BINAYAK ACHARYA (DEGREE) COLLEGE

Berhampur (Ganjam) Odisha

Project report submitted to
Binayak acharya (degree) college, Berhampur in the partial
fulfillment of the requirement of three years course in political
science (Hons).
Topic
Women cooperative society in socio-economic arena.
Submitted by
Prabhakar sahu
+3 3rd year Arts.
Exam roll no: - BA2100948
College roll no: - BA 20-208.
Registration no: -01600/2020.
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
Dr. ANITA PATI
Asst.Prof. Political Science
 Acknowledgement

I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Anita Pati department of

political science who has been kind enough to extend her help and guidance in
making of this project. It is due to her constant encouragement that in this project
has evolved in its present form.

I am equally thankful to all the teachers of the department of political science for
their valuable suggestions. I would also like to express my gratitude to my parents
for providing all sorts of help and assistance.

DATE: -
PLACE: -

Prabhakar sahu
Roll no: - BA2100948
+3 final year Arts,6th semester
(Department of Political Science)
BINAYAK ACHARYA COLLEGE, BERHAMPUR
 DECLERATION

I do hereby declare that the project work entitled “Women cooperative

society in socio economic arena “has been submitted to the department of
political science BINAYAK ACHARYA DEGREE COLLEGE BERHAMPUR
partial fulfilment of the requirement of three-year degree course on Arts (Political
Science HONS). This project work is my own and has been submitted at this
institution and has not been submitted anywhere else in any other form earlier.

DATE: -
PLACE:-

Prabhakar sahu
Roll no: - BA2100948
+3 final year Arts,6th semester
(Department of Political Science)
BINAYAK ACHARYA COLLEGE, BERHAMPUR
 Certificate

This is to certify that the project work entitled “women cooperative society in
socio economic arena” is done satisfactorily by PRABHAKAR SAHU of
BINAYAK ACHARYA DEGREE COLLEGE in partial fulfilment of the
requirement for B.A Political science (HONS) three-year degree. This project has
been a study of his own work under my guidance and supervision.

(Dr. Anita Pati) supervisor

Sl no Topic Page no
Chapter 1 Introduction 1-5
Cooperative
Women cooperative society
Self-help group
Statement of the problem
Objectives
Chapter 2 Role of self-Groups 6-10
Functions of self-help groups
Need for SHGs
Benefits of SHGs
Opportunities
Chapter 3 Role of women in Odisha’s 11-14
economy
Economic contribution
Social Contribution
Challenges to set SHG
Measures to Make SHGs Effective
Chapter 4 Mission shakti in Odisha, its role 15-19
and objectives
Objectives of Mission Shakti
Sambal Sub-scheme
Samarthya Sub-scheme
Samarthya Sub-scheme
Components
Chapter 5 Initiatives taken by Odisha 20-26
government
Mamata Yojna
MISSION SHAKTI
NEW INITIATIVES OF GANJAM
 Abstract
In developing countries, among the poor, rural women are the poorest and more
vulnerable. Cooperatives used as breeding grounds for socio economic
empowerment of women. A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons
who voluntarily cooperate for their mutual, social, economic and cultural benefit
through a mutually owned and democratically run enterprise. Cooperatives also
include self-help groups. A self-help group is a financial intermediary committee
usually composed of 10 to 25 local women between the ages of 18 and 40. Most
self-help groups are in India, though they can be found in other countries,
especially in South Asia and Southeast Asia. In Odisha the Women milk
producers’ cooperatives at the village level are operating with the aim of
empowering rural women. The most important reason for joining cooperative
society by these women as observed in various studies are employment at own
house, flexibility in timing, increase in family income, improvement in social
status, better education for children and market access and economic
independence. Women in unorganized sector in India are deprived ones for which
they are unable to achieve their full potential and so they are marginalized.
Throughout the history and in many societies, inequalities of women and men
were part and parcel of an accepted male-dominated culture. One of the basic
factors causing unequal share of women in development relates to the division of
labor between the sexes. This study, thus, deal with the role of cooperatives in
promoting socio-economic empowerment of women in India, particularly in
Ganjam district of Odisha. The paper is organized in five sections for composing
the review of literature in second section; the third section that deals with research
methodology used and the fourth section stated about the analysis and discussion
of the result and the fifth section is the outline and conclusion of the results. This
paper also provides some implemantary solutions which could be taken up by the
government to solve the rising problems of women in Indian society and also
boost their role in country’s economy. A large number of women around the world
are unemployed. The world economy suffers a lot because of the unequal
opportunity for women at workplaces. Women are equally competent. Nowadays,
women are even ahead of men in many socioeconomic activities. Women
Empowerment leads to decrease in domestic violence. Uneducated women are at
higher risk for domestic violence than an educated woman.
 Chapter-1 Introduction

