Till February 2009, Suman lata spent most of her time looking after her kids and attended to her house hold duties. Shy in nature, she never interacted much with elders in her house or stepped out of the four walls without any work. However, a chance meeting with Om Prakash Sharma, president of the Gramin Pragati Sangathan, in her Chak Kawa village bordering Air Force Station, Udhampur entirely changed course of her life.
Suman began her new innings in life on the advice of Sharma by starting saving a paltry sum of `100 per month and in a span of just four years she has come a long way.
These days, Suman lata is working hard to realise her long cherished dream of expanding her school infrastructure. Suman, along with a group of nine other village women, had set up their own Self Help Group (SHG) and were supported by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in shaping their destinies.
Volunteers from the Gramin Pragati Sangathan helped them on regular basis and taught them how to maintain their saving records and utilise the money for their economic self reliance.
Om Prakash Sharma told The Pioneer, “At present I am supervising work of at least 200 SHGs spread across three blocks of Udhampur district”.
He said the traditional village women took soft loans from the self help group to start their dairy business, while some others utilised the money to improve their living standard and for other necessary work.
Suman lata utilised the money to start Saraswati Holy Public School. Suman lata told The Pioneer, “Joining a Self Help Group has changed her life”. I am not dependent on my husband and spend money on my own. I feel happy when people say I am successfully running a school and imparting education to children.” At present, 70 children belonging to the BPl families are enrolled in her school and eight teachers have been given employment by Suman lata.
She said she took a loan of `50,000 from her group and used the same for purchasing basic furniture for the school children. “Now I want to construct some more classrooms and provide better teaching aids to children,” she added.
Razia Begum, member of another Self Help Group in village Manpa, near Sher-e-Kashmir police academy, Udhampur is another inspiration for the members of the group. She is running a cattlefeed shop in the village and has helped her husband get a new motorcycle.
Razia said, “Economically, I am independent now and feel happy about the fact that I am no longer dependent on my husband. Many other elderly women in the village who are part of these groups are also witnessing drastic change in their daily lives. Meeta Devi said, “All my life I was cooking food sitting in front of a chullah but after joining the group I have utilised the money to acquire an lPG connection”. Renu Devi said she is milking money through her established dairy business. The residents of the nearby Air Force station come to her dairy and purchase milk `40 per litre. She said she is planning to expand her dairy to nearby areas as she has already repaid her loans.
According to Ranbir Singh, General Manager, NABARD, J&K, “A total of 9,541 SHGs are active in the State, out of which more than 6,000 are in Jammu.