For poverty alleviation, financing the government sponsored schemes has been the main instrument for a long time. In the immediate post-reform period (1990s), the government could not completely concentrate on putting in place suitable mechanisms and forcing devices to achieve this objective.
To roll back the consequential slide and as a miracle cure, it envisaged a major (renewed) policy thrust of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)-promoted Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to be financed, in addition to keeping in place, the other main schemes involving financing to individuals and groups by banks and financial institutions.
This policy has, during the last few years, created some visible impact and gained momentum even though it has also thrown up mixed experiences. There are NGOs, which took up the end-to-end responsibility in creating and nurturing SHGs; there are others which have taken only cursory interest in the SHGs, either due to lack of missionary zeal or lack of adequate and appropriate human and other resources. Such SHGs languished and perhaps withered away, leaving the members to continue to rot at the same subliminal level of existence. |
