Abstract

Tripura is a tiny and hilly state in the North-East India with an area of 10,491.69 sq.km of land. Of the total of Tripura, about 60 percent consists of hills, hillocks and hilly terrains of flat land. The total population of Tripura as per 2001 census was 31, 99,203 which has increased to 36, 71,032 as per 2011 provisional census report . 9, 93,426 persons i.e. 31.1 percent of the total population of the state belonged to tribal population as per 2001 census. Diverse ethnic groups have been residing in the state. There are 19 (nineteen) notified Scheduled Tribes in the state. The main tribal groups are Tripuri, Reang, Chakma, Jamatia, Halam, Noatia, etc. the literacy rate of all schedule tribes population in the state was 56.5 percent in 2001. Recently the tribal population were engaged in economic activities by forming SHGs in Tripura. The present paper will investigate into the working of Tribal SHGs. It will focus on how the economic lives of Tribal people have changed in due course of time through the functioning of SHGs. It shall also be within the frame of the study to recommend upon augmenting or curving the SHGs based upon their achievement towards development of economic condition of Tribal population in Tripura. Both primary and secondary data will be used for the present study. The present paper will be covered from one district of Tripura..

Introduction

Tripura is a tiny and hilly state in the North-East corner of India with an area of 10,491.65 sq.km of land. This state is located in between 22º56′ & 24º32′ North latitudes and 91º09′ & 92º20′ East longitudes. The state is bounded on the north by the Cachar distrct of Assam, on the west by Comilla and Noakhali district of Bangladesh, on the south by the district of Chittagong and on the east by the Mizo Hills of Mizoram covering about 182.4 kms in length from its north to south and 112 kms in breadth from its east to west. Of the total area of Tripura, about 60 per cent consists of hills, hillocks and hilly terrains of flat land stripped with turbulent serpentine and painted grey with barren tracts, lush green hue with wild growth. Only a small portion of the area, about 18 per cent, is under cultivation and the rest is either unavailable for cultivation or is under marginal use. There are 8 districts in the state at present.

The total population of Tripura as per 2001 census was 31, 99,203 which has increased to 36, 71,032 as per 2011 provisional census report. 9, 93,426 persons i.e. 31.1% of the total population of the state belonged to tribal population as per 2001 census. Diverse ethnic groups have been residing in the state. There are 19 (nineteen) notified Scheduled Tribes in the state. They are Tripuri, Reang, Chakma, Jamatia, Halam, Noatia, Mog, Garo, Munda, Kuki, Lushai, Lepcha, Chaimal, Khasia, Urang, Santal, Uchai, Bhil and Bhutia. A large number of them are still following the primitive practice of shifting cultivation. Due to increased population and degradation of forests due to repeated shifting cultivation, the jhum cycle has come down. This has adversely affected the productivity and consequently the economic condition of the tribal population. Their socio-economic rehabilitation is a major challenge before the State Government. But the introduction of rubber cultivation after 1975 on a large scale has improved their life style to a significant extent now.

Objective of the study

The present paper highlights the economic upliftment among the Tribal Population in Tripura through functioning of Self Help Groups. It shall also to recommend upon augmenting or curving the SHGs based upon their achievement towards development of economic condition of Tribal population in Tripura. Both primary and secondary data will be used for the present study.

Methodology

The present study has been undertaken on the basis both primary and secondary source. The primary data includes the sample survey conducting two SHGs under Khowai District, Tripura.

The Secondary data includes:

• Books, journals, newspapers, websites etc.

Emergence of the SHG Movement

While no definitive date has been determined for the actual conception and propagation of SHGs, the practice of small groups of rural and urban people banding together to form a savings and credit organization is well established in India. In the early stages, NGOs played a pivotal role in innovating the SHG model and in implementing the model to develop the process fully. In the 1980s, policy makers took notice and worked with development organizations and bankers to discuss the possibility of promoting these savings and credit groups. Their efforts and the simplicity of SHGs helped to spread the movement across the country. State governments established revolving loan funds which were used to fund SHGs.

By the 1990s, SHGs were viewed by state governments and NGOs to be more than just a financial intermediation but as a common interest group, working on other concerns as well. The agenda of SHGs included social and political issues as well.

