Make Women in Rural India Financially Secure

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Seva Mandir.

Wishing you a very Happy, Prosperous and Wonderful 2014. Thank you friends for extending peace, love and support to all of us in 2013. We look forward to another great year with you. Year by year, our association is getting stronger. Thank you very much for adding happiness in so many lives.

Today I thought of sharing with you two stories, one of Kanku and another of Devli, they both are members of self help group (SHG).

(1). Kanku is a member of SHG named Shakti Mahila Samuh located in Magwas. She has studied till class 8th and has been a member of this SHG since 2001. She is unmarried and lives with her brother. While working with the SHG, she decided to start her own business of provisional store. She consulted with the other group members and they encouraged Kanku for starting the business. She took a room at rent for shop and took loan of Rs. 5000/- for buying stationary items to be kept in her store. Later, she took again an amount of Rs. 5000/- for increasing her items in the store. Now, she’s earning a profit of Rs. 10,000/- (approx.) every month and also repaying the installments and interest every month regularly. She’s very happy with her business and now looking forward to increase her number of items in the shop. The other SHG members and Kanku has realised the importance of SHG as they could get a good source of income through the interloaning system of SHG.

(2). Devli is a member of an SHG named Shakti Mahila Samuh of Mohd. Phalasiya village, since 2002. Her husband earlier worked as a laborer with other brick kilns in Ogna village. In 2008, she and her husband decided to start their own brick kiln business. Therefore she took a loan of Rs. 8000 from her SHG fund and they started their business on a small scale. Her group then applied for a loan under SGSY scheme of government and they were sanctioned Rs. 3,12,500 for different activities. The group provided Rs. 50,000 to Devli from SGSY loan for upscaling her brick kiln business. 

Devli’s family constructs 700-1000 bricks each day. They have employed three laborers to support them in their work. She herself works around three to four hours every day. Devli’s estimate is that her family earns a profit of around Rs. 25,000-30,000 per year. Though the income from this business is uncertain during rainy season, she feels that her income has still increased. In future, she plans to increase production as there is a huge demand for bricks in her area and also purchase plastic sheets to keep unburned bricks safe from rain.

Kanku and Devli always give thanks to Seva Mandir who introduced them to Self Help Group.

Once again thank you so much for your continuous support.

Have an awesome year ahead.

Warm regards,

Atul Lekhra 

Links:

• Seva Mandir's website