Self Help Groups Leading towards Socio-economic Empowerment of Women - A Success Story of Block Lar- Jammu & Kashmir, India

Abstract

Schemes like DWACRA, IRDP, SITRA, TRYSEM were implemented in a row after Community Development Programme in 1952. All the schemes were target oriented but the issue of poverty alleviation was so grave and complicated that the desired results remained unachieved or distant dream.

A realization about the schemes came and the Failure”” of these schemes was accepted. New Avtar with the name of Swarn Jyanti Gram Sawrozgar Yojna (SGSY) was launched in 1990. The aim and objective of this scheme was to bring the assisted families above the poverty line by ensuring appreciable increase in incomes over a period of time.

It was envisaged that this objective could be achieved by inter-alia organizing the rural poor into SHGs through a process of Social Mobilization

By the year 1990, with the realization that a subsidy is not going to help this nation of Rural Poor (change Status of any family BPL to APL),subsidy of Rupees 7500 and Rs 10000 in case of general and ST category respectively didn't yield desired and expected results. With the overview of the SGSY and its implementation on Ground revealed that a new approach which must be poor centric and community centric is to be adopted.  After lots of thinking and introspection of previous schemes, a new philosophy and approach saw the light of the day and SGSY was restructured as National Rural Livelihoods Mission(NRLM).And in case of J&K, a new hope –UMEED was launched from 2013 to reach out to every poor household of rural J&K. Here only women are the target for development or can be said, development whether social or economical is of the women, for the women and by the woman, with the belief that she will lead her household, community and society towards development. As many studies have been carried out and it has been found the women is the core of the society and she is the witness to every change in her household and society, if we analyse the d0imensions of women empowerment two main areas have to be taken into consideration i.e. her household and her community with different dimensions. In household, Women's control over income; relative contribution to family support; access to and control of family resources

In the household:

-          Women's freedom of movement; lack of discrimination against daughters; commitment to educating daughters

-          Knowledge of political system and means of access to it; domestic support for political engagement; exercising the right to vote. Self-esteem; self-efficacy; psychological well-being.

-           Participation in domestic decision-making; control over sexual relations; ability to make childbearing decisions, use contraception, access abortion; control over spouse selection and marriage timing; freedom from domestic violence.

In the community:

-          Women's access to employment; ownership assets and land; access to credit; involvement and/or representation in local trade associations; access to markets

-          Women's visibility in and access to social spaces; access to modern transportation; and social networks; shift in patriarchal norms (such as son preference)

-           The practice of dowry; acceptability of divorce); local campaigns against domestic violence.

However, women can be empowered in the familial sphere without making similar gains in the political sphere. In terms of practical measurement, however, it is difficult to neatly separate the dimensions. For example, many aspects of economic or social empowerment overlap considerably with the familial dimension, as in the case of control over domestic spending or savings, or the limitations on mobility or social activities. With the belief that women are trustworthy than men and women have the habit of savings even out of the meager source of household income, NRLM is a programme for socio-economic empowerment of women which will result to overall development of the society.

Block Lar is one of the first four blocks where scheme was introduced and thence-forth Mission is on move in this block.