UPSC Mains 2014 GS Paper 2 Q10: model answer

In Kerala, Kudumbashree brings over 45 lakh women into neighbourhood groups that run canteens and even manage local plans. In parts of Bihar or Uttar Pradesh, a woman may still need her husband's permission to attend a meeting. The same model meets two very different villages.

Socio-cultural hurdles

• Patriarchy: restrictions on mobility, purdah and household duties limit meeting attendance; husbands often control the loan.
• 'Pass-through' loans: credit taken in the woman's name but used by male relatives, so she bears the debt without the power.
• Caste divisions: Dalit and upper-caste women rarely sit in the same group; mixed groups face exclusion.
• Elite capture: literate, better-off members dominate leadership and loans.
• Illiteracy and low numeracy: members depend on 'animators' for book-keeping and can be cheated.
• Social backlash: domestic violence sometimes rises when women gain income, as studies in several states have reported.

Regional unevenness

Most SHG–bank linkage is concentrated in the southern states, while the north-east and central states lag, partly because of these social factors.

Remedies

• Gender sensitisation for men and village leaders, as in Jeevika in Bihar.
• Federations at village and block level to give women collective strength.
• Training in book-keeping and digital literacy.
• Separate groups and special support for SC/ST women.
• Link SHGs with livelihoods, not just credit.

SHGs change society slowly, but only when the programme treats social barriers as part of its design, not as an afterthought.