INTRODUCTION:

Women Empowerment refers to increasing the political, social or economic strength of Women. The most common explanation of “Women’s Empowerment” is the ability to excise full control over one’s actions. (Narayan, 2002). The empowerment of women occurs in reality, when women achieve increased control and participation in decision making that leads to their better access to resources it often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities. The growing social awareness across the globe has brought a number of issues to the fore among which gender equality and empowerment of women are very significant. In traditional societies the need of empowerment is immense. Empowerment is a multi-dimensional process, which should enable women or group of women to realize their full identity and power in all spheres of life.

The empowerment occurs through a number of ways and the SHG is one of the significant methods which ensure overall empowerment of rural women. Self-Help Group is a small voluntary association grouping of 10-20 members to form a group which is a home grown model for poverty reduction which simultaneously works to empower and improve the lives of its members. (Shylendra, 1998) The basic principles of the SHGs are group approach, mutual trust, organization of small and manageable groups, group cohesiveness, sprit of thrift, demand based lending, collateral free, women friendly loan, peer group pressure in repayment, skill training capacity building and empowerment. (Kabeer, 1999).

Self Help Groups play an important role in empowering the women in India. Self Help Groups through microfinance has helped the rural women in transforming them from local village Ladies in to Women entrepreneurs. The SHG's act as a support group developing courage and offering mutual solace and comfort to the members. (Rahman 1986) The objectives of the SHGs go beyond thrift and credit –and include the overall development of members in the social, political, cultural and economic arena; thus the SHGs are according to Fernandez ‘credit plus’ movement (Fernandez; 1998). However, in recent years, there have been various critiques and conflicting conclusions about the potential of SHG in empowering women. In spite of this, Self-Help Group is considering as a movement that economically, socially and politically empowers women.

Seif help Groups in the Study Area

Bandipora district is one of the 22 districts in Jammu and Kashmir state in northern India. This district was carved out from the erstwhile Baramulla District in 2007. The district is bounded by Kupwara district in the west, Baramulla District in the south and Kargil, Srinagar and Ganderbal districts in the east. This district occupies an area of 398 km². The district of Bandipora comprises of one subdivision, three tehsils and five C.D. Blocks. This is one of the backward districts of Jammu and Kashmir. As per 2011 census Bandipora has a population of 3,041,038 of which male and female were 1,528,308 and 1,512,730 respectively. In Jammu and Kashmir the formation of SHGs were started in 1999. Since 1999, There are 414 SHG’s formed in Bandipora district of which 396 are women self help Groups. (Annexure I) The SHG’s selected for the present study had been confined to women SHG’s in the Bandipora District of Jammu and Kashmir. The SHG concept In Jammu and Kashmir state has flourished extensively but in district Bandipora it has been quite slower.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the structure and function of SHGs in District Bandipora

2. To examine the impact of Self Help Groups on economic, political and social empowerment of women;

3. To find how participation of women in SHGs influence their decision making capacity.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The study was based on survey research design covering bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir to provide a comprehensive picture of the status of SHGs for empowering women in the district bandipora. It is noteworthy to mention here that the Self-Help Groups in district Bandipora are promoted by NGOs as well as Government agencies. Due to time constraint the researcher has selected the SHGs promoted by Government organisation i.e., District Rural Development Authority. At present DRDA is working in 5 community development blocks namely Bandipora, Gurez, Hajin, Sumbal, Tulail There are 416 Self-Help Groups promoted by DRDA in the five blocks. The SHGs have been selected by using convenience sampling technique. A sample of 10 SHGs from three community development blocks (Bandipora, Hajin, Sumbal,) consisting of 150 members in which 50 members has been taken for the present study. In order to collect and gather primary data, field observation and structured questionnaire survey methods were employed. In addition, information was also collected through discussions and interviews with local NGOs and government’s grass roots level workers. Secondary data gathered from the records of SHGs and NGOs and government offices were supplemented by the primary data collected from the group. Besides, different books, newspapers, articles, journals, magazines and web sites were also referred for the purpose.

