Self Help Group Businesses and Motivation of Shg-Members with Special Reference to Meghalaya

Abstract

The development of Self Help Groups (SHGs) has become the medium and is conversantly targeted to combine them under the broader umbrella of rural development programmes being a national objective for the purpose of eradication of poverty and employment generation in the country. At large, SHGs are given more importance as an intervening tool with a view to ease out the work of implementation of rural development schemes in the last couple of decades. Hence, their formation, promotional activities and capacity building programmes are also become a part of government’s policy making and budgeting item in the economic plan of the country. But the most important fact is that the bureaucratic policies are also involved in the activities for the development of SHGs for the purpose of savings and credit deliveries to them. The present growth and development of SHGs programmes indicates that the scenario of exclusionary denial due to un-bankable status which was existed before and the inclusionary programmes through micro credit has become two sides of the same coin. As the growth and development of SHG businesses and the motivation of SHG-members would not able to reach a position, although rural development programmes have been implemented, they could not achieved the self sufficiency of resources that a poor family required after promoting a SHG business. However, this present study is an endeavour to show some hints of success and failure in this direction that how the members of SHGs are motivated to participate in the capacity building programmes and to the businesses of SHGs. These are highlighted through the activities of promotion, savings, repayment of loans, members’ performance in the clearance of outstanding loans and maintenance of clean record not being a NPA defaulter. These variables are explained to see their significance in the sustainability of SHG businesses in the region as well as in the country.