Impact on social status of the households due to SHG-Bank Linkage Programme: A study in Assam, India

One of the major objectives of the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP) was the social empowerment of the women folk in general and the rural women in special. The SBLP, undertaken by the NABARD had been aimed to make the women members of the Self Help Groups to become more socially and economically empowered. The study had tried to know the level of social empowerment of the women SHG members through their participation and decision making in the various social events. The study was based on primary data collected from the women SHG members through questionnaire using the “before and after” approach to measure the impact. It had been found that the programme had been able to show a positive result in terms of making the women socially more empowered. The study had revealed that women were now considered as a major force while making decisions related from children's education to participation in public affairs. But still the decisions were taken jointly by all the members of the family after consultations. It was highly desired that women do take an active role in the society and the biggest roadblock to achieve this goal had been the economic factor.