Self Help Group Movement in Rural Haryana: An Analysis of Trends, Patterns and Schemes

Dr. Vikas Batra1 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics Indira Gandhi Post Graduate Regional Centre, Mirpur,Rewari Maharshi Dayanad University-124001, Haryana (INDIA) E-mail ID- drvikasbatra@gmail.com Abstract The paper describes the self help groups experiences of the state of Haryana. The State of Haryana presents a unique picture of rapid economic growth in certain sectors juxtaposed with poor social indicators like low male-female sex ratio, comparatively low female literacy rate, low level of access to resources to women, and gender discrimination. In the state, both the government and NGOs have been promoting SHGs under different programmes and projects by various departments and agencies. Women and Child Development Department has promoted SHGs under the Programme for Advancement of Gender Equity and Swayamsiddha. Womens Awareness & Management Academy has promoted Swa-shakti project. Forest Department has been promoting SHGs under the Haryana Community Forest Project and Integrated Natural Resource Management and Poverty Reduction. Banks are promoting SHGs under the SHGsBank linkage Programme of NABARD; DRDA is promoting SHGs under Swarnjayati Gram Swarajgar Yojana ((Now National Rural Livelihoods Mission, NRLM). Mewat Development Agency is promoting SHGs under IFAD programme in Mewat district. The most wide-spread model of micro-finance in Haryana is Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana and NABARDSHG Linkage. Major problem issues in the state are less effective implementation by various government agencies due to being overburdened with other responsibilities and inadequate manpower, element of subsidy is main attraction, main focus on quantity than quality, highjack the movement by SGSY, less diversify income generation activities, etc. To streamline the system, the paper suggests to phase out subsidies, more emphasis should be on the qualitative aspects of the groups, micro-level planning to identify key livelihood activities, experiment with new livelihoods with group approach and coordinated efforts should be implemented by various agencies.
Keywords: Self Help Groups, Microfinance, SGSY, NABARD

This is a revised version of the paper presented by the author in the National Seminar on Haryana in National Perspectives, originated by Department of Economics, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak during 14-15 March, 2012. While bearing full responsibility for any remaining error and inadequacy, author is very much thankful to Prof. Kavita Chakravarty, Department of Economics, MDU Rohtak for her guidance and vital suggestion on the draft version of paper. The author is also very thankful to the anonymous reviewer for the valuable comments.

Introduction

Haryana is located on the north-western side of the Indian Union adjoining the Delhi. On the north it is bounded by the States of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, on the east by Delhi and Uttar Pradesh; and on the south and west by Rajasthan. Most of the region of the State falls under plains except some hilly areas in the southern part of Mahendragarh district, the south-western part of Gurgaon district, and the north-eastern part of Panchkula district. The eastern plain is more fertile than the western plain. Rural Haryana comprises 6,764 inhabited villages spread across 21 districts1 administered through 74 tehsils and 119 community development blocks. Agriculture is the mainstay of Haryanas economy and nearly 60 per cent of the States population earns its livelihood from this sector (Economic Survey, 2011-12). There has been a remarkable increase in foodgrains production, and wheat and rice played a major role in pushing up the agricultural production2. The growth in service sector is also very impressive. Haryana is also emerging as a frontline State moving in industrial growth (CMIE, 2007). The growth rate of Gross State Domestic Product has been impressive during the last ten years and this growth of per-capita income has a major role in reducing poverty. Because of high income, the proportion of people living below the poverty line in the State is quite less. The per-capita income of the stare was Rs. 109297 at current prices and Rs 63045 at constant prices in 2011-12. Though, As per Economic Survey, 2011-12, the contribution of the State in the National Gross Domestic
Product at constant price is 3.4 per cent.

Rural Poverty in Haryana: National Sample Survey Organization Estimates Haryanas head-count poverty ratio, which has always been one of the lowest in India, also appears to have been declining continuously over time with an overall head-count ratio of 34.36 per cent in 1973-74 declines to 8.70 per cent in 1999-2000, and the rural head count falling from 34.23 per cent in 1973-74 to 8.27 per cent in 1999-2000 and 13.3 per cent in 2004-05 (Table 1). District-wise estimates based on the latest NSSO data compiled in Table 2; show that rural poverty in Haryana is highest in Faridabad (37.6 per cent) and lowest in Kurukshetra (2.2 per cent). Within social groups the poverty ratio is highest among SCs (26.8 per cent) followed by OBCs (13.9), and other groups have only a 4.2 per cent poverty ratio.

