Southern States - Karnataka   

Hemavati Heggade lauds role of SHGs in society

By Our Staff Correspondent

UDUPI DEC. 11 . The President of the Gnanavikas Mahila Programme, Hemavati V. Heggade, said here on Tuesday that self-help groups (SHGs) had empowered women economically. She was speaking after inaugurating 175 SHGs under the Urban Development Project taken up by the Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Project (KUDCEMP) and the Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP) here.

Ms. Heggade said that nearly 1,000 SHGs formed under the SKDRDP were working very well. The implementation of the Urban Development Project showed that when determined organisations joined hands, it was possible to achieve many things.

In order to successfully implement the project, the volunteers of the SKDRDP had gone to the doorsteps of the people and personally contacted them.

While it was difficult to convince the people in the earlier stages, later on there was an enthusiastic response, she said.

The SHGs could function like mini banks only when they were economically self-sufficient.

She said that women SHGs were a success story in the district.

Stating that a country could become rich only when the needs of the last man had been catered to, she said there were many people still in need of food and clothing. Though the Government had formulated many programmes, they were not reaching the poor. This had put an onerous responsibility on the people working in the non-governmental organisations to create conditions for the implementation of the programmes.

Stressing the importance of education, she said parents should sacrifice everything to provide education to their children. There was no point in using children for household chores instead of providing them with education. People should give up vices and save money. This would help improve their financial condition, Ms. Heggade said.

The MLA, U.R. Sabhapathy, lauded the Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala for launching various programmes for the betterment of people. Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala had spent Rs. one crore on various grants in the Udupi Assembly segment.

The SHGs had helped women to come up in a male-dominated society. These SHGs had saved Rs. 39 lakh, and had a good recovery rate, he said.

While the "Stree Shakti" project was concentrating on rural areas, the Urban Development Project could take care of the needs of the depressed classes in the towns.

Land would be provided for the SHG office near Bal Bhavan, he said. Savita D'Souza welcomed the gathering. Chandrashekhar proposed a vote of thanks. The President of the Udupi CMC, Chittaranjandas Hegde, the Chairman of the Udupi Urban Development Authority, Gopalkrishna Shetty, the CMC Commissioner, Suprasanna, the Assistant General Manager of Syndicate Bank, S.R. Nayak, G.V. Rajashekhar, and Keshava Sriyan, were present.

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