UP’s women self-help groups crumble, family support system hit

The pandemic has led to shrinking of work for the women self-help groups that gave vital financial support to stretched families.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on women self help groups (SHGs) in Uttar Pradesh (UP) as they struggle to make two ends meet in absence of work.

Women who are part of self help groups (SHGs) in hold a meeting. (HT Photo)

“I work with a SHG that does zari work but I am without work since lockdown. Earlier, we used to get large orders in August and September due to Diwali but there are very few orders this time,” said Rubina Raza Khan, 40, a member of a Moradabad based SHG.

“I used to earn around Rs 12,000 in these months but have not earned a single penny this year,” she added.

The money Rubina earned played an important part in supporting her family of five, especially the education of her two daughters and a son. “I never went to school but ensured that my children go to a school and I used to pay their fees from my earnings. I don’t know how I will manage their fees this year,” she said in despair.

“SHGs are source of income for women, especially the housewives,” said senior economist and former advisor to state government, Ravindra Bhatia.

Bhatia said the SHGs in India had a very good track record of returning the loans but the Covid-19 situation can change this. “Although the majority of loans taken by SHGs are of small values, the group will face difficulties in returning them due to the decline in earnings. SHGs will have to either expand their expertise or change their work to continue to be in operation in these testing times,” he added.

According to national bank for agricultural and rural development (NABARD) data, more than Rs 23,320 crore is deposited by SHGs registered with it across the country.

Poonam Gupta, founder of a self help group in Hardoi, linked with NABARD said: “We took a loan of Rs 1 lakh from the bank in July last year to take extra orders for decorative pots. We have not been able to submit the deposits to the bank since March because our work has stopped completely and there is little hope that it will start soon.”

Parvati Kushwaha, who ran a SHG in Jhansi that made packaged snacks, shifted to stitching masks to earn some money during the pandemic. This helped her and her group of 12 homemakers for a few months but their earnings have reduced recently. “We earned Rs 4 each for stitching a mask earlier but now the supplier only gives us Rs 2.5 per mask. We are managing with the earnings somehow but we are earning less than half of what we used to,” she said.