The spread of SHGs led also to the formation of SHG Federations which are a more sophisticated form of organization that involve several SHGs forming into Village Organizations (VO) / Cluster Federations and then ultimately into higher level federations (called as Mandal Samakhya (MS) in AP or SHG Federation generally). SHG Federations are formal institutions while the SHGs are informal. Many of these SHG federations are registered as societies, mutual benefit trusts and mutually aided cooperative societies. SHG Federations resulted in several key benefits including:

• Stronger political and advocacy capabilities
• Sharing of knowledge and experiences
• Economies of scale
• Access to greater capital

SHG movement under SGSY in Tripura

The SGSY is one of the most important ongoing programme for the self employment of Rural poor. This programme was launched on 1st April 1999 after restructuring the erstwhile IRDP, TRYSEM, DWCRA, SITRA, GKY, MWS, etc schemes. The main objective of the SGSY is to bring the assisted BPL families above the poverty line by ensuring appreciable increase in income over a period of time through training and by providing them income generating assets through a mix of Bank credit and subsidy from government.

SHG is basically a group of minimum 10 artisans voluntarily organize themselves with common goal of poverty eradication among members. The goal is saving and meeting immediate needs of the members for income generation and for also personal health. Members make small regular savings contributions over a few months until there is enough capital in the group to begin lending. Funds may then be lent back to the members or to others in the village for any purpose. At present 33,000 (approximately) numbers of SHGs are there in Tripura and out of this 10,000 (approximately) were Schedule Tribes. In Tripura, many SHGs are ‘linked’ to banks for the delivery of microcredit . The SHGs members need to open a savings account with the bank and later this account are converted to C.C account. In order to get loan from the bank the SHGs have to collect every month as fixed by the SHG members and deposit the savings into their bank account. After completion of 6 months, the SHG members are eligible to get loan from the bank 3 or 4 times of their deposit, this is called 1 st Gradation. After 6 months of 1 st Gradation, the SHGs are eligible for 2st Gradation loan provided the SHGs repay their loan amount within the stipulated time. If the SHGs successfully completes another 6 months, the SHGs are eligible for 3 rd Gradation and the process continues till the SHGs becomes self reliance.

The SHGs are informal groups which have to undergo the following four stage of maturity:

1. Formation.
2. Stabilization.
3. Micro credit linkage.
4. Micro enterprise.

Majority of the SHGs under Khowai District are confined to traditional trades of activities, such as ARDD, Fisheries, Agricultural and plantation activities. Skill Development of the SHG members has to be slowly up graded for technological intervention in their activities. All interested SHG members are nominated for skill development training as conducted by Swabalamban Training Institute, SIPARD, RUDSET and other prominent NGO. DRDA Khowai is also providing adequate purposeful infrastructures facilities to the SHGs in a cluster approach at block level. The SHGs under Khowai District are enthusiastic in participating in Fair & Exhibition both at the State Level & National Level too. In this way they find better marketability of their products.

District wise/ Block wise Formation of SHG (Since inception) as on 31/1/12 are shown in Table:1

Source: DRDA Office, Khowai
Bank wise performance since inception up to 31-03-2012 are shown in Table:2

Source: DRDA Office, Khowai
The above table shows the bank wise performance since inception till 31 st of march, 2013. One can find that TGB are the leading bank in providing loan with the SHGs and also having the maximum number of SHGs among these 5 banks under Khowai district of Tripura.

Report of the survey in two SHGs

I have visited the two SHGs under Khowai district of Tripura, in order to see how the groups are working and also see the performance made by those groups.

Hamari Bodol

On 9 th of may, 2006 Women members elected to the village council in Tripura have taken a lead in paving the way for a large number of poor women to become self-reliant. This has been made possible by these enterprising women representatives by setting up SHGs, which generate allied productive vocations for the poor families. In Khowai District of Tripura, several SHGs are in operation provoking ample subsistence to the ‘have-not’ families. Women, who until the other day just housewives were doing domestic chores, are supplementing the family income through their own efforts. “Our SHG consists of 11 women and right from making incense sticks and packaging to marketing is being done, all by women. Another 200 women work under us and become self-employed and earn for their families by making incense sticks which are made out of raw natural materials available locally,” said Mithu Debbarma, a member of SHG, Khowai, Tripura. Although the SHGs exist only at the village level, the fact is that these women members of the village councils have played a stellar role in empowerment of women and also in poverty alleviation at the grass roots. Apart from creating varied vocations, the SHGs have also been active in other spheres such as education, drinking water and community health programme. The SHGs have also been instrumental in the construction of link roads in the villages including building culverts across streams and rivulets.