Identification of the Poor with Below Poverty Line (BPL) Survey The basic objective of the BPL survey is to identify the families living below the poverty line, hoping that they could be assisted under various anti-poverty programmes. Different criteria have been used to identify the BPL population in Haryana3. During the year 1991-92, the total number of BPL families was 6,30,699. The 1997 BPL survey found that 6,38,777 families (30.34 per cent) out of a total of 21.05 lakh families were living below the poverty line. The latest BPL survey in the State was conducted during the year 2007-08. Total number of BPL households was 8,58,389. The district-wise number of BPL families according to the 2007 BPL survey is given in Table 3. The Table shows that the total number of BPL families was lowest in Panchkula (13,514), followed by Gurgaon (22,211). The highest number of poor was in District Bhiwani (70,009) and the second highest in Jind (61,540). The percentage of BPL poor was lowest in Rohtak (18.64) and second lowest in Faridabad (21.71), while the percentage of BPL households was highest in Fatehabad (35.51) followed by Jind (33.45). There are great variations within districts and numbers are changing unevenly across the time period. Basic Needs and Rural Infrastructure in Haryana In Haryana, the percentage of rural households having access to safe drinking water has increased, from 42.9 per cent in 1981 to 67.1 per cent in 1991, and further to 81.1 per cent in 2001. Haryanas performance is better in this area than the national average, which was 26.5 per cent in 1981, 55.5 per cent in 1991, and 73.2 per cent in 2001. In 1980-81, the percentage of villages connected with metalled roads in Haryana was 97.31, and this percentage increased to 98.99 per cent in 2000-01(Statistical Abstract of Haryana, 2006). Table 4 shows the performance related to the providing of rural basic needs in Haryana. Except for waste water and sanitation facilities, Haryanas position is better than the national average. As regards the Rural Basic Needs Index, with a figure of 0.72, Haryana occupied the second place, after Punjab.

Human Development in Haryana-Sex Ratio, Literacy, Human, Gender and Empowerment Index

Table 5 shows the trends in the sex ratio and literacy in Haryana. It reveals that the sex ratio has been continuously on the decline from 867 in 1971 to 877 in 2011. The sex ratio in all the districts of Haryana was below the national average. The situation of the child sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 is also very gloomy. According to Census 2011 it was 830 in Haryana which is below than the national average. Education is a key indicator of human development. Many desirable social and economic outcomes are linked to rising levels of education, particularly education of women and of socially vulnerable groups. Education thus has a potentially powerful role in promoting economic mobility and reducing poverty. Literacy has improved over time in Haryana but in the case of women, the performance is comparatively slow. Table 5 shows that male literacy has increased from 38.90 per cent in 1971 to 85.38 per cent in 2011. On the other hand, female literacy has increased from 10.32 per cent in 1971 to 66.77 per cent in 2011. During the decade of the Nineties of the 20th century, Human Development Index (HDI) evolved into a powerful instrument for comparing development levels across the regions. In recent years, Indian States have started using this index to assess the relative welfare of people. Against this backdrop, concepts relating to poverty and methodologies and techniques for measuring poverty have gained a new dimension. Table 6 shows the performance of Haryana in Human Development. As per the latest estimates, Haryana is placed at 21, which reflects a very dismal state of affair, indeed. In regard to Gender Development Index, the Table shows that the States ranking is 20 - which again reveal a very discouraging picture. In the case of Gender Empowerment Index (GEM), the performance is slightly better. The State gained the seventh position at the all-India level. The GEM rank is not really low but it definitely is relatively low as compared to Haryanas per-capita income, the States GDP growth rate and low poverty ratio. Overall, material deprivation is continuously declining in Haryana but in the case of human development, the performance is not so encouraging.

Self Help Groups: Concept and Status in Haryana

Microfinance services have different delivery methodologies (joint liability groups, individual banking, Self-Help Groups etc) and channels (apex financial institutions like NABARD, SIDBI and government owned societies like Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, formal sector financial institutions, commercial banks, regional rural banks, in addition to member-based institutions like cooperative, mutually aided cooperative societies, SHG Federations and private sector companies like specialized NBFCs, NGOs, societies, trusts, etc.). A Self-Help Group is an informal association of 10-20 persons, who have voluntarily come together for the business of saving and credit and to enhance the members financial security as primary focus and other common interest of members such as area development, awareness, motivation, leadership, training and associating in other social intermediation programmes for the benefit of an entire community (Gangaiah et al. 2006). NABARD defines it as a group of 20 or less people from a homogenous class who are willing to come together for addressing their common problems. They make regular savings and use the pooled savings to give interest-bearing loans to their members. These groups are expected to create a democratic culture with participations in debate and the decision-making process, which is possible only in small groups.

In Haryana, Self Help Groups are promoted under different programmes/projects by various departments and agencies. The Women and Child Development Department has promoted SHGs under the Programme for Advancement of Gender Equity (PAGE) and Swayamsiddha. Womens Awareness & Management Academy (WAMA) has promoted the Swashakti project while the Forest Department has been promoting SHGs under the Haryana Community Forest Project (HCFP) and Integrated Natural Resource Management and Poverty Reduction. Banks are promoting SHGs under NABARDs SHGs-Bank linkage Programme; DRDA is promoting SHGs under Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (now NRLM) and Mewat Development Agency (MDA) is promoting SHGs under the IFAD programme in Mewat district. Besides government departments and agencies and banks, some international, national and regional NGOs are also involved in this work.

Integrated Womens Empowerment and Development Project (IWEDP) The Integrated Womens Empowerment and Development Project (IWEDP) was started in District Mahendragarh in July1994, and later extended to 70 villages of District Rewari in April 1995. The objective of the IWEDP was to create an enabling social environment by improving the status of women and the community at large through processes such as group formation, social mobilization, awareness generation, skill up-gradation and intervention in the areas of health and education with a focus on women and adolescents. Under this Programme a total of 867 womens groups, called Jagriti Mandalies (JMs) were formed. The Project area in the second phase (w.e.f. January, 1999) was extended to include the whole district of Rewari. Programme for Advancement of Gender Equality (PAGE) PAGE was initiated in District Rewari in July 2003. The main objective of the Project during was to consolidate the Project outcomes of the past eight years and build capacities of the district machinery to continue supporting the Jagriti Mandalies (JMs). A sustainability mechanism was introduced through convergence with government schemes and integration of social and economic processes. In this direction the first step was to transform the JMs into SHGs. A total of 253 SHGs were nurtured by the Project in district Rewari. The major interventions under PAGE were capacity-building of social organizers (field workers) as master trainers to enable them to impart training and build the capacities of SHG leaders/members on various aspects of the SHG concept, and to strengthen SHGs in the district through various trainings.

