A study on the profile of SHGs and their members in Karnataka

Government of Karnataka launched the Stree Shakti programme during 2000–01. The main objective of this programme was to form self-help groups of women based on thrift and credit principles which build self-reliance and enable women to have greater access and control over resources. The present study was conducted to know the profile of SHGs and their members during 2014–15 in eight districts viz Chitraduraga, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapur, Bagalkot, Belgaum, Dharwad, Koppal and Mandya from all four geographical divisions of Karnataka involving 395 groups having 6338 members. It was found that majority of SHGs (72%) had taken up income generating activities and 78.98 per cent of the groups conducted meetings regularly. All the groups had micro-financing as an activity. Majority (54.78%) of the SHG members belonged to middle age group. More than one third of the respondents (36.24%) belonged to low education category, 98.77 per cent had low organizational status, 36.13 per cent were wage earners and 47.18 per cent had joined SHGs to get loans. Among 6263 members only 6.31 per cent did not attend meetings conducted by self-help groups. Age and occupation had positive and significant relationship with group status. Majority of them had been attending the meetings and taking the advantage of loans from SHGs and carrying income generating activities individually and in groups.