Govt launches 'Sangathan se Samriddhi' scheme to bring marginalised rural women into SHGs network

Tags: Government Schemes National News

Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh launched the 'Organization to Prosperity' campaign on 18 April.

An overview of the news

• It will empower marginal rural households by bringing all eligible rural women into Self Help Groups (SHGs).

• The government is targeting to bring the existing 9 crore to 10 crore women under the ambit of SHGs.

• The number of members, which was only 2.35 crore in May 2014, has now crossed nine crore.

• The government has set a target that every woman associated with self-help groups should be able to earn one lakh rupees annually.

What are SHGs?

• Self-help groups (SHGs) are informal associations of people who choose to come together to find ways to improve their living conditions.

• It can be defined as a self-governing, peer-controlled information group of people having a similar socio-economic background and desiring to collectively serve a common purpose.

• SHGs rely on the concept of "self-help" to encourage self-employment and poverty alleviation.

• Its objective is to build the functional capacity of the poor and the marginalized in the field of employment and income generating activities.