Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

334 MANDAKINI PANT
Securing Economic Benefits: SHGs have made a significant impact
on the wider financial and labour market. The experience of managing
collective economic enterprises, such as the weekly market and the trading
federation, has brought the groups closer, infusing in them a tremendous
sense of confidence to take up future challenges collectively.
A Mutual Support Group: All SHGs in the study are essentially
women’s collectives whose members are poor. They hold the least political
power. As they are, by and large, drawn from marginalised communities
such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes,
they do not have any social standing. The poor and lower-caste women
not only interact and organise themselves to manage their own money,
but as collectives, they also address social issues, highlight the concerns
of the poor women in local planning and development processes, negotiate
rights, claim entitlements and interface with authorities concerned to
influence governance.
Pressure Groups: The groups in the study have aptly demonstrated
their ability to work as a pressure group in the village. They have picked
up not only those issues that would have only benefited the group (for
example, construction of the platform), but have also taken up issues
that benefited the community as a whole (for example, the repair of hand
pumps, construction of a cement concrete road). These groups have been
able to generate these successes through sheer perseverance and regular
follow-up meetings with panchayat representatives.
The SHGs do not rule out the possibility of contesting elections to participate
directly in local self-governance as members of gram panchayats.
In addition, they are building a consensus among themselves to become
members in as many standing committees of gram panchayats as possible,
so as to give leverage to development plans in different aspects of
village life.
Outcomes within the Larger Community
De Facto Leadership Roles: Many village women share their concerns
with SHG members in the hope that group members would speak on
their behalf in the sabha meetings. SHGs have also successfully demanded
social and political action on issues relating to the rights of women. Thus,
they have carved a de facto leadership role for the women in the village.