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Mapping Self-Help Groups (SHGs) as alternatives to capitalist development: an ethnographic enquiry from India

  • Special Feature: Case Report
  • Alternatives to Sustainable Development: What can we Learn from the Pluriverse in Practice?
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Abstract

This paper presents cases of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) from Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Bardhaman district in West Bengal (WB) that we argue have the potential to demonstrate alternatives to capitalist development by strengthening the community economies of women belonging to marginal groups. SHGs in Kotha Indlu village in Chittoor district have provided the Dalit and backward women an alternative to earn their livelihood from practicing sericulture with local resources, indigenous knowledge and training. In Paarhaati and Ganti, villages of Bardhaman district, some SHGs have benefitted while some others have failed to cater to the economic needs of women from marginalized communities. With the help of empirical evidence from fieldwork, the paper aims to understand in what ways SHGs have helped or hindered the Dalit and tribal communities to enhance their self-reliance in the study areas. In regions where community participation and local self-government is proactive, SHGs are seen as strong sustainability initiatives for the rural marginalised groups. However, it is also seen that implementing SHGs as a sustainability program has been difficult in certain regions due to social inequality, financial dependence on local landowners and inadequate community participation. Thus, the paper puts forth both the successes and failures of SHGs as an important sustainability program at the grassroots level in rural India.

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Notes

  1. There are numerous studies and research by various social science scholars on the importance, relevance, impact, and other issues of SHGs in the lives and livelihoods of rural women in India and elsewhere. SHGs are widespread collective forms of action in India. It is estimated that there are 33 million women are involved and are accessing low-cost financial services as well as self-management and development activities in their vicinities. For further information and reference, see for instance; EDA & APMAS, 2006; Kasi 2011, 2021; Kayser et al 2010; Larson et al 2015; NABARD 2019.

  2. Source: https://www.cgg.gov.in/core/uploads/2017/07/WP-77-92.pdf/.

  3. Trekker is the only form of transport available from the main town to the villages. These are like jeeps which can take 20 passengers at a time and is a good form of economic source for many small and marginal farmers and landless labourers, where they work as drivers and helpers.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Editors of the Special Issue for giving us the opportunity to present our paper on this idea. We would like to thank the reviewers for their incisive comments on our earlier draft of the paper. Finally, we would especially extend our gratitude to Dr. Shivani Kaul for her patience to have read the article several times through online zoom meetings and suggested significant changes in it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Muralidhar Girls’ College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India

    Atrayee Saha

  2. Department of Tribal Studies, Art, Culture and Folk Literature, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, India

    Eswarappa Kasi

  3. Faculty of Tribal Studies, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, Anuppur (Dist), MP, India

    Eswarappa Kasi

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  1. Atrayee Saha
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  2. Eswarappa Kasi
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Correspondence to Eswarappa Kasi.

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Saha, A., Kasi, E. Mapping Self-Help Groups (SHGs) as alternatives to capitalist development: an ethnographic enquiry from India. Sustain Sci 17, 1263–1271 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01171-6

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