Microfinance, self help group and women empowerment- A case study of Darjeeling Hill Areas

Microfinance programmes are now the most common sources of credit for household enterprises and one of the largest channels for development aid. This paper tries to focus on the microfinance and micro credit process and its consequences in West Bengal. Darjeeling Hill areas have been taken as a case.The objective is to evaluate whether and how far the women are benefitted socially and economically in the hill areas through microfinance -SHG linkages. The data reveals that there has been significant positive growth in terms of SHGs and enormous benefits have been derived by women within SHGs from the ongoing microfinance/credit process. Women of two areas of Darjeeling have been empowered socially, economically and as ‘decision makers’ in the working activities and as households, through such process. Our regression result shows that empowerment or non empowerment of the women concerned is very much significant to influence their ‘Return on Gross Loan’ (RGL).The age of a woman does not have any effect on RGL. The microfinance/credit process is crucially important as an instrument for poverty alleviation and women empowerment in Darjeeling Hill areas.