Self-help groups in the state are ready to evolve into the next stage by acquiring an 'economic base' of operations such as procurement of foodgrain from farmers or becoming dairy cooperatives.
This was the future path laid out for the sector by senior officials as well as political leaders at the inaugural of the three-day summit on Microfinance and Inclusive Development that began here today.
Setting the tone, chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy said the self-help group movement had reached a crucial stage where the microcredit has had tremendous impact by changing the repayment habits of the poor.
From being financially dependent, he said they were running a 1.4 million litre dairy procurement operation in Chittoor district and have this year moved into procuring 20 million tonne of paddy.
According to R Subrahmanyam, state principal secretary (rural development), the government was now working along two lines on its SHG policy. The first is the second generation grouping of SHGs based on the product lines as in the dairy business in Chittoor.
“We feel that similar possibilities are opening up in at least 15 subsectors, which we have surveyed. So, what we would be really looking at is to group the SHGs as a product-line organisation, where they will be able to access credit to raise their incomes to a much higher level,” he said.
Similar emphasis was placed on SHGs acquiring economic autonomy by Union minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, who said the SHGs must be given a viable economic base that can translate their empowerment and dignity into financial strength.
Highlighting the Chittoor dairy model, Ramesh said, “This is a very powerful intervention. We need to develop these examples on a much larger scale. We must now look at economic engines that can make SHGs self-sustaining and financially independent of the government.”
Ramesh pointed out the need for integrating the SHGs with elected Panchayats as is done in Kerala, saying they are complementary institutions and should be converged. He also said the state’s three-tier federated structure of SHGs (SHGs-mandal samakhyas-district samakhyas) was also the recommended model under the Centre’s new National Rural Livelihoods Mission programme.
He suggested that mandal samakhyas with a monthly income of Rs 50,000 can be financially independent, and there were 150 such groups in the state now (out of a total of 1,100 groups). “As a strategic objective, all mandal samakhyas should aim at an income of Rs 50,000, the bulk of which should be non-interest income,” he said.
Instead of condemning microfinance institutions, SHGs and government can draw upon their strategies for offering loans at the time and quantum required by customers.
Subrahmanyam said the biggest gain from the SHG movement was the creation of social capital, while the biggest challenge was the “intrusion of exploitative financial institutions” that drained the small surpluses of the poor.
The NBFC being planned by the state government would serve the larger and emergency credit needs of the poor, he said. According to Ramesh, the central government has decided to offer funding to SHGs at an interest rate equal to the crop loan rate, which is 7 per cent at present.
Govt to do impact assessment for ecologically sensitive regions
Union minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said the government was set to undertake the assessment by itself especially in certain ecologically fragile regions like wetlands and forests.
He told reporters here on Tuesday that a new system was being proposed where the ministry could take the lead in impact assessment of projects in designated ecologically fragile areas like wetlands or forest areas and where integrated projects like mining-cum-power-cum-ports are based.
“Today all environmental impact assessments are done by the project promoters. I am now proposing the new system. We are still working on this and I'm hopeful we will announce the policy in the next three to four weeks.”
Further, for such ecologiclly fragile areas where there is huge concentration of industrial projects, Ramesh said, “We must have a cumulative impact assessment of all these projects. Unfortunately our system currently looks at each individual projects.”
The cumulative impact assessment of all projects in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra was being carried out already. “We are doing similar impact assessments of all hydel projects in Uttarakhand. I would request the state governments to do the assessment for all power projects, and whatever assistance they need will be given.” Asserting that “agitation is a democratic prerogative, a democratic right,” Ramesh said he opposed forcible land acquisition even in Jaitapur. “I don't think that in our country land should be acquired forcibly.”
He said the Bill amending the land acquisition Act of 1894 and setting out the national rehabilitation and resettlement policy would be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament.
On sand mining in the Ganga, the minister said he would wait for three to four weeks before taking action as the responsibility for minor minerals was with the state government, in this case Uttarakhand.
“This is a very important issue which I have been battling with the Uttarakhand government since last December 2009. I wrote to the Uttarakhand chief minister in January 2010 but for 18 months there appears to be no action taken by the state government. I have written one more letter to the state government but according to law, the responsibility of minor minerals lies with the state government, whereas the responsibility for major minerals lies with the Centre. However, keeping in view the sensitive nature of the issue, if the state government does not take action, then we would not hesitate to take action on our own. Under Section 5 of the Environment Act, I have the powers to issue show-cause and closure notices. We will exercise that option only as a last resort,” he said.
On Lavasa, Ramesh said the court had set the next hearing for July 12. The expert appraisal committee of the environment ministry has made recommendation for giving approval for 2,000 hectares of the project with five preconditions and 29 concurrent conditions. “I have accepted these recommendations. We have communicated this to the courts, where the matter is right now,” he said.
On Polavaram project, he said there had been no shift in the official policy, which called for a practical way of ensuring no submergence of villages in Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh and Malkangiri district in Orissa happens. In order to go ahead with the project, the Andhra Pradesh government had proposed a Rs 120-crore embankment wall in Chhattisgarh and Orissa, and a final decision on that had to be taken by the two state governments, he said.