Swayamsiddha The Swayamsiddha scheme was launched in the year 2001 and dedicated to womens empowerment. Child Development Project Officers are the Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) in Haryana. The main vision of the scheme is to empower women who will demand their rights from family, community and government, have increased access to, and control over, material, social and political resources, have enhanced awareness and improved skills and able to raise issues of common concern through mobilization and networking.

Swayamsiddha is a Self Help Groups-based programme with emphasis on convergence activities. The objective is to ensure that Self Help Groups members avail the benefits of all schemes and services in an integrated and holistic manner. The scheme is being implemented in six districts of which thirteen blocks have been sanctioned in Haryana Under the scheme, total 1,300 SHGs have been formed in the 668 villages covering 17,833 members. Under the scheme, the accumulated saving of the SHGs is Rs. 526.48 lakh. All these groups are conducting intergroup loaning to the tune of Rs. 442.24 lakh and all of them have also opened bank accounts, of which 603 groups have even availed bank loans (Table 7). As claimed in the documents of Government of Haryana, the members of 1,279 groups are also doing Income Generating Activities4. The field level investigation shows that the performance of the scheme is quite below average ( Batra, 2012). The Swayamsiddha Scheme has culminated from March, 2008. Conversion of Mahila Mandals into Self Help Groups

There were 6,713 registered Mahila Mandals in Haryana State in 2008. These Mahila Mandals were not functioning actively as they should have been. The primary reasons for their slow progress seemed to be the lack of direction and incapacitation of the women involved. Moreover, since these groups did not undertake any main economic activity, the binding factor seemed to be missing. It was suggested that the concept of Mahila Mandal be changed and diverted to SHGs. 1675 SHGs have been formed under the scheme and 1623 SHGs are involved in activities of saving, and have accumulated saving to the tune of Rs. 2,03,95,519 . 1086 SHGs are inter-group loaning to the tune of Rs. 72,76,253 and 1064 SHGs have opened bank accounts. Moreover 1288 SHGs are involved in preparation of the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (WCD, 2009).

Swa-Shakti Project Under Haryana Womens Development Corporation (HWDC), the Rural Womens Development & Empowerment (Swa-Shakti) Project was implemented in the State by the Womens Development Council, assisted by the World Bank, International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and Government of India. This Project for the development and empowerment of rural women depended on the formation of womens SHGs and emphasized on

access to credit, promotion of micro-enterprises and encouraging institution-building at the grassroots. The Project also stressed on processes that would ensure womens access to and control over socio-political resources and help resolve issues of common concern. The Project was undertaken in three districts covering 23 development blocks and 643 villages. A total of 1,550 SHGs were formed, with the membership of 22,009 women.

Micro-Credit Scheme of HWDC

The HWDC implemented a loaning scheme for women to set up their own enterprises which has been discontinued w.e.f. July 2008 and introduced a new scheme namely Micro Credit Scheme under which Haryana Womens Development Corporation (HWDC) gets loan from Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) at the rate of eight per cent interest per annum. The Corporation gives loan to SHGs and individual members at the rate of five per cent interest per annum and balance three per cent interest is provided by the Corporation. Under this scheme, against a target of covering 40 SHGs, financial assistance of Rs. 57.75 lakh has been provided to 24 SHGs up to December 2008. In another scheme, the State Government has set up Sanitary Napkin Units through Sakshar Mahila Samoohs/Womens Self Help Groups in all the districts through Haryana Womens Development Corporation. Haryana Community Forestry Project (HCFP) With the efforts of Haryana Forest Department, the Haryana Community Forestry Project (HCFP), with the financial assistance of the European Union (EU) Community, was started in April 1999 and continued through June 30, 2008. The Project is being implemented in over 338 villages of 37 rural Community Development Blocks in 11 districts. HCFP has encouraged the development of non-farm activities in Project villages by availing the services of existing institutions and programmes through the promotion of self-employment opportunities by way of a number of skill-based activities. These include dairy, vermi-composting, tailoring/embroidery, wooden beads-making, cultivation of medicinal plants, nurseries and traditional crafts such as durree-weaving, soap and candle-making, pickle-making etc. The Project constitutes Self Help Groups (SHG) in the selected villages with the assistance of NGOs and their grassroots consultants. There are at present 180 Self-Help Groups in 101 villages, all of which are involved

in Income Generation Activities (IGAs) claimed by the Forest Department. Income records for 1600 SHG members show a cumulative income of Rs. 24 million during five years for IGAs taken up. Integrated Natural Resource Management and Poverty Reduction The Haryana Forest Department launched a Project, "Integrated Natural Resource Management and Poverty Reduction " in 2004 with financial assistance from the Japan Bank of International Co-operation, The Project aims at afforestation, water and soil conservation, poverty reduction activities, technical assistance and institutional capacity development in 800 villages in seven districts. The main objectives of the Project are to create employment, increase income through the acquisition of income-generating skills, improve the social status of poor people by supporting self-help groups, supply forest products to the poor, increase production in livestock farming, and improve nutrition by securing access to water and by improving soil. So far about 1607 Self Help Groups have been constituted and their bank accounts opened. They are being encouraged to initiate some feasible IGAs for which loans are available through Village Forest Committee (VFC) from the revolving fund created under the Project. In the first phase (200405), 197 Self Help Groups were formed in these districts. There are 2531 members from 197 SHGs contributing around Rs. 20, 34,953 in total as group savings and the total inter-loaning amount is Rs. 12,74,410 as of September 2006. In the second phase of the Project (2005-06), there are 227 Self Help Groups had been formed, and the process is still continuing.

