Make Women in Rural India Financially Secure

Dear Friend,

In Seva Mandir's work area, women play a major role in sustaining families and communities, in addition to their domestic responsibilities. They are engaged in agriculture and allied activities, and also seek casual labour near their homes. Since most women are illiterate, they can only undertake unskilled and semiskilled work, which reduces their chances of earning a reasonable income. Traditionally, women have not been involved in many entrepreneurial activities, which further restricts their opportunities. As sources of income are limited, there is considerable need for credit in these areas, but very few means of securing it. As a result women mostly borrow money from traditional moneylenders, usually at exorbitant rates of interest (typically between 60 and 120% per annum), and most of their income goes towards repaying their loans.

Seva Mandir works to create opportunities for women in rural areas so that they can become financially independent by creating inter-loaning groups and inculcate a habit of savings. These inter-loaning groups are called Self Help Groups (SHGs) not only give women a facility to save and take loans whenever required, but also give them the platform to discuss socio-cultural issues in their village and families.

Sunita (name changed) is the member of one such SHG in her village and has recently taken a loan. On asking about the reason behind taking the loan, she said- “I live in an orthodox joint family in Bagdunda village. I have three children; two sons and a daughter. I have taken the loan to give good education to my daughter. Unlike me, I want her to study”.

Sunita never got the opportunity to study and hence she never wanted her daughter to go through the same condition. But her husband and in-laws were not in favor of sending the girl to school and always gave financial constraint as an excuse. She knew basic stitching and was earning a small amount but not enough to send her daughter to school.  Then she got to know about the SHG being formed in her village. She immediately became a member of the group and started saving.  She also learnt about the embroidery training being offered to the SHG group members. It was a blessing in disguise for her. Without wasting any time, she enrolled herself for training as well. After clearing the certain lending criteria, she took a loan and finally enrolled her daughter to a good private school.

Through her sheer determination, she not only started saving money through the SHG but also took a step ahead to become financially self-sufficient and take her decisions independently. This is just a story of one Sunita, we are sure, there will be many more Sunitas with your support.

Sunita could not be more thankful to you. It is because of you, we at Seva Mandir were able to bring all these women together, make them aware of becoming self-sufficient and form these loan groups that can empower them. Currently, 677 such SHGs are running across 198 villages of southern Rajasthan that Seva Mandir works in and 11,238 women are associated with these groups giving them the chance to stand firm against any financial adversity.

Thank you so much

Regards

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team

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