized into different groups based on appropriate criteria and the frequency percentage distribution of respondents under each group was computed. The relationship between the independent variables and income per month of SHG group members was calculated by using correlation Pearson's correlation co-efficient.

Results and Discussion

Socio-economic Profile of the members

Age: As it is seen in table 1 majority of the respondents (68.33%) were middle aged while 18.33 per cent were young and the remaining were old. Predominance of middle aged women might be due to their presence sin large number in the society, greater free time and being more responsible citizens than their younger counterparts. Older women are discouraged due to poor health and stamina. Kumaran (1997),

Prasad (1998), Puhazhendi and Jayaraman (1999) as well as Murgan and Dharmalingam (2000) reported similar findings.

Marital status: In the case of marital status almost three-fourths of the respondents were married while a little over one-fourth of the respondents were single. Majority of the respondents were married of the one-fourth who were single 26.00 per cent were widows the remaining unmarried. Presence of large number of married women might be due to the system of early marriage followed in rural areas. It is soothing to see that the weakest among the weaker sex namely the widows and deserted women were also a part of the SHG movement and could thereby become self reliant and self sufficient through SHGs.

Education: The educational level of the members shows that 72.50 per cent were illiterate followed by 15.83 percent who had primary level education, 4.17, 5.00, 2.50 per cent, respectively had middle school, high school and intermediate level education, respectively. Seventy per cent of the respondents were illiterates and 16.00 per cent who were literates had studied only up to the primary level. This situation might have risen due to the poor education facilities, paucity of schools, absence of schools in the village and nearby villages, it might also be resultant of the common belief that women do not require education and that education is meant only for men and people from the elite class.

Educated women wherever present are an asset to the group as they take care of the maintenance of all the records and documents of the groups. In groups where all members were illiterates the group was dependent on other like educated spouse or school going children. In some groups they have paid accountants to take care of the documentation process. Kumaran (1997), Prasad (1998), Puhazhandi and Jayaraman (1999) reported similar findings.

Type and size of the family

Most of the respondents belonged to nuclear families only 30.00 per cent belonged to joint families. In case of family size large with more than four members was reputed by 57.50 per cent while the remaining respondents belonged to small families. Nuclear families were the dominant category, which is consensus with the findings of Prasad (1998). In case of family size small and large facilities were almost equal with large facilities slightly higher in number.

The predominance of nuclear families might be done to the fact that most of the respondents were landless, it might also have risen due to the need for privacy and awareness of benefits of small family by the respondents.

Occupation

Majority of the respondents were farm labourers (42.50%) followed by 17.50 per cent who derived their income from agriculture as well as labour (10.80%) depended on animal rearing. On the other hand, 10.00 per cent were housewives and 5.00 per cent were potters. A small percent derived their livelihood from agriculture, grocery shop and tailoring. According to Kumaran (1997), Prasad (1998) and Pahazhandi and Jayaraman (1999) majority of the women were engaged as agricultural labourers.

The present study reveals similar findings as shown in table-1. Those engaged as agricultural labourers were landless while those who took up farm labour along with cultivation processed marginal dry lands, which was insufficient to make ends meet. About one-fourth of the respondents had taken up non-farm activities. The majority of the women had no other option but to take up farm labourers as they lacked physical and material resources. Most of the women who had done so after joining self help groups. Thus, it proved possible for the women indulged in farm activities to diversity into non-farm activities either on a supplementary basis or as a complete replacement.

Landholding

Vast majority of the respondents were landless (47.50%) while a little above a quarter of respondents were marginal farmers with less than 2.5 acres small farmers comprise 20.83 per cent of the respondents. Medium farmers and big farmers comprised 6.67 and 1.67 per cent, respectively. As recorded by Puhazhendi (2000) this study also revealed that the landowners farm a minority. Among those who possessed land majority were marginal or small farmers. Most of it was dry land and rarely more than a single crop was raised. Thus, the plight of the landed respondents was as bad as that of the landless respondents.

Annual Income

More than three-fourths of the respondents came below the poverty level while almost a quarter were above the poverty line. SHGs have been conceived as mechanisms to uplift the downtrodden women especially, those below the poverty line. The present study reveals that over three-fourth of the respondents still fall below the poverty line i.e., less than Rs.11,500 per annum. Kumaran (1997), Prasad (1998), Puhazhendi and Jayaram (1999), Murgan and Dharmalingam (2000) as well as Puhazhendi (2000) reported similar findings. This might be because the respondents involved were among the poorest of the poor. Therefore, even in spite of increased income generation, it has not been substantial enough to raise them above the level of poverty in case of 75.00 per cent of the sample studied.

Material Possessions

Less than half the families of the respondents possessed radio while quarter of them own television, 10% possessed two-in-one sets, 5% possessed sewing machines. Two-fifth of the respondents' own radio and quarter respondents' own television. Among the 54 respondents who owns radio only 13 listen regularly. The occasional radio listeners include those who listen at neighbour or friends homes. Similarly, the respondents who own television 19 view regularly. The occasional viewers of television include those who view at neighbours or friends places. Radio being cheap has found a wide entry into many of the homes, television especially the portable, black and white sets owned by the respondents, which some of them have brought on installment basis.

Correlation between the independent variables and income per months of the SHG group members

Table 3 relationship betweens the independent variables and income per month of the SHG group members reveal that, there is a positive significant relationship between education and income per month so also mass medias participation with income per month. That as the education and the respondents' increases, their income/month, i.e., similarly, with the increase in mass media participation, there is increase in income. It was noticed that as Age, Family size and land holding increased the income also increased, but the relation is not significant. The positive relation between education and income was highly significant. This indicates that as education increased, income increases. Similarly the relation between mass media participation and income was positive significant at five per cent indicating as mass media participation income also increases.

