
Asian Review of Social Sciences (ARSS)
Generating Self-Employment Opportunities in North-East India: Challenges Faced by the Self-Help Groups
Author : Pradeep Kumar Chakravarty and Debasis NeogiVolume 7 No.2 July-September 2018 pp 12-18
Abstract
The Government has put in place policies and programmes to alleviate urban poverty. Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) are the facilitators to reduce poverty in their respective areas. Urban Self-Help Groups (SHGs) aim at sustainable employment for their members. But they face many challenges during their day-to-day activities. The present study aims at identifying the issues, challenges or problems faced by SHGs in the urban areas of the State of Tripura. It relates to urban areas of Tripura, a small hilly state in the North-East India, for which 14 ULBs out of 20 have been selected from all the eight districts. Based on a sample size of 353 SHGs, the study shows that women SHG members have to face internal or organizational challenges and external ones in running SHGs having a cascading effect to their income level, which is not sufficient enough to cross the poverty line sustainably. The paper has also recommended certain solutions to the problems.
Keywords
Challenges, Problems, Issues, Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
References
[1] Agartala Municipal Council (2009). City Development Plan, Agartala, Tripura, India.
[2] Chua, Ronald T. (1996), Asian Institute of Management. Microenterprises in the Philippines, Philippines pp. 7-13.
[3] Directorate of Economics and Statistics Planning (2016), Government of Tripura. Economic Review of Tripura 2015-16, Agartala, Tripura, India, pp.6-11.
[4] Directorate of Industries & Commerce (2012), Government of Tripura. Final Study Report, Skill Gap Assessment Study, Agartala,Tripura,India,
[5] Directorate of Urban Development Department (2016), Government of Tripura, Annual Report, Agartala, India.
[6] Jolis, A. (5 May, 1996). The Good Banker, the Independent Sunday supplement.
[7] Purushotham, P. (2009), National Institute of Rural Development, MoRD, Government of India. A Study of Institutional Credit for Rural Livelihoods.
[8] Yunus, M. (March, 2005). Banker to the World’s Poorest Citizens, Retrieved from : http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfmfa=printArticle
[9] Planning Commission (2008). A Report on the Success and Failure of SHGs in India-Impediments and Paradigm of Success. New Delhi, India: submitted by Voluntary Operation in Community & Environment (VOICE).
[10] Prema, B. (2010). Measuring Effectiveness of Social Capital in Microfinance: A Case Study of Urban Micro-finance Programme in India. International Journal of Social Inquiry, 3 (2), 30-37.
[11] Technical Assistance Team (2003). Training Manual on Self-Help Groups for Micro-Enterprise Development, pp.3-4, Second Revision of Community Forestry Project of Forest Department. Chandigarh, India: Technical Assistance Team, Haryana.
[12] Raj, M. (2014). Women Empowerment through Employment Opportunities in India. International Journal of Management and International Business Studies, 4 (1), 93-100.
[13] Sivanesan, R. (2014). A Comparative Study on Rural and Urban Women Entrepreneurs – Prospects and Challenges. International Journal of Research in Management & Business Studies, 1 (3).
[14] National Commission for Women, (2004). Effectiveness of Women Self Help Groups in the promotion of Micro Enterprises in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. New Delhi, India: Swadeshi Jagaran Foundation.