Economic empowerment of women through self-help groups

According to the 2011 Census, there are 586.46 million women in India. It is an accepted fact that women play an important role in the socio-economic transformation of the country. The rural women whom we often call ‘farm women’ constitute almost 50 per cent of farm work force and play a significant role in the agriculture and allied activities as paid labourers, cultivators and managers. The female work participation rate which was 22.3 per cent in 1991 rose to 25.6 per cent in 2001 and 25.5 per cent in 2011.