Parties target self-help groups to woo women voters

As campaigning for the general elections gathers momentum, political parties are beginning to understand the importance of the women voters.

Taking a cue from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), political parties across the spectrum are wooing the nine lakh self help groups (SHGs) into their fold.

The SGHs are informal savings and credit groups where members from the below poverty line families pool their savings and deal in mutual transactions.

With the groups commanding the loyalty of almost 1.4 crore women spread across the country, the parties have realised that they can ill-afford to ignore "woman-power".

What is drawing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, AIADMK, and the left parites to the SHGs is the multiplier effect that these groups have in the rural areas. The TDP has assiduously cultivated the SHGs over the last few years and it expects to harvest a rich electoral crop in the assembly and parliamentary elections.

Assuming that each of the 1.4 crore women is able to influence at least four other members in a family, the number that the parties are staring at is a whopping 5.6 crore voters.

This is roughly 5.6 per cent of the the country's population! So, besides the normal door-to-door visits, street corner meetings, mega rallies, yatras and roadshows, political parties are devoting their energies to bring the SHGs under their fold.

The SHGs evolved in India to help the rural poor, especially women fight the malaise of poverty. It has empowered them financially and has led to their socio-economic emancipation.

Rural poor living below poverty line are organised and nurtured by non-government organisations, farmers' clubs, local bodies, field personnel of government agencies and bank staff into SHGs comprising a minimum of 10 members and a maximum of 20 members each. SHG members are required to save regularly before they can actually get credit. This saving acts as a collateral for the bank.

Though the bank gives loan to the group, which in turn is lent to the members, the joint liability clause generates peer pressure, thereby ensuring timely repayments. These are the two main reasons why banks chase SHG credit.

Almost 90 per cent of the nine lakh odd SHGs in the country have only women members and they boast of over 95 per cent on-time repayment of loans. The average loan size per SHG is around Rs 28,560.

The four southern states account for almost 60 per cent of the nine lakh SHGs that have spawned in the last decade. Andhra Pradesh alone accounts for about 45 per cent of the estimated 5.4 lakhs SHGs floated in the south.