SHGs under SGSY in Haryana As regard to physical performance of SGSY groups in the state, there were 712 SHGs formed in the year 1999-00, 1530 in 2002-03, 985 in 2004-05, 2303 in 2005-06 and 4506 in 2008-09. The number of women SHGs is also increasing. The women SHGs were 442 in 2002-03 which increased to 2,857 in the year 2008-09 (Table 8). As regards the grading of the SHGs, in 200809, the total number of SHGs that acquired Grade-I was 2,880 and in Grade-II, the number was 1,796. As regards the IGAs, in 1999-2000 total number of 260 SHGs had taken up economic activities. This number increased to 776 in 2003-04, 1018 in 2004-05 and 2307 in 2008-09 (Table 9). Within these SHGs, the greatest numbers were involved in the primary sector, mainly

in milch cattle. There is less attention paid on the other areas of economic activity such as handicraft, handloom, irrigation and the tertiary sector. This reflects that there is a lack of diversification in the SGSY SHGs activities in Haryana.

Total Swarozgaries Assisted Under SGSY Table 10 shows the trends of total swarozgaries assisted under the scheme. The number increased from 17,348 in 1999-2000 to 25,853 in 2000-01 and then decreased to 5,375 in 200203. In 2004-05 14,132 swarozgaries were assisted. The members covered under the scheme were 2,730 in 1999-2000, 11,037 in 2004-05 and 18,360 in 2008-09. The number of individual swarozgaries also decreased overtime. The numbers were 14,618 in 1999-00, 6,298 in 2002-03, 3,095 in 2004-05 and 2,279 in 2008-09. Table 10 shows that nearly 50 percent of the total swarozgaries who were assisted under the scheme belonged to scheduled caste category. This is in line with the mandate of the scheme. In case of women swarozgaries, the percentage was 54.91 in 1999-2000 and 62.11 in 2003-04 and 74.71 per cent in 2008-09. These trends are very impressive and should be continued with more participation of women. As regards the number of disabled swarozgaries assisted, the percentage was 0.78 in 1999-2000, 1.35 in 2004-05 and 1.11 in 2008-09. Disbursement of Subsidy and total Investment under the Scheme Table 11 shows the amount of subsidy disbursed to SHGs and individual swarozgaries, and the total investment under the scheme. The Table reveals the increasing amount of subsidy disbursed to SHGs, from Rs. 93.59 lakh in 1999-2000 to Rs. 1056.35 lakh in 2004-05 and Rs. 1779.54 lakh in 2008-09. The subsidy disbursed to individual swarozgaries was Rs. 1056.69 lakh in 19992000 and Rs. 261.76 lakh in 2004-05 and Rs. 207.04 lakh in 2008-09. In the initial years the amount of subsidy disbursed to SHGs was less, and it increased in the later years. In case of individual swarozgaries, the trends are just the opposite, i.e. high disbursement in the initial years and low disbursement in the later years.

National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) SHG-Bank Linkage Programme in Haryana

The cumulative number of SHGs in Haryana as of 31st March, 2009 was recorded to be 17,436. Haryana accounted for only 0.02 per cent of all SHGs in India. The total bank loans provided to all these SHGs as of 31st March 2009 was Rs. 6,383.91 lakh (Table 12). An analysis of distribution of SHGs across districts in Haryana reveals that the southern part of the State comprising Gurgaon, Mewat, Rewari and Mahendrargarh districts has larger share of SHGs. Gurgaon district (including Mewat) has the maximum number of SHGs in Haryana. Model-wise SHG-Bank linkages analysis for the State further brings to the fore that as on 31st March, 2004, 75.18 per cent of SHGs had bank-linked under Model II and the remaining (24.82 per cent) had been linked under Model I. There was absolutely no presence of Model III SHG bank linkage in the State. Agency-wise Distribution of Bank Linkage All the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), District, Central Co-operative Banks (DCCBs) and Commercial Banks in the State took part in the SHG bank linkage programme. Commercial banks and RRBs are the major players in the SBL programme in the State. During the period 1999-98 to 2008-2009, the share of commercial banks in the SBL programme increased from 18.18 to 65.01 per cent in terms of number of SHGs and from 27.39 to 63.26 per cent in terms of bank loans disbursed to SHGs. Whereas the share of RRBs came down during the period both in terms of the number of SHGs (from 81 per cent to 28.25 per cent) and bank loans (72.60 per cent to 32.33 per cent), the co-operatives increased their share to 6.75 per cent in terms of the number of SHGs and 4.4 per cent in terms of bank loans (Table 13).