Constraints faced by members

It is clear from table 2 that there were number of constraints faced by the members

among which, misunderstanding among SHG members was the majors constraint faced

by 39.00 per cent of the members while 37.00 per cent of the members faced difficulties

in diversification of activities or in starting new activities. Functional / operational

difficulties like lack of space for storage and frequent power cuts were repeated by 22 per

cent of the members. Constraints analysation

The misunderstanding between the SHG members is obvious due to multivaried trades of the groups. In a heterogeneous nature of SHGs, variation in socio-economical status which education, caste, income, age, family background and family status are pertinent and natural. It is but possible that better skill oriented ladies are/and better socio-economic status members may dominant the members subduing the rest in decision making, which might create misunderstanding, indecisiveness and inferiority feeling which may further aggravate the situation in working in a harmony for common goal. These variations and misunderstanding can be over come by proper orientation to the members giving adequate training for all the members and some times it need to be prevent dominant of single member by giving opportunity to all the members

Conclusion

The present study on self-Help Groups (SHG) met my objectives are as follows:

Majority of the members of the SHGs were motivated by themselves, because they understood that the SHGs is a good means to save. Neighbours and other family members were their sources of information.

The correlation tests was applied for the independents variables with income per month as dependent variable revealed that there is positive significant relationship between education and income per month so also mass media participation with income per month.

Misunderstanding amongst SHG members, difficulty in diversification of the activities, lack of space for storage of materials, difficulties experienced in marketing prepared products and frequent powers cuts were some of the problems faced by SHGs members.

Based on the above mentioned problems, the SHGs members suggested theirs owns solutions likes improvements of overall functioning of the SHGs and improvement in the activities undertaken by the SHG.

We can analyse the constraints made by the SHG members are as follows:

.

References

ANONYMOUS, 1975, World Conference of the United Nations, the Decade for the Women, Nairobi, Kenya.

KARMAKAR, K.G., 1998, SHGs in Orissa – Some conceptual issues. Prajnans, 26(2): 123-131.

KUMARAN, K.P., 1997, Self help groups – An alternative to institutional credit to the poor – A case study in Andhra Pradesh. Journal of Rural Development, 16(3): 515-530.

MURGAN, K.R. AND DHARMALINGAM, B., 2000, Self help groups – new women’s movement in Tamil Nadu. Social Welfare, 46: 9-12.

PRASAD, C.H., 1998, Implementation process of Women Development programme (IFAD – an Experimental Model. Journal of Rural Development, 17(4): 779-791.

PUHAZHENDI, V. AND JAYARAMAN, B., 1999, Increasing women's participation and employment generation among rural poor – An approach through informal groups. National Bank News Review, 15(4): 55-62.

PUHAZHENDI, V., 2000, Evaluation study of SHGs in Tamil Nadu. NABARD, Mumbai.

Table 1. Socio-economic Profile of the members

N = 120

Variables Frequency Per centAge

Young (19-30 yrs) 22 18.33

Middle (31-50 yrs) 82 68.34

Old (Above 50 yrs) 16 13.33

Marital Status

Variables Frequency Per centMarried 86 71.6

Single (unmarried/widows/Divorces) 34 28.4Education

Illiterate 87 72.50

Primary School 19 15.83

Middle School 5 4.17

High School 6 5.00

PUC 3 2.50

Religion

Hindu 111 92.5

Muslim 8 6.67

Jain 1 0.83

Type of family

Joint 36 30.00

Nuclear 84 70.00

Size of family

Small (up to 4 members) 51 42.5

Large (more than 4) 69 57.5

Occupation

Farm labourers 51 42.50

Agriculture + labourers 21 17.50

Animal rearing 13 10.80

House wife 12 10.00

Pottery 6 5.00

Agriculture 11 9.16

Grocer / Kirani shop 3 2.50

Tailoring 5 4.16

Vegetable vender 4 3.33

Student 2 1.60

Variables Frequency Per cent

Land holding (acres)

Land less 57 47.50

0.1 – 2.5 28 23.33

2.51 – 5.0 25 20.83

5.01 – 10.0 8 6.67

10.01 – 25.0 2 1.67

Annual Income (Rs.)

Above 11,500 17 14.17

Less than or equal to11,500 103 85.83

Material possessions

Radio 44 36.67

Television 25 20.83

Two-in-one 12 10.00

Sewing machine 6 5.00

No materials 33 27.50

Note: Multiple answers are received by the respondents.

Table 2. Constraints faced by members

Sl. No.

Category Frequency Percentage

1. Not getting adequate quantity of raw material at the right time

18 15.00

2. Frequent power cuts, lack of space for storage of materials

27 22.50

3. Difficulties in sale of prepared products 18 15.004. Misunderstanding amongst SHG members 49 39.165. Not getting adequate credit 13 10.836. Maintenance of accounts 11 9.167. Intervention of local leaders 19 15.838. Difficulties in diversification of activities and

/ or starting new activities45 37.50

Note: Multiple answers received by members

Table 3. Correlation between the independent variables and income per month of the SHG group members

Independent variables 'r' valuesAge 0.03

Education 0.28**

Family size 0.04

Land holdings 0.09

Mass media participation 0.18*

* Significance are < 0.05** Significance are < 0.01