The Ministry of Rural Development is organizing a national level workshop on Self Help Groups (SHG) federation tomorrow here. All the State Secretaries in – charge of the Rural Development Departments have been invited to attend this workshop. The States have also been requested to nominate Project Directors, District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) / CEOs of Zilla Parishad / Project Officers of Self Employment Wing of DRDAs / NGOs involved in the promotion of SHG federation along with two representatives each from the SHG federation at each district / sub – district level for participating in this Workshop. Invitations have also been extended to major commercial banks, prominent NGOs and State Secretaries in-charge of Women & Child Development Departments in the States of Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) is a major self employment scheme launched in April, 1999 after restructuring and combining the IRDP with allied programmes i.e. TRYSEM, DWCRA, SITRA, GKY, MWS. It has been designed as a holistic self employment scheme aimed at providing sustainable income to rural BPL families through income generating assets / economic activities so as to bring them out of the poverty line. It is a process oriented scheme involving processes like organization of the rural poor (BPL) into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) through social mobilization, capacity building & training, provision of revolving fund, making available credit and subsidy, technology, infrastructure & marketing. Each process has a bearing on the successive process.
The fund for SGSY is shared between the Centre and the State on 75:25 basis. SGSY is a credit cum subsidy programme, wherein, credit is the key component and subsidy is only a minor and enabling element. The SGSY has a special focus on the vulnerable groups among the rural poor. SC / STs account for at least 50 per cent, women 40 per cent, 15 per cent for minorities and the persons with physical disability constitute 3 per cent of the swarozgaris respectively.
Issues like Formation / emergence and Sustainability of SHG federations: The need of formation of federations, emergence, and strategy for their functioning and sustainability. Possibility of replication of successful models; Institutional and function related issues: Internal governance / management of federations. Role of SHGs in federations; Issues related to Government support: The type of Government support, especially of Ministry of Rural Development towards capacity building and framing of a national policy on SHG federation. Role of the Ministry of Rural Development and other Government Departments and commercial banks in the SHG federations. An effective and participatory monitoring mechanism; Legal issues: Evaluation of relevance of current legal framework with regard to the SHG federations and the need for change; Issues related to evolution of an apex National Level Federation: Structure, composition, role and functions of the National Federation of SHGs. NFS as a truly representative member owned, member managed and member controlled institution. Road map and time frame for the evolution of the National Federation of SHGs (NFS) especially the road map for role transformations between primary member and secondary stakeholders are expected to be taken up at the workshop for discussions.
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SMK/ST
(Release ID :39272)