Figure 1: Agency wise Distribution of Linkage in Haryana

6.75

28.25

Commercial Banks Regional Rural Banks

Among the public sector commercial banks, Punjab National Bank is leading with a total of 1,123 SHGs formed during 2008-09. Dena Bank and State Bank are also among the top in regard to SHGs formed . Among the private banks, HDFC has ventured in the SHG Bank Linkage Programme in Haryana with 107 SHGs. Among the RRBs the AmbalaKurukshetra Gramin Bank and Gurgaon Gramin Bank are leading at the top. Ambala-Kurukshetra Gramin Bank accounted for 23 per cent of SHGs with one-fourth of credit support provided by RRBs in Haryana under the SHG bank linkage programme, followed by the Gurgaon Gramin Bank. These two RRBs, accounted for linkage of about 60 per cent of SHGs with 60 per cent of credit support . District Central Co-operative Banks remained slow in SHG-Bank linkage programme as this Agency was a party for linking only 11 per cent of the SHGs in the State. The Hisar DCCB leads the race among the DCCBs, followed by Fatehabad DCCB. These two DCCBs account for 44 per cent of SHGs with 33 per cent of credit support extended by DCCBs under SHG Bank Linkage Programme. As per the latest data, Fatehabad (87), Jhajhar (67) and Sirsa (61) have large number of SHGs under DCCBs. There are also various NGOs working with the NABARD linkage programme in the State5. Mewat Development Agency (MDA)

To deliver social and economic justice to the backward and under-privileged sections of society, the Government of Haryana created the Mewat Development Board (MDB) in 1980. Since 1995, the MDA has been implementing the Mewat Area Development Project (MADP) in

collaboration with International Funds for Agriculture Development (IFAD). MDA started its operations with the objectives to improve the economic and social well-being of the Meo community, to promote gender self-reliance on a sustainable basis and to broaden the range of economic opportunities available to the community. The initial period of the Project was seven years, effective from 1995-96 to 2002-2003. However, it was extended upto 31st March, 2005. Having been encouraged with the performance of SHGs, the project period was extended for another three years. During the period of the Mewat Area Development Project (MADP-IFAD), the MDA also started a special programme of empowerment for women through constituting Self Help Groups. Table 14 shows that the MDA formed 3,467 Self Help Groups comprising 44,727 members. Among these total members, 17.85 per cent of beneficiaries belong to the SC community, 22.73 per cent are from B.C. community and 42.25 per cent from Meo community. Problem Areas in SHG Movement in the State The programme-implementing agencies in the state especially, DRDA and ICDS are facing problems in effective implementation due to being overburdened with other responsibilities and inadequate manpower. These agencies also faced problems such as lack of staff trained on income generation, financial literacy and other social issues. In case of Swayamsiddha, the next phase of the scheme is in the pipeline, the flows of funds are inappropriate and this also causes some problems. The DRDA staff has to look after other development scheme and this resulted in less attention being paid to SGSY.

The element of subsidy in SGSY attracted the poor households to become members of groups. Livelihood generation, capital building, savings etc. were not in the agenda. The subsidy element also led to some misappropriation on the part of functionaries, as well as misuse on the part of borrowers themselves. Creating and sustaining support systems was the main objective of the subsidy but it was distorted in the field. The progress of SHGs, especially in SGSY was being measured in terms of number of group formed, number of people covered and amount of credit disbursed- not in terms of income accruing from various activities. There is specific pressure put on the administration to achieve group targets within a limited time frame. Over the years, the

emphasis on achievements of quantitative targets has resulted in wrong selection of the projects, poor quality group formation without real assessment of entrepreneurial potential, underfinancing and instances of willful defaulting.

In the state, it was found that the SGSY scheme created problems for groups running under different programmes. The non-SGSY groups, especially in Swayamsiddha, subsidy and high amount of loan are main attraction points and some of them. In taking the opinion of NABARD groups, it was found in most cases, that they were dissatisfied with the low amount of the loans disbursed and very keen to join SGSY to secure high loans and subsidies. These components in SGSY thus adversely affected and discouraged individuals from joining SHGs under different programmes.

In the stare, it is found that the range of activities for which loans were available was quite narrow and the programmes agencies had not focused on the diversification of income generation activities. In SGSY, the majority of loans are disbursed for livestock; the groups under Swayamsiddha had rarely adopted these activities due to lower loan amount and indifferent attitude of banks. The majority of the groups adopted food preparation for Anganwadi as directed by ICDS office.

Suggestions

There a is need to phase out subsidies in the SGSY programme and banks should be encouraged to lend adequate funds to viable projects preferably managed by SHGs- that would ensure generation of income for the borrowers and repayment of the bank loan. Micro-finance

programmes like NABARD, SIDBI, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Swashakti and SEWA and other community based organizations have worked well without subsidies. The resources devoted to subsidies should be spent on enhancing expenditure on infrastructure and support services such as on organizing, training and providing handholding support to the groups.

For the actualization of the SHG objectives, more emphasis should be on the qualitative aspects of these groups. The blind strategy of making more and more groups without any qualitative inputs will certainly create problems and risks also. Governments should play a facilitating role,

should not be target-oriented and should restrain from enlarging the agenda of the SHGs. The microfinance programmes should define themselves as quality- and process-oriented microfinance and micro-enterprise programmes for the poor. There should be no pressure for achievement of targets or rigid time limits for groups to move on from one stage to the next.

