Socio-economic Impact of Self-Help Groups on Rural Women in Tamil Nadu

ZENITH International Journal of Business Economics & Management Research
Vol.2 Issue 2, February 2012, ISSN 2249 8826

Online available at http://zenithresearch.org.in/

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A STUDY ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION OF SELF HELP
GROUP MEMBERS IN TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU

A. ANGEL ANILA*

*Assistant Professor of Economics,
St. Johns College,
Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India.

ABSTRACT

SHGs are a viable alternative to achieve the objectives of rural development. SHG placed
a pivotal role in social transformation and social economic betterment of rural women.
Unlike city levels, where scope for employment is abundant, Tamilnadu is a drought
prone area where people cannot depend purely on agriculture all through the year.
Moreover Tamilnadu is based on its agro-economic climate conditions. Thus non-form
activities like handicrafts, rope making, embroidery, catering services, repair shops, soft
drink stalls etc., give immense scope for women to earn their livelihood when they do not
have income through agricultural activities. Banks in association with NGOs give
training to SHG members in all these activities. The government of Tamilnadu
encourages the SHG activities and marketing of their products.

The main objectives of this paper are to examine the role of SHG in developing socio
economic status of rural women, and to identify the satisfaction level of self-help group
members in SHG activities. There are 18985 SHGs in Tirunelveli district. Consisting of
19 blocks, among the block, Nanguneri block was selected for this study, the researcher
has selected 12 groups at random. From these selected SHGs, 120 members have been
selected to collect the necessary primary data. The chi-square test and average method is
used as statistical tools for analyzing the data and testing the hypothesis. The conclusion
of this paper is Self Help Group is an important tool which helps the rural women to
acquire power for their self supportive life and nation building efforts

KEYWORDS: Women Empowerment, Women Entrepreneurship, Satisfaction Level,
Self- help groups.
________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION
SHGs are a viable alternative to achieve the objectives of rural development. SHG placed
a pivotal role in social transformation and social economic betterment of rural women.
Unlike city levels, where scope for employment is abundant, Tamilnadu is a drought
prone area where people cannot depend purely on agriculture all through the year.
Moreover Tamilnadu is based on its agro-economic climate conditions. Thus non-form
activities like handicrafts, rope making, embroidery, catering services, repair shops, soft
drink stalls etc., give immense scope for women to earn their livelihood when they do not

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have income through agricultural activities. Banks in association with NGOs give
training to SHG members in all these activities. The government of Tamilnadu
encourages the SHG activities and marketing of their products.
SELF- HELP GROUP
A self- Help group is a small voluntary association of poor people preferably from
the same socio-economic background. They come together for the purpose of saving their
common problems through self Help. The number of members in one SHG does not
exceed 20 (Surender and Manoj Kumar, 2010). The size is limited to 20 because any
group larger than this would need to be registered under the India legal system.
Voluntarily coming together to save small amounts regularly. They mutually agree to
contribute to a common fund and to meet their emergency needs on mutual help basis.
The group member use collective wisdom and peer pressure to ensured proper end use of
credit and timely repayment thereof. Infect peer pressure had been recognized as an
effective substitute for collaterals.
An economically poor individual gains strength as part of a group besides
financing through SHGs reduce transaction costs for both lenders and borrows while
lenders have to handle only a single SHGs account intends of a large number of small
sized individual accounts, borrowers as a part of a SHG cut down expenses on travel (to
and from the branch and other places) for completing paper work and on the loss of
workdays in canvassing for loans.
ORIGIN OF SHGS
The Origin of Self-Help Group can be traced is from Grameen bank of
Bangladesh, which was founded by Mohamed Yunus. SHGs were started and formed in
1975(Gunasekaran, 2010). In India, NABRAD initiated in 1986-87. In Tamilnadu,
Chinnapillai an illiterate women live in Parparanpatti, Madurai District, initiated the feed
bank of SHGs in the stats, she was honored by the former Prime Ministers of India,
honorable Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for forming a group and nurtured saving habits, among
the illiterate women in the village.
FORMATION OF SELF HELP GROUP
Mahalir Thittam project was launched with state Government funding from 1997-
1998 and was progressively introduced in all districts of the state. Today the SHG
movement is a very vibrant movement spread across all districts of the state with nearly
59, 00,000 women as members. As on 31.3.2009, there are 3, 91,311 SHGs with a total
savings of `2062.04 crores.
Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW) Ltd. was started
in 1999 at Tirunelveli District. The number of SHGs formed in this District is 18,985 till
2010. In Tirunelveli District, a number of groups have involved in income generating
activity. These groups consist of 12-20 members. All these groups have been trained in
book keeping, credit management and social issues.

