(a) the criteria being followed while forming of Self Help Groups (SHGs) under the
Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY);
(b) whether women are also given representation in such groups; and
(c) if so, the details thereof indicating their percentage in these groups?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF
RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. RAGHUVANSH PRASAD SINGH)
(a) to (c) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT IN RESPECT OF STARRED QUESTION NO.440 FOR ANSWER
ON 04.05.2007
(a) The objective of the SGSY is to bring the assisted families above the poverty line
by ensuring appreciable increase in incomes over a period of time.The criteria being
followed while forming the Self-Help Groups are as below:
1. A Self Help Group may consist of 10-20 persons.
2. Generally, all members of the group should belong to the families below the
poverty line and a person should not be a member of more than one group.
However, if necessary, a maximum of 20% of the members in a group can be
taken from marginally above the poverty line families.
3.The group should actively participate in the management and decision – making,
such as devising a code of conduct, holding regular meetings, building up a
corpus through regular savings, evolving financial management norms, interest
rates and procedures for sanctioning of the loans, etc.
4.The members in the group meetings should take all the loaning decisions through
a participatory decision making process.
5.The group should operate a group account preferably in their service area bank
branch.
6.The group should maintain simple basic records such as Minutes book,
Attendance register, Loan ledger, General ledger, Cash book, Bank passbook and
individual passbooks.
(b) Yes, Sir. The guidelines of the SGSY stipulate that 50% of the groups formed in
each block should be exclusively for the women. Women will account for a minimum of
40% of the total swarozgaris assisted during a year.
(c) Under the SGSY, the total number of self-help groups (SHGs) formed, since
inception i.e. 1.4.1999 till March, 2007, is 25.22 lakh. Out of these, the total numbers of
women SHGs are 16.56 lakh i.e. 66% of the total SHGs formed. Since inception of the
SGSY, 85.24 lakh swarojgaries have been assisted under the Scheme, out of which the
women swarojgaries account for 45.50 lakh which is 53.38% of the total swarojgaries
assisted.