There is a need for micro-level planning to identify key livelihood activities. In order to identify appropriate livelihood opportunities a Task Force should be set up at the local level by including all concerned agencies such as District Rural Development Agencies, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, participating banks, gram panchayat, line department, NGOs and the private sector. Village potential mapping with a sub-sectoral analysis would play a substantial role in the development income generation activities. In order to have a knowledge base about the availability of resources, panchayat-level surveys can also be conducted under the auspices of local authorities. To make them operational, the cluster-based local development approaches should be adopted.

One important point of suggestion is about the microfinance programmes are regarding the experiment with new livelihoods. This facilitates the group members over a period of time to diversify from a narrow choice of local skill and trade like livestock rearing and petty trading to more commercial activities. The future emphasis of the implementation agencies should be on group based income generation activities. This will enhance the capacities of the group members as well as social solidarity.

In Haryana, various kinds of agencies such as DRDA, ICDS, NABARD, the forest department and international and regional NGOs are working in the area of microfinance. Some wellcoordinated efforts should be implemented to prevent the duplication, overlapping and wastage of funds. For the sake of consistency and administrative expediency and in order to foster a genuine microfinance movement in the state, there must be uniformity for all microfinance schemes of different departments such that the subsidy element does not attract and wean away individuals from other genuine savings and thrift groups.

Conclusion

The SHG movement in rural Haryana is in an early stages and taking many shapes as different agencies promote micro-finance with a variety of approaches and strategies. At present there is no adequate and complete database on SHGs in the State as the information is scattered around with different departments and institution. Among all micro-finance programmes, SGSY is leading with highest numbers of SHGs and loan amount and also it has special focus on BPL families. The results of the micro-finance programme of Mewat Development Agency are also very encouraging. There are smaller numbers of community-based organizations in the state and small NGOs are in the field but with certain limitations. Given the positive impact of microfinance on women, as claimed worldwide, certain innovative practices should be adopted to streamline the SHG movement in the state.

Table 1: Trends in Rural Poverty in Haryana: NSSO Estimates Year 1973-74 1977-78 1983-84 1987-88 1993-94 1999-00 2004-05
Source: Planning Commission, Government of India.

Rural Head-Count Ratio 34.23 27.73 20.56 16.22 28.02 8.27 13.30

Table 2: District-wise Population Proportion, MPCE, HCR in Rural Haryana District Proportional MPCE (Rs) % Poor Population Panchkula 1.5 950 4.3 Ambala 5.1 836 3.1 Yamuna Nagar 4.6 1,011 7.6 Kurukshetra 3.6 1,039 2.4 Kaithal 5.4 768 12.4 Karnal 6.1 798 5.9 Panipat 4.2 839 22.7 Sonipat 6.2 718 24.5 Jind 6.8 869 14.6 Fatehabad 4.2 795 13.2 Sirsa 5.2 712 9.4 Hisar 7.0 702 15.2 Bhiwani 7.3 670 18.3 Rohtak 3.9 803 6.0 Jhajjar 4.1 791 6.6 Mahendragarh 4.0 719 8.4 Rewari 4.0 790 16.8 Gurgaon 10.2 1,559 6.2 Faridabad 6.7 634 37.6 Haryana 100.0 863 13.30
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, 2009

Table 3: District Wise Number and Percentage of BPL Families in 2007 District Total no. of rural househol d 145934 260951 160314 137193 93130 237925 130747 183976 173186 195597 140532 145430 192388 41340 135938 136008 120308 184637 183373 160315 3159222 Total Rural populatio n 727173 1259344 766773 674713 495178 1186618 679752 926386 864179 920169 698186 767954 1102494 198362 649979 678259 615965 908329 969673 778836 15868322 Total no. of BPL household s 44185 70009 34807 48720 22211 58737 29221 61540 52732 52355 46491 38665 53270 13514 33402 34729 22426 47640 48405 45330 858389 %ag e of BPL HH 30.28 26.83 21.71 35.51 23.85 24.69 22.35 33.45 30.45 26.77 33.08 26.59 27.69 32.69 24.57 25.53 18.64 25.80 26.40 28.28 27.17 BPL households (out of col.5) SC BC Landles s 24912 14043 42868 34059 18321 58087 15626 11315 32347 30168 13670 47753 10780 4606 19756 37163 14573 56499 14974 7907 24990 31551 17122 50691 25498 17136 48301 25703 19518 50665 22448 19671 45895 19425 13803 33514 8956 5216 14644 19349 13249 31008 21275 24901 43090 5 16718 4708 12888 10351 5320 12947 18260 14690 26756 7 45271 11526 32663 30277 20512 46929 44959 43359 786862

Ambala Bhiwani Faridabad Fatehabad Gurgaon Hisar Jhajjar Jind Kaithal Karnal Kurukshetra Mahendragar h Mewat Panchkula Panipat Rewari Rohtak Sirsa Sonipat Yamunanagar Total

Source: Department of Rural Development, Government of Haryana.

Table 4: Rural Basic Needs Indicators: Haryana vs India Indicators Rural Literacy Rate Rural Life Expectancy Rate Rural roads Percentage of Pacca Houses in Rural Areas Percentage of Houses with Electricity in Rural areas Percentage of houses in Rural area with Latrine Percentage of houses in rural areas Haryana 63.82 62.9 99.36 72.50 78.50 28.66 having 28.28 India 59.21 59.4 78.04 29.20 21.92 43.52 65.82

connectivity for waste water Percentage houses with safe drinking water 81.13 73.23

Source: National Human Development Report, 2001, Census of India, 2001.

