No. of SHGs trained 153787

of development.” Accordingly, it is important to build the capacity of the community to fulfill their needs and empower them to manage the benefits of development. The National Rural Livelihood Programme has succeeded solely because the community or the group is strengthened to take on responsibility for itself soon after its inception, and the government only plays the role of a facilitator. The NRLM programme gives importance to capacity building and social development. Groups are trained and motivated to take up a livelihood activity, either as a group or as individuals, very early in the life-cycle. Social entrepreneurship programmes address important social needs and are catalysts for social changes.

What is your opinion about the role of SHGs in promoting entrepreneurship among women?

Women’s empowerment can be measured by factors contributing to each of the following factors: personal, economic, familial and political empowerment. Household and interfamilial relations are included as they are believed to be a central focus of women’s disempowerment in India. Various studies show that the women have been empowered based on factors such as income, households, political, decision making etc. The SHG mechanism works by first providing easy availability of microcredit to rural women. Microcredit facility enables women to own tools and means of production to upgrade their skills and improve their business. Women are encouraged to have a habit of savings, and subsequently, group loans for specific economic purposes are provided to enable women members to start livelihood activities. While self help groups offer several benefits to women entrepreneurs and enable them to grow, the groups’ impact go beyond access to finance and employability to promote holistic and sustainable entrepreneurship. It helps uplift their social and economic status, and gives women a say in family decisions and empowers their familial status.

Do you think SHG entrepreneurship can promote inclusion, social development and economic development in India?

The role of women entrepreneurship in development cannot be disputed. Social entrepreneurship is widely spread across India in the form of women’s self help groups and is the need of the hour as women can contribute much to the economy of the country. Self help groups have benefited a lot from this programme and are able to venture into many entrepreneurial endeavours. They are able to use their talents and work with locally available materials and have learnt to market them. Thus, even as they benefit from Sanjeevini, the groups create value-addition. Women should be trained in entrepreneurship development and skills to meet the changes and challenges of global markets, and to sustain and strive for excellence in the field. SHG entrepreneurship alleviates poverty and empowers women by improving their social status.

Going forward, what would be the focus of NRLM in Karnataka?

A planned and sustained effort is required to ensure that rural entrepreneurship and livelihood activities are linked to markets through small community groups. China has successfully adopted the strategy of ‘one village, one product’. The Honourable Chief Minister talked about a similar approach in our state in his budget speech.

What are the specific programmes that would be taken up under Sanjeevini, the Karnataka chapter of NRLM?

Hitherto, Sanjeevini had concentrated more on group formation and capacity building of these groups. In 2019-20, the focus moved to livelihood promotion. Sanjeevini has 1,58,000 SHGs in different stages of life-cycle. We are now moving the older SHGs formed between 2014 and 2016 onto different livelihood activities and training and facilitating start-ups. Thirty thousand micro-enterprises were started during 2019-2020, and the target is to have at least one enterprise per self help group. We are upgrading the capacity of the dedicated call centre for SHGs and it will provide comprehensive information and assistance about all schemes offered by various government departments. In addition, we are going to set up counseling centres at the block level to help the SHGs benefit from the various schemes. We are in the process of appointing young professionals who have a background in rural development to drive livelihood promotion activities in the districts. The focus in the coming years will be on value-chain development and creation of forward-linkages for agriculture.

Sanjeevini - A Powerful Enabler

Dr. BR Mamatha, Additional Mission Director, Sakala and former Sanjeevini Mission Director, shares her insight into the purpose and progress of the programmes that have been empowering women and enabling the transformation of the lives of the poor in rural areas.

1,70,210 SHGs, 21,559 WLFs and 4,286 GPLFs 30,000 micro-entrepreneurs dabbling in different livelihood sectors in the Sanjeevini family

Dispersed Rs.36,774.86 lakh CIF for providing financial support for livelihood activities of Sanjeevini women

A strong movement has been changing the power equations in the hinterlands of India, thanks to the National Rural Livelihood Mission. In Karnataka too, the NRLM which has been titled Sanjeevini, has created remarkable change in rural families by focussing on women as drivers of change.

A flock of migratory birds was flying over an ocean. one of the birds was so exhausted that she just couldn’t fly any further. Her wings were losing strength and she struggled to flap them and keep up with her friends. She looked eagerly for the shore, but wherever she turned there was only a large expanse of water. When the pain in her wings became excruciating, she just let go and fell straight into the ocean. Closing her eyes, she prepared to die as she began to sink to the bottom of the ocean. A whale who was watching from a distance, dashed across, lifted the bird on her back, and quickly swam up to the surface. As she began to swim to the shore, the little bird thanked her stars for this stroke of good luck. Soon the whale reached the shore. After silently thanking the whale the little bird flew off onto a branch of a small tree and started looking around. The welcoming warm sun, the beautiful fruit