Full credit for the women

From being non-productive and non-asset worthy entities, the women of Dungarpur village in Rajasthan have transformed into "agents of change and economic development" owing to the micro- credit system introduced there, says SOMA BASU.

THE U.S. President Mr. Bill Clinton's recent visit to Naila Village near Jaipur may have seen the otherwise shy village belles shed their long veil during their meeting with the visitor. They did so, not to defy their community traditions, but after the village panchayat unanimously agreed on the gesture to "honour a State request".

But miles away in south of Rajasthan, in one of the backward districts of the State, Dungarpur, the women had stopped covering their faces a few years ago. For a totally different reason and purpose.

Till a few years ago, they would not utter their husband's name in the belief that it would reduce his age. But today not only do they say it with pride, but also ask you your spouse's name.

Until recently they hardly stepped out of their houses except to fetch water, or indulge in the daily banter at the village well. Today, they cross over to adjacent villages to participate in meetings that encourage them to be economically independent. Till a few years ago they could think of no other job than attending to household chores, working in the fields and obliging to the husband. Today, they run shops, own animals, carry on trades and earn. And, they have a lot of self respect.

The changes have neither been drastic nor dramatic. Steadily - albeit slowly - in many places, women are geting their due. They make decision not only in family matters, but also in the community, village and society. Interestingly, all this has not required formal education, for for that matter, many are not even literate. A little money, guidance, support and practical wisdom have ushered in the change in several villages of Rajasthan.

From being considered "non-productive and non-asset worthy" these women are now regarded as "agents of change and economic development." Though emboldening the women financially and mentally has not set these villages on a dramatic path of social development in physical terms per se, it has led to the opening of closed minds and improving the quality of life and their social status.

Today after five decades of Independence, travelling through Dungarpur district - consisting of five blocks where 86 per cent of the population is tribal and 90 per cent is classified as Below Poverty Line, i.e. families having an annual income of less than Rs. 11,600 - one finds block after block situated on difficult undulating hilltop with no roads in sight. Miles of sandy terrain makes any mode of transport - impossible to reach these areas.

Despite electoral promises many of these villages still do not have power and water supply, primary health centres, schools or even shops selling basic essential commodities. I was shocked to see four men carrying a sick man on a cot from Jhalan village to the nearest hospital, a good 12 km away in neighbouring Gujarat. The villagers said this was a common practice, for there was not any medical aid in the vicinity and hardly a few families could afford the only other means of transport - the camel. As a result, many patients die on the way.

Despite living in such deprived conditions, when women like Attivirji come across as a chirpy lot, eager to narrate the activities of their new-found life, they drive home the truth that women's access to resources and control over spending can to some extent help in coping with poverty and the state of backwardness.

Three years ago when Jan Shiksha Evam Vikas Sangathan (or PEDO - Peoples' Education and Development Organisation) entered Attivirji's village with the idea of providing alternate credit to women, it was both welcomed and shunned. PEDO's capacity for starting intervention programmes and changing its approach according to local needs and mass perspective, convinced the people that "credit was a need for women".

According to PEDO chief, Mr. Devilal Vyas, earlier women were not able to visualise themselves as developing into a financial institution. It took time for them to realise the importance of micro-credit operation. "Today, the programme for the poor masses successfully targets women as the main credit mobiliser because we believe that facilitating women to initiate development activities like poverty alleviation and environmental upgradation methods is the right approach to uplift deprived families," he said.

PEDO persuaded women to form themselves into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to be responsible and accountable for the women's savings and credit. Attivirji (of Jhalan), after becoming a SHG member and borrowing a loan of Rs. 5,000, decided to set up a grocery shop. Consequently, the villagers no longer have to walk long distances up to Dehgaon for purchasing essential items.

Most women, however, buy milch animals and they have also formed a cooperative in nearby Mada village where they sell 400 litres of milk a day. The women take loans mostly for irrigation purposes, agricultural activity, buying seeds and fertilizer, health and education needs of the family, freeing their mortgaged land or pawned assets and jewellery.

The onus of repaying the loan lies entirely with the Self-Help Groups. Most of these women are illiterate, yet they maintain a meticulous record of loans taken and repaid, with the help of Peoples' Education and Development Organisation workers and the younger generation which goes to school.

In case of a defaulting member, the group tries to find the reason. Such is the mutual trust among members that there have been occasions when the SHG has repaid the loan amount of a borrower from its funds or appealed to the PEDO to waive the loan. Each case is verified on merit for action and defaulters are not blacklisted from borrowing a second loan, if found genuine.

The PEDO provides financial assistance to over 175 SHGs in Dungarpur from the outside loan support it gets from the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), which was set up by the Centre in 1993 to extend credit facilities to poor women for income generation activities.

RMK essentially works in partnership with Non-Governmental Organisations from whom it receives the loan applications for sanction.

A senior RMK official, Mr. S. S. Sharma, told The Hindu that the organisation's recovery rate has been an impressive 93 per cent consistently during the last five years.

The Government's poverty alleviation schemes like the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) have failed and not reached the most needy and poorest of all because of the bureaucratic handling by Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and also because the money is disbursed more like a grant with 50 per cent subsidy on the loan amount. This dilutes accountability and breeds corruption, whereas in contrast, the RMK loan is strictly disbursed as loan with interest.

PEDO did not enter the villages overnight with the alternative credit scheme for women. It has been working in the district since 1987 focussing on creating equal space for women in society through health education and motivation campaigns.

It was during such campaigns that it discovered how informal credit system (through sahukars) was dominating the scene and exploiting the poor. And how even the formal credit system through RRBs was unable to penetrate into the interiors. The alternative system of microcredit, therefore, emerged as a strong alternative for the poor rural women.

Having gained economic empowerment, the women are not only able to keep social evils - like drinking and dowry - at bay but they are also involved in planting trees in common areas and mass mobilisation programmes for forest conservation.

"While men are generally given preference for bank loans, they used to borrow money from banks and also the sahukars and blow it up in liquor and other vices. And not only the family would remain in perennial debt but the bank would blacklist the entire village for one defaulter and the mahajans would continue to harass us and grab everything," said Pyari Devi, president of Mada village SHG.

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