Table 5: Sex ratio and Literacy Gap in Haryana and India: 1901-2001 Census Sex ratio Sex Ratio Literacy Male Female Year India Haryana Rate Total 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 972 964 955 950 945 946 941 930 934 926 933 940 867 835 844 844 869 871 868 867 870 865 861 877 25.71 37.13 55.85 68.59 76.64 38.90 51.86 69.10 79.25 85.38 10.30 20.04 40.47 56.31 66.77

Male Female Literacy Gap rate 28.60 31.82 28.63 22.49 18.61

Source: Director of Census Operations, Haryana (population results 2011).

Table 6: Human Development Index, Gender Development Index and Gender Empowerment Index in Haryana- 2006 and 1996 Index Haryana India HDI Score 2006 0.643 0.605 HDI Score 1996 0.570 0.530 Rank HDI 2006 21 --Rank HDI 1996 21 -GDI Score 2006 0.632 0.590 GDI Score 1996 0.555 0.514 Rank GDI 2006 20 -Rank GDI 2006 19 -GEM Score 2006 0.532 0.497 GEM Score 1996 0.455 0.416 GEM Rank 2006 7 -GEM Rank 1996 6 -Source: Gendering Human Development Indices: Recasting the GDI and GEM for India, Ministry of Women and Child Development, New Delhi, 2009.

Table 7: Progress of the scheme Swayamsiddha Description Cumulative Progress upto 30.06.2007 No. of surviving IMY SHGs New SHGs formed Total SHGs No. of villages covered No. of SHG members No. of SHGs doing savings Amount saved (in Rs.) No. of SHGs doing interloaning Amount loaned (in Rs.) No. of members received loan No. of SHGs having bank accounts Amount deposited in banks (in Rs.) No. of SHGs availing loan from banks/other sources Amount of loan (in Rs.) from banks No. of loan beneficiaries No. of SHGs doing IGA No. of SHG members doing IGA 354 946 1300 668 17833 1300 454,95,032 1300 418,86,161 26160 1300 2,70,02,170 577 17964797 5851 1242 9463

Source: Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Haryana

Table 8: Number of SHGs formed under SGSY since 1-4-1999 (In Numbers) Year 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 No. of SHGs 712 1393 1820 1530 1484 985 2303 1598 2261 4506 No of Women SHGs 442 468 642 1263 897 1209 2857

Note: - Data not available Source: Annual Reports of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. (Figures given in parenthesis indicate percentage).

Table 9: Self Help Groups with Grades and Economic Activities in Haryana since 1-4-1999 (In Numbers) Year No of SHGs No of SHGs No of SHGs Taken up Economic Activities 260 171 236 495 776 1018 1148 504 2140 2307

Passed Grade-1 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 229 642 836 1310 1158 1223 1359 1169 1959 2880

Passed Grade-2 92 181 387 606 844 1050 1197 536 1619 1796

Source: Same as Table 1

Total 10: Swarozgaries Assisted and Coverage of SC, Women and Disabled under SGSY in Haryana (In Numbers and Percentage)
Year Members covered under SHGs 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2730 1697 2440 5375 10545 11037 12026 5253 16559 18360 Number individual Swarozgaries Assisted 14618 24156 12407 6298 3644 3095 2929 653 2001 2279 17348 25853 14847 11673 14189 14132 14955 5906 18560 20639 of Total No Scheduled Caste Swarozgaries 8262(47.63) 11746(45.43) 6959(46.85) 5575(47.76) 7450(47.30) 6343(44.88) 7356 (49.19) 3017 (51.08) 10745 (54.02) 10775 (52.21) 9527(54.91) 13130(50.79) 7614(51.28) 6431(55.09) 9763(62.11) 8543(60.43) 9865 (65.96) 4356 (73.76) 14104 (70.91) 15419 (74.71) 136(0.78) 173(0.67) 108(0.18) 104(0.89) 58(0.37) 146(1.03) 229 (1.53) 109 (1.85) 372 (1.87) 230 (1.11) of No of Women No of Disabled Swarozgaries

Swarozgaries

Source: Same as Table 1

Table 11: Disbursement of Subsidy under the Scheme in Haryana (In Lakhs) Year 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Subsidy disbursed Subsidy disbursed to Total to SHGs individual swarozgaries 93.59 1056.69 1150.28 194.33 291.89 545.77 820.81 1056.35 1180.46 511.67 1591.37 1779.54 1814.34 977.00 507.11 303.59 261.76 246.80 54.07 451.25 207.04 2008.67 1268.89 1152.88 1124.40 1318.11 1427.26 565.75 2042.62 1986.57

Source: Same as Table 1

Table 12 : SHG-Bank Linkage: Numbers, Loan disbursement and Refinance under NABARD in Haryana (Number Cumulative, disbursement in Rs. 10 lakh and Refinance in lakh) Year SHGs Loan Amount Refinance 1996-97 1997-98 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06
Source: SHG-Bank Linkage Report, Various Years

