Reflections on self help groups and their mammoth growth in the state of Tamilnadu, India

Self Help Groups (SHGs) have emerged as a key strategy for women development. The Tamil Nadu Women Development Project under the name of Mahalir thittam in Tamil nadu has now grown into a mammoth movement covering all districts in the state, targeting poor families and the marginalized sections of the society. Some women do get benefitted from such programmes, increasing their incomes and bargaining power in the household and their status in the community. But other issues like control over credit and income from credit, additional workload and debt burden after joining the SHG, problems in marketing the products and facing competition are to be explored in depth.