Agartala, Nov 04: When women empowerment is the goal, the role of Self Help Groups (SHGs) is significant. The SHG movement is silently changing the lives of rural women, giving them access to financial activities and making them Swanirbhar.

As the Tripura government is evidently working in a determined move to empower the women socially and economically for an overall growth of the state, the activities of Self Help groups have been intensified and Tripura Rural Livelihood Mission (TRLM) under the Rural Development has been setting an example in empowering the rural women.

There are many instances that the women became self-reliant by involving themselves with the TRLM-run SHGs and are now supporting their families and inspiring others towards achieving the goal of self-reliance.
 
According to an official report, TRLM has mobilized around 63,808 rural women into 7,696 Self Help Groups for social and economic empowerment during FY 2022-23.
 
“To augment the livelihood activities of the women SHG members, Rs 120.18 crore bank loans have already been provided during 2022-23. This fund is utilized by women SHG members for livelihood, education of children etc.,” special secretary of Rural Development department Sandeep R Rathod recently said in a press conference.

During FY 2022-23, the women SHGs have been federated into 236 Village Organizations (VOs) and 16 Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) which facilitated augmentation of livelihood. Besides, promotion of more 36 CLFs are under process, he said.
 
“In the current financial year, around 4214 SHGs have been provided Revolving Fund of Rs 4.59 crore and 2,536 SHGs have been provided Community Investment Fund (CIF) of Rs 31.92 crore. To address different emergency needs of women SHG members, 59 VOs have been provided by the Vulnerable Reduction Fund (VRF) of Rs 80.10 lakh,” the special secretary told reporters.
 
Some other important initiatives of TRLM included promotion of I78 women Producer Groups (PGs) for providing a platform to marginal producers which would enable them to access collective inputs and market.
 
Besides, for better marketing of SHG products, an e-commerce platform namely Vill-Mart has been developed. The SHG products are also being promoted through Amazon and Facebook for larger reach.
 
The special secretary also spoke on the other major achievements and initiatives of TRLM in empowering the rural women through SHGs.
 
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TRLM Smitha Mal was also present in the press conference.