Annexure -I

S.No	Name of the Block	No of SHG’s Formed		No of SHG’s Passed Grade 1^st		No of SHG’s Passed Grade 2^nd		No of SHG’s taken up Economic Activities		No of Women SHG’s Formed		No of Women SHG’s formed taken up activities During the Year
S.No	Name of the Block	Total Since 1/1/99	During the Current Month Up to the year	Total Since 1/1/99	During the Current Month Up to the year	Total Since 1/1/99	During the Current Month Up to the year	Total Since 1/1/99	During the Current Month Up to the year	Total Since 1/1/99	During the Current Month Up to the year
1	Bandipora	115	0	87	00	29	00	71	00	109	00	00
2	Hajin	122	0	84	01	31	00	70	00	116	00	00
3	Sumbal	148	0	106	00	43	05	93	05	142	00	00
4	Gurez	29	0	00	00	01	00	11	00	29	00	00
5	Tulail	00	0	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00
	Total	414	00	277	01	104	05	245	05	396	00	00

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

For measuring empowerment of women through SHG’s A wide range of information such as composition of membership, savings mobilised, occupation, loan disbursed, interest rates, recovery procedures, assets created, influence over economic resources of the family, influence on women’s own development, influence over decision pertaining to general welfare of the family and influence over local political activities, external assistance received etc. were ascertained from the SHGs and their members. The analyses obtained from different blocks are compiled and compared to draw the inferences about the performance of the SHGs in the study area.

Table 1.1 Structures of SHGs in the Study Area

Item	Bandipora	Hajin	Sumbal
Membership average (No.)	13.00	11.70	12.50
Savings per SHG (in Rs.)	15000	12000	11000
Loan (Avg.) (in Rs.)	19752	17177	16040

It can be visualised from the above Table1.1 that the average membership per SHG is 12.4. The study reveals that in the Bandipora block, the average membership of the Self-Help Groups is highest (13) and Hajin block had lowest membership (11.70). Most of the members agreed that their motives in joining SHGs were to save and to raise status in society is the prime reason for respondents joining the SHG, followed by to promote income generating activities. The average savings per SHG was Rs. 12,666. It varied from Rs. 11000 in Sumbal to Rs.15000 in bandipora block. The per member savings was around Rs. 400.

Table 1.2 Profiles of SHG Members

Item	Bandipora	Hajin	Sumbal	Overall
Age (years)	38	36	37	37
Literacy (%)	14	11	9	11.33
Occupation – Agriculture (percentage) Others	92 8	95 5	97 3	94.66 5.33
Income (Average)	5000	4000	4500	4500

The average age of SHG members in the study area is presented in Table 1.2 it is observed that the average age of SHG members was 37 years, lowest being 28 years in Bandipora block and highest being 43 years in Sumbal block. Educational background of the SHG members shows that most of them are illiterate. Only 5 per cent of them have studied up to Middle level. So far as the occupation of the members are concerned, majority of them are engaged in agricultural activities. As regards to average income per SHG, it was around Rs. 4500. It was highest in Bandipora block (Rs.5000) followed by sumbal block (Rs. 4500) and lowest in Hajin block (Rs. 4000).

Table1. 3 Income Generating activities initiated by SHG members

Income generating activities started by SHG members. The data in Table 1.3 give a picture of various income generating activities (IGAs) undertaken by the members of SHGs which were promoted by banks.

S.No	Income Generating Activities	SHGs	Percentage
1	Diary	4	40
2	Crewel	2	31
3	Sozni	1	24

It can be seen from the table above that out to the total 10 members who have initiated different income generation activities, 31.25 per cent had gone for Buffalo keeping followed by Goat rearing and Vegetable selling reported by 25 percent of the respondents in each case. Similarly 18.75 percent of the respondents generated additional income through sozni.

