"Empowered Women, Prosperous Villages: The Self-Help Group Revolution"

Abstract

Empowerment of rural women in India is not just a matter of gender equality but an investment for upliftment of the entire communities. When rural women are empowered the social economic landscape of the society changed drastically. In this sustainable development self help groups play a pivotal role and become a catalyst to accelerate the reaction of prosper society. this study examine the impact of self help group on the socio- economic status of rural women and try to investigate the issues and challenges face by the  self help groups and their members from formation to operation of the groups. According to the study, SHGs stimulating the confidence and self-esteem of the rural women for their socio- economic empowerment. In this study we explored 120.44 lakh out of 144.22 lakhs SHGs are women SHGs along with 55227.68 crores savings with banks in the financial year 2023-24. Many households have been mobilized in the economic activities by self help group. Moreover the study showed that SHGs facing challenges and difficulties of limited credit, product sustainability issue, non-cooperative attitude of the financial institutions, market challenges and internal conflicts within groups etc. in spite of all, self help groups (SHGs) give the power to the rural women to breaking the shackles of financial deprivations and pave the way for their overall upliftment.