Emerging microfinance practices: With special reference to forest dwelling community in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states

Abstract

Poverty in India is one of the persisting problems since long time. Governments have been striving to alleviate poverty. A variety of welfare strategic programs like IRDP have been activated to address the problem. These programs could not attain the desired results effectively. Undeterred by this the Governments quest for alternative endeavors is a continuos process. This in turn gave birth to the concept of microfinance with buzzword SHG (Self-Help Groups) emerging since late 80’s. This evolution has been proving to be result oriented and effective. The people living below poverty line usually need small financial assistance for subsistence, health etc. Major sources available for financing these needs includes moneylender/landlords, SHGs, etc. The awareness among the people about emergence of SHGs alike systems is high. The amount and purpose for micro finance varies with landholding size. The micro-credit deliver models includes SHG, Grammen, Cluster-Federation, DWCRA, and SJSY model.