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TABLE 1. SELF HELP GROUPS IN TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT
DURING 1999-2010
Sl.No Particulars Rural Urban Total
1 Total No. of SHGs 11789 7196 18985
2 Total No. of SHG Member 186840 113334 300174
3
No. of Schedule Caste
Members
51775 26211 77986
4 Christian Members 13221 4019 17240
5 Muslim Members 3877 2177 6054
6 Savings( `.in Lakhs) 5733.90 4118.35 9852.25
7 Sanga Loan(`.in Lakhs) 15353.37 7474.60 22827.97
Source: Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women Ltd., in Tirunelveli
District

The above table shows the performance and structure of the self help groups in
Tirunelveli district during the past ten years. In Tirunelveli district, 18,985 self help
groups were working among which 11789 self helps were located in rural and 7196 were
located in urban area. It totally has 3, 00,174 members among which 77,986 members
were belong to Sc/St community and 17,240 members belong to Christian community
and 6,054 members belongs to Muslim community. The total amount of savings from
Self help group was `98.5225 Crores among which `5,733.90 came from rural area and
`4118.35 came from urban area. The Self help groups got `228.2797 Crores as loan,
among which rural members got `153.5337 crores and urban got `74.7460 crores. The
above information clearly showed that Self help group gives importance to the rural area.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To examine the role of SHG in developing socio economic status of rural
women

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To identify the satisfaction level of self-help group members in SHG activities
HYPOTHESIS
Ho: There is no association between age and level of satisfaction with the
activities of SHGs.
METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
The present study is based on primary and secondary data. Primary data were
collected through a questionnaire. Secondary data were collected from Tamil Nadu
Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW). A pilot study was conducted with
the help of secondary data. There are 18985 SHGs in Tirunelveli district. Consisting of
19 blocks, among the block, Nanguneri block was selected for this study, the scholar has
selected 12 groups at random. From these selected SHGs, 120 members have been
selected to collect the necessary primary data. The chi-square test and average method is
used as statistical tools for analyzing the data and testing the hypothesis.
AREA PROFILE
Tirunelveli district is one of the southern district of Tamil Nadu states. It is
bounded on North by Virudhunager, East by Thoothukudi, South by Kanyakumari
District and West by Kerala state. In Tirunelveli District includes 19 blocks. Nanguneri is
one of the main blocks. The number of self help groups formed in this block is 673 till
2010. This group consists of 10404 members and their savings is `.258.46 lakhs
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
VinayaGamoorthy

(2007) noted that the self help group members saving habit are
increased through SHG. Selvaraj (2007) pointed out that the SHG women has a major
role to play in decision making and the middle age group women are highly empowered
in comparison with other age group members. Geeta Manmohan et al., (2008) views that
Micro finance is such a tool, which directly hits the poverty by helping poor or enabling
them not only to survive but also to improve their standard of living. Chittaranjan Mishra

(2005) noted that by joining a co-operative society. Women acquire collective bargaining
power and at the same time, they get an institution of their own which is managed by
them.
ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
The present study is concerned with the socio economic profiles of the sample of
self help group members in Nanguneri block, Tirunelveli.


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TABLE 2. AGE WISE CLASSIFICATION
Age No. of respondents Percentage
Below 20 years
6 5
21 years to 40 years
44 36.67
41 years to 50 years
44 36.67
Above 50 years
26 21.66
Total
120 100
Source: Primary Data
Age is an important factor which determines the efficiency of an individual The
analysis of the age wise classification of the respondents reveals that Most of the
members of the SHG belongs to the age group of 20 -40 especially to the age group of
above 50.
TABLE: 3 EDUCATIONAL STATUSES
Educational level No. of respondents Percentage
Illiterate
13 10.83
Primary
26 21.67
Secondary
38 31.67
Higher Secondary
31 25.83
Graduate
12 10
Total
120 100

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Education leads to knowledge and self confidence entrepreneurship is also
determined by the education. Education plays a vital role in decision making. The above
table reveals that most of the members of the SHG in the study area have only primary
and secondary level of education.
TABLE: 4 OCCUPATIONAL STATUSES
Occupation No. Of respondents Percentage
Unemployed
30 25
Self employed
15 12.5
Employed
(un organized sector)
59 49.17
Employed
( Organized sector)
16 13.33
Total
120 100
Occupation is one of the factors which determine the standard of living of an
individual. Agriculture in India is considered as the primary sector and it provides the
major share of employment opportunity to the Indian population. But agricultural
backwardness leads to poverty and low standard of living. The analysis on the basis of
the occupational status of the members shows Most of the members are either
unemployed or employed in unorganized sector. People employed in organized sector
and salaried jobs are very negligible in number.
Income is the yard stick to measure the economic condition of the society. The
main objective of the SHG is to improve the income source of the rural women. To give
economic freedom to the rural women it is must to provide them enough income sources.
The following table explains the income level of the respondents.