Table 1. 4 Improvement in personal profile of SHG Members

S. No	Personal Profile of SHG members	Has Improved	Not Improved
1	Financial Position	55	45
2	Share in Family Income	70	30
3	Role in Financial Decision Making	70	30
4	Assets holding Pattern	50	50
5	Confidence Level	67	33
6	Decision Making about taking loan	55	45
7	Mobility	40	60
8	Acquisition Of technical Skills	45	55
9	Decision making over issues of family welfare	70	30

It can be visualized from Table 1. 4 that women are more able to articulate their views and were able to command attention and respect within the household, and often within the community and also the financial position of majority of SHGs members have improved to the considerable extent. Similarly the women have developed confidence to a great level by becoming the member of SHGs. One important indicator of empowerment is the ability to make decisions within the household. Many women interviewed indicated that they could decide on spending their own income, although men were often consulted. Many women who generated increased income through self-help groups reported that they had gained greater respect within the household, often with perceptible attitudinal change. Men have been reported to offer little resistance towards the enhanced economic activity of women because such activities were seen as contributing to household well-being.

It is discouraging to note that assets holding pattern was improved for comparatively less number of members.

Table 1. 5 Influence over local political activities

S.No	Political Activities	Percentage
S.No	Political Activities	Yes	No
1	Voting SHG and parliamentary elections	95	05
2	Contesting SHG and Gram Panchayat elections	5	75

It can be noted from Table 1.5 that influence of women enhanced a lot in political activities due to their membership in SHGs. It is evident from the data that 95 per cent of the women gave positive response expressing increase in their influence over gram Panchayat. Contrary to this, the influence of women in contesting SHG and gram Panchayat elections was discouraging which is reflected from poor response in the “Yes’’ category of the table.

Table 2 Influence of SHG on Empowerment of Women

S.no	Category	Frequency	Percentage
1	Has Improved	46	55.20
2	Remained Same	30	45.80

For the present study, empowerment was categorized into two namely ‘has improved’ and ‘remained same’. According to the findings presented in Table2, from the total respondents 55.20 percent of them reported that they were empowered after joining the SHGs while 45.80 per cent of the respondents reported that there had been no change in their position after joining the SHGs.

CONCLUSION:

Self Help Groups play an important role in empowering the women in India. In the present study also SHGs had played very important role in empowering women by strengthening their earning ability, boosting their self-confidence and promoting regular savings. Thus the participants had economic security, easy credit accessibility, better decision making in family, improved family environment, increased mobility and improved political and legal knowledge. SHGs had provided women a common platform to discuss and solve their individual and community problems. But in District Bandipora The performance of majority of the SHGs in all the three blocks of district Bandipora was “Poor”. Only a few of them are “Good‟ Thus, it is concluded that the concept of SHGs for rural women empowerment in district Bandipora has not yet run its full course in attaining its objective. Further efforts in refining group characteristics and realigning group objectives can ensure furtherance of effectiveness of SHGs in translating rural women into a more powerful section of the society. Since this study was conducted on feasibility basis, samples from wider geographical areas could have given us a better picture of the District Bandipora. We recommend that Women SHGs formation especially in marginalized community of rural area should be encouraged; capacity building of the members should be ensured. Govt. should provide interest free/subsidised loan to SHG to help them come out of poverty.

REFERENCES:

Reddy, C. S and S. Manak (October 2005) , “Self-Help Groups: A Keystone of Microfinance in India”, Women Empowerment and Social Security.

Karl, M., (1995). “Women and Empowerment: Participation and Decision Making”, Women and World Development Series, United Nations, New York, NY.

Anju M, Sidney RS (2002). Measuring Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development, World Bank Workshop on Poverty and Gender: New Perspectives pp.10-50.

Rangi, P.S., Sindhu, M.S., and Harjit, Singh, (2002), “Economic empowerment of rural women through Self Help Groups: A case study of Fategarh Sahib District (Punjab)”, Man and development 24(3): 65–78.

Yamuna G. (2007), “Women Empowerment through Self-help Group in Solamadevi Village”, in V.S. Ganesamurthy (Ed), “India: Economic Empowerment”, New Century Publications, New Delhi.

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Krishna, M. (2003), Poverty Alleviation and Rural Poor, 1st ed., New Delhi: Mittal Publication.

Received on 15.03.2014 Modified on 18.03.2014

Int. J. Rev. & Res. Social Sci. 2(1): Jan. – Mar. 2014; Page 27-30