Bukhurwi Bodol

The educated unemployed youth gets frustrated when they fail in the hard competition of the job market. These 16 members of Bukhurwi Bodol coming from the rural BPL family, organised themselves to fight against poverty. They want to establish themselves socially as well as economically. The SHG movement of Tripura helps them to fight against poverty. They set an example of the well known proverb “God helps them those who help themselves”.

The Bukhurwi Bodol was registered under Teliamura Rural Development in 24 th august, 2004. They organised themselves and start group meeting with the guidance of the Block Development Officer. Initially they started savings Rs.30/- per member and opened SB Account at Tripura Grameen Bank, Teliamura Branch.

On 25/05/2005, 1 st Gradation test of this group was taken jointly by DRDA official, B.D.O and Bank Official. They score 159 out of 200 at the time of 1 st gradation. As per guideline, the bank official released the Revoling Fund of Rs.25000/- to the group immediately after completion of the gradation exercise. They opened their C.C. Account on 11/07/2007 and their fund was Rs.40000 (own contribution Rs.15000+Bank Share Rs.15000+DRDA Rs.10000). They have their own jute land measuring 15 kani and they purchased 1 more kani for production of rubber nursery from their available fund. And they gradually step forward to generate their income through this economic activity.

Seeing their good performance the 2 nd gradation test was conducted on 28/3/2006. The group successfully passed this test and formulates their project proposal with help of Fishery Department and Rubber Board of Tripura. The total project cost of their economic activity was Rs.2,53,000/-. Initially, the bank released 1 st instalment of the loan, amounting to Rs.1 lakh. With that money they excavate the fish tank and purchased fingerlings and started fish production applying scientific technique. They utilised their loan amount properly and their bank sanctioned the 2 nd instalment of Rs.1,53,000/-. Out of these they purchased rubber seedlings and constructed bandh around their fish tank.

Now they are in the position to sell their product in the local market. The demand of local fish is very high and the rate is reasonable for economic activity. At present the monthly income of the group by selling fish around Rs.10000 per month. Besides, monthly income from production of fingerlings comes around Rs.5000 per month. Meanwhile, they also started to refund their loan money out of their income. The income from rubber garden comes around Rs.3000/- per month.

Now, the group is stable and there is a hope of economic stability. The group is progressing and marching towards economic and social development.

Conclusion

From the study, it is concluded that SHGs members were benefited through SGSY scheme at certain level. The scheme was instrumental in generating a momentum towards formation of SHG and opportunity to take up leadership roles for some of the men/women specially the office bears in the SHGs. It has also helped very few men/women to start an independent enterprise since most of them continue to be individual worker rather than establishing entrepreneurship to become an individual entrepreneur due to liming factors. Therefore, there is still a long way to go for such men/women workers for uplifting economic of the tribal in the state. The economy of the tribal in tripura is not upto the mark as compare to other tribe in the North Eastern region. The government needs to extend support in order to develop more economy of the tribal of the state.

Recommendations

The role of tribal men/women is important but their socio-economic development is poor. The problems of tribal men/women and tribal are largely common. Suggestions and recommendations are made to uplift the economy and empower tribal as well as tribal men/women are:

• Education and Health – lack of education is the main constraints for not able to increase their incomes and at the same time members need also to maintain their health.
• Lack of improper training – all the SHGs members should be trained according to their objectives of forming SHGs in order to improve their skills.
• Lack of cooperation- there should not be any lack understanding among the members of the group and they have to work together in order to achieve their goals.
• Lack of Innovativeness – It depicted the degree to which a group member was relatively ready to adopt new ideas. The low score of non-performing group indicated that they were either not adopting new techniques or were not interested in acquiring new ideas.
• Government Support – at last Government support is much required in order to improve the economy of tribal. All SHGs members must seek government help for finance, training, etc.

References

Datta, S.K. & Raman, M. (2001). Can heterogeneity and social cohesion coexist in Self Help Groups: evidence from group lending in Andhra Pradesh in India? Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Guidelines – SGSY, (2007). Ministry of rural development, Government of India. New Delhi.

Kumaran, K.P. (2002). “Role of Self Help Groups in promoting micro enterprises through micro credit: An emperical study”. Journal of Rural Development.

National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) (2006): “National study on SGSY: A process study”, Hyderabad.

National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) (1989), “Studies on Self-Help Groups of the Rural Poor”, BOMBAY.

Office of the Project Director, DRDA, Khowai District (2012)