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TABLE: 5 INCOME LEVELS OF THE RESPONDENTS
Income (`) per
month
No. of respondents
before joining SHG
Percentage
No. of
respondents
after joining
SHG
Percentage
Less than 1000
13 10.83 8 6.67
1000 1500
19 15.84 22 18.33
1500 2500
42 35.00 44 36.67
Above 2500
46 38.33 46 38.33
Total
120 100 120 100
The above table shows that self help groups in the study area increase the income
level of the respondents 15.84 percent respondents were in the income group of `1000
`1500 before joining the scheme, but that percentage as increased to 18.83 percentages
after joining the group. The percentage of respondents of the income group `1500-`2500
was 35 before joining the scheme. It was increased to 36.67 after joining the group.
TABLE: 6 LEVEL OF SATISFACTION WITH SHGS ACTIVITIES
Benefits No. Of respondents Percentage
To greater extent
76 63.33
To some extent
15 12.5
Neither satisfied or dissatisfied
15 12.5
Not at all satisfied
14 11.67
Total
120 100

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The above table shows the level of satisfaction of the members of SHG. 63.33%
of the members are highly satisfied and 12.5% of the members are satisfied. 12.5% of the
members are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. The remaining 11.67% are not at all
satisfied with the activities of SHG.
TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS
Ho: There is a no significant between age and the level of satisfaction with the
activities of SHGs.
To find out the relationship between the age and their satisfied with the activities
of SHGs, the following Chi-Square test was employed.

2
=
2
1
) (
i
n
i
E
E O
with (c-1) ( -1) degrees of freedom
TABLE: 7 ASSOCIATION OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AGE AND
SATISFACTION LEVEL
Age Highly satisfied Satisfied Moderate Total
Below 20 1 2 3 6
21 -40 4 37 3 44
41 50 2 34 8 44
Above 50 2 22 2 26
Total 9 95 16 120
Source: Primary data
Calculated Value : 197.3
Table Value : 19.675
INFERENCE
The calculated value of
2
values is greater than the table value of Chi-square. So
we reject the Null hypothesis i.e., There is significant relationship between the age and
level of satisfaction.


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FINDINGS
The following are the major findings of the study.
Most of the women of the SHGs in the study area were belonged to the age group
of 21-50 years.
The present study revealed that most of the women of the SHG have only primary
and secondary level of education.
Most of the SHGs members o are either unemployed or employed in unorganized
sector
Income of the SHG members is increased after joining the Self Help Group.
Most of the SHGs members are highly satisfied with the activities of SHG in the
study area.
CONCLUSION
Self Help Group is an important tool which helps the rural women to acquire
power for their self supportive life and nation building efforts. The empowerment of
women through SHGs would lead benefits not only to the individual women but also for
the family and community as whole through collection action for development these
SHGs have collection action. Empowering women is not just for meeting their economic
needs but also more holistic social development. The SHGs empower women and train
them to take active part in socio-economic progress of the nation. Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru said, To awaken the people, it is women who must be awakened; once she is on
the move, the family moves, the village moves and nation moves. Now the women are
awakened by the self help groups.
REFERENCE
1. Chittaranjan Mishra, (2005), SHGs in the Unorganized Garments Sector A
Case Study of Madurai, Kurukshetra, Vol: 53, No.9, pp.43-47.
2. Geeta Manmohan, Monika Tushir, Sumita chadha
.,
(2008),

Rural Banking and
Micro finance Southern Economist, Vol:47, No.2, pp.9-12.
3. Gunasekaran. A.,(2010), Micro Credit and Women Employment through Self
Help Groups: A Case study of Chennai City, Rural Credit in the Era of
Globalization, MADHAV books, Haryana,
4. Selvaraj, A., (2005), Empowerment of women, Kurukshetra, Vol: 34, No.7,
pp.59-62.
5. Surender and Manoj Kumar., (2010), SHGs and their Impact on Employment
Generation, Southern Economist, Vol: 48, No.23, pp.5-8.
6. Vinaya Gamoorthy, A., (2007), Women Empowerment through Self Help
Groups: A case study in the North Tamil Nadu, Social Welfare, vol: 51, No.1,
pp.32-36.

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ZENITH International Journal of Business Economics & Management Research

Vol.2 Issue 2, February 2012, ISSN 2249 8826

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