Belagavi
Champion
Stepping Ahead Making the most of an opportunity has led this woman in Madhabhanvi village in Belagavi district to a comfortable life, with social acknowledgements and economic prosperity.
“We had very dark days when it was difficult to provide food for the family. We have overcome those problems with the help of Sanjeevini. Participating in SARAS fairs has turned out to be a boon for us”, says Maya Arun Honakhande.
Maya heard about the Sanjeevini NRLM from relatives in the neighbouring taluk, and attended a GPLF meeting chaired by the Sanjeevini Taluk Mission Management Unit staff to get a better understanding of the programme. After the meeting, Maya was convinced that Sanjeevini could help her and other women in her village who were in distress. A few of them got together to form the Sri Siddeshwara self help group in 2011, and Maya became its representative. Like any other SHG under the NRLM ambit, the savings of the group was Rs.100 per week and
CEO's Note
Access to Funds
Sanjeevini Champion: Maya Honakhande, Athani taluk
Maya’s husband was a daily wager; as his earnings did not suffice for the family, after the day’s work, Arun used to weave Kolhapuri leather footwear to earn more money. As he worked late into the night, Maya was concerned about his health and began to work with him to reduce the burden.
Bengaluru Rural
the cumulative savings stood at Rs.12,120. Meanwhile, Maya realised that there was not much local demand for the Kolhapuri footwear in their surroundings and that they needed a larger market area in order to make the business sustainable. The Sanjeevini marketing team gave her an opportunity to showcase her footwear at the SARAS fair. Encouraged by the demand, she decided to invest her personal savings of Rs.40,000 and raised a loan of Rs.1.10 lakh with help of Sanjeevini’s financial inclusion team to set up better infrastructure to manufacture the footwear. With NRLM’s support, Maya has been using the marketing platform of the SARAS fairs and has participated in fairs in cities across the country such as New Delhi, Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.
On the periphery of the state capital, self help groups in Bengaluru Rural district are gainfully self employed in activities such as dairying, floriculture, sericulture, poultry, and growing vegetables and grapes.
Says NM Nagaraja, CEO, Bengaluru Rural Zilla Panchayat, “Easy availability of CIF loans from the Gram Panchayat Level Federation has led to a reduction in the villagers’ dependence on loans from private financiers”.
GPLFs have been formed and SHGs are working successfully. Funds have been released to SHGs in 73 GPLFs from the Community Investment Fund. SHG members have started micro enterprises after being provided technical know-how, EDP training, marketing support, apart from financial assistance. They have taken up ventures such as dairying,
sheep rearing, poultry, pottery, silk weaving and manufacturing of sanitary napkins and cloth bags, through MBKs and LCRPs.
Close to 1 lakh families have been positively impacted by Sanjeevini activities in Bengaluru Rural district.
While SARAS fairs earn a good profit of Rs.30,000, there has also been a gradual increase in the demand for her footwear in Karnataka, and Maya earns Rs.45,000 - Rs.65,000 annually. The future looks bright as the footwear will get a wider customer base after being marketed on the Government e-commerce platform.
36 | Sanjeevini
Sanjeevini | 37