7 10 537 970 1524 2344 3351

-0.25 15.57 37.29 69.44 146.43 200.63

--90 181 176 105 224 2--

Table 13: SHG Bank Linkage Agency-Wise Cumulative Participation Spread in Haryana (Amount in Rs. lakh) Years Commercial Bank Regional Rural Co-operative Banks Total (Rs) Banks No. of SHG Bank Loan No. of Bank No. of Bank No of Bank SHG Loan SHG Loan SHG Loan 2000 22 1.80 99 4.77 --121 6.57 2001 35 2002 267 2003 359 2004 744 2006 2300 2008 1118 2009 2973 3.42 19.98 26.56 78.69 164.55 1640.20 4038.15 420 703 1,165 1,563 2,510 1251 1292 12.15 17.31 42.88 66.61 149.71 842.54 2064.79 ---37 57 213 309 ---1.13 1.75 131.15 280.97 455 970 1,524 2,344 4867 2582 4573 15.57 37.29 69.44 146.43 316.02 2613.89 6383.91

Note: - Data not available Source: Same as Table 6

Table 14: Physical Performance of SHG under Mewat Development Agency (As on 31December 2009) Block Total Total Total Member No. of No. of SC BC Meo Gen. Total Villages SHGs Firozpur 80 638 923 1370 3963 1486 7742 Jhirka Punhana Nuh Tauru Nagina Hathin Total 83 108 81 67 81 500 653 527 517 521 611 3467 1130 1078 1972 1200 1681 7984 2599 1103 1602 1553 1942 10169 3585 2894 2078 3799 2582 18901 731 1751 749 262 2694 7673 8045 6826 6401 6814 8899 44727

Note: In each block, the SHGs have been formed under Mahila Vikas Samiti Source: Mewat Development Agency, http://mda.nic.in./consolidated%20data%20shg.pdf

References 1. Bansal, Hema. (2003). SHG-bank linkage program in India: An overview. Journal of Microfinance, Vol. 5, Number 1. 2. Batra, Vikas. (2012). Factors Determining Women Self Help Group Members and their Patterns: A Field Experience in Rural Haryana. Economic Affairs, Vol 57(1), pp 107-118 3. Batra, Vikas. (2012). Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana: A Study of Rural Women Beneficiaries in Haryana State, Man and Development, Vol 34(3), pp, 1-16 4. Gangaiah et al. (2006). Impact of self help groups on income and employment: A case study. Kurukshetra Vol. 54, No. 5. 5. Government of Haryana (2009). Annual Progress Report .Department of Women and Child Development. Chandigarh 6. Government of Haryana. (2012). Economic Survey 2011-12, Economic and Statistical Adviser, Planning Department. Chandigarh 7. Government of India (GOI). (1999). Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana: Guidelines. Ministry of Rural Development.New Delhi 8. Government of India: Annual Report of Ministry of Rural Development. Various Years 9. Kamrmarkar, K. G. (1999). Rural credit and Self Help Groups: Microfinance needs and concepts in India. Sage Publications, New Delhi 10. Khandelwal, A. (2007). Microfinance development strategy for India. Economic and Political Weekly, March, 31. 11. Kumar, V., & Sanjeev, K. M. (2005). Implementation of Swarnjayanti Gram Swrojgar Yojana: A case study. Political Economy Journal of India, Vol. 14, No. 1. 12. Mandal, A. (2005). Swarnjayanti gram swarojgar yojana and self help groups: An assessment. Kurukshetra, Vol. 53, No. 13. Manimekalai, M., & Rajeshwari, G. (2001). Nature and performance of informal self help groups A case from Tamil Nadu. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 56 (3). 14. National Network Enabling Self Help Movement (2009). Suggestions for Designing of National Rural Livelihood Mission: A Review of SGSY. APMAS, Hyderabad.

15. Raheem, A. (2009). Factors determining women self help group members and their sustainability: A micro study. Economic Affairs, Vol. 4, No 1&2, pp 61-72. 16. Satish, P. (2001). Institutional alternatives for the promotion of microfinance: Self-Help groups in India. Journal of Microfinance, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 49-74. 17. Satish, P. (2005). Mainstreaming indian micro finance. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 40, No. 17, April 23-April 29, pp. 1731-1739. 18. Satish, P.(2001). Some issues in the formation of self help groups. Indian Journal of Agriculture Economics, Vol 56(3). 19. Sunderam, I. S. (2001). Self help groups: Challenges and opportunities. Social Welfare, July, 18-19.

These 21 districts are Ambala, Yamuna Nagar, Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Panipat, Jind, Sonepat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Rewari, Mahendragarh, Faridabad, Palwal, Gurgaon, Mewat, Bhiwani, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa. 2 The foodgrains production in the State was 172.05 lakh tonnes during 2011-12 as compared to 25.92 lakh tonnes during 1966-67, registering a more than six-fold increase.
3

For the eighth Five-Year Plan, families with annual income below Rs. 11,000 were taken as BPL families. In 1997, expenditure was the main criterion to identify the people living below the poverty line. For the Ninth Plan, a rural family having per-capita per-month expenditure up to Rs. 289.31 was considered to be living below the poverty line in Haryana. The last survey in 2007-08 used five indicators to estimate the BPL population - size of land holding, house, assets, level of education and standard of living. Scores were to be given by the surveyors according to these five indicators. On the basis of total scores achieved by the household and on the basis of cut off scores, the number of poor people was decided in the State.
4

These IGAs are food preservation, dairy farming, vermi compost, tye and dye, cutting and tailoring, embroidery, kichen gardening, beautician, dari-making, gur patti-making and petty shops etc.
5

See, State of Microfinance in India, 2009, NABARD