Purana Sahi Mahila Self Help Group

This paper discusses the formation and activities of Purana Sahi Mahila a self help group (SHG) that succeeded in poverty alleviation. The paper states that Purana Sahi Mahila SHG was founded in Dublabeda village in the state of Orissa, India. The characteristics of the village were:

• It was one of the most backward areas of the state;
• It was tribal dominated;
• Livelihood was based on agriculture and wage labor;
• There was no provision of credit, except through village money lenders.

The SHG was formed under the guidance of the Gramin Vikas Trust. The main features of the SHG were:

• It had 15, female, married members, of whom 5 were literate;
• It had regular monthly meetings;
• It linked itself to Baitarani Gramya Bank.

The paper details how the SHG crested alternate livelihood options by:

• Diversifying from traditional agriculture and adopting modern agricultural methods;
• Starting golden grass trading, processing and cultivation;
• Taking up piggery, goatery and livestock enterprises;
• Replacing local varieties of paddy with high yielding varieties;
• Purchasing a diesel pump and constructing dug wells to solve the problem of irrigation in agriculture;
• Entering into the business of harvesting and selling sabai's grass;
• Making ropes out of this grass and selling them.

The paper concludes by discussing the equipment granted by Gramin Vikas Trust to the SHG, which helped develop an alternative source of income.