According to UN report, Women in comparison to men bear at least two and a

half times more household and care work. The gender gap in the labor force has
become more evident than ever in India. Especially women belonging to
marginalized communities like the Dalit, tribal & Muslim communities face
various manifestations of patriarchy. The rising rate of atrocities against women
of these communities have resulted in having lesser access to education and to
government schemes, skills, credit and other factors required for creating
business woman. They are typically employed in low earning jobs requiring the

longer hours of work and remain devoid of any form of social protection. The
cooperative movement is of great significance in India and finds mention even in
the Indian Constitution. It has touched various walks of life from agriculture,
fertilizer, banking, dairy, sugar, housing to modern day sector such as information

technology.

Women cooperatives have a long history in the country. They have a direct and
indirect impact on the employment of women. Their economic success and role
in the empowerment of women have been the subject of various studies
conducted over time. However, an enquiry into the role of cooperatives in to
empowering women belonging to the marginalized communities such as Dalit,
tribal, denotified tribes, and Muslim pose a research gap. The proposed research
will investigate the women cooperatives in Odisha. The aim of the project is to
assess the role of cooperatives in empowerment of women socially , culturally,
economically (control over own income) & politically ( voting, participation in
local governance, political representation) in India. Whereas the specific aim of
the project is to assess the change in the lives of women belonging to the

1
marginalized communities through participation in the cooperative movement.
The purpose of this study is to provide a general understanding about the role of
women in country’s economy. It will also provide ample amount of information
regarding the various self-help Groups or as one may say cooperatives. There are
numerous organization all over the country which are diligently working to
empower the women of this country and bringing smile on their faces some of
the organizations are SEWA (self-employed women association), Odisha State
Cooperative Union (OSCU), Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation
(MARKFED) etc.

Cooperative: -

• A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to

meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through
a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.

• Cooperatives bring people together in a democratic and equal way. Whether the
members are the customers, employees, users or residents, cooperatives are
democratically managed by the ‘one member, one vote' rule. Members share
equal voting rights regardless of the amount of capital they put into the enterprise.

Women cooperative society: -

Cooperatives are non-profit community organizations and businesses that are

owned and managed mostly by the rural women who use their services (consumer
cooperatives) or by the people who work there (worker cooperatives) and take on
a variety of forms, ranging from officially registered cooperatives to loosely
organized groups of neighbors, family, and kin networks. Cooperatives are based
on values like self-help, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. These values,
among other aspects of cooperatives, are particularly useful in empowering
women through membership.

2
Self-help Group: -

• A self-help group is a financial intermediary committee usually composed of 10

to 25 local women between the ages of 18 and 40. Most self-help groups are in
India, though they can be found in other countries, especially in South Asia and
Southeast Asia.

• Self-help Groups (SHGs) are informal associations of people who come

together to find ways to improve their living conditions. They are generally self-
governed and peer-controlled.

• People of similar economic and social backgrounds associate generally with the
help of any NGO or government agency and try to resolve their issues, and
improve their living conditions.

• Villages face numerous problems related to poverty, illiteracy, lack of skills,

lack of formal credit etc. These problems cannot be tackled at an individual level
and need collective efforts.

• Thus, SHG can become a vehicle of change for the poor and marginalized. SHG
rely on the notion of “Self Help” to encourage self-employment and poverty
alleviation.

Statement of the problem: -

After getting to know what is a cooperative and a self-help group is, let us discuss
about the various problems which the women face in order to achieve economic
stability. This paper analyzes the problem of place of women in Indian society.
Therefore, the origin of cooperatives and self-help groups can be traced back to

the establishment of SEWA in 1972. Even before there have been small efforts at

self-organizing i.e 1954 the textile labor association of Odisha which formed its

women wing in order to train the women belonging to families of mill workers in

3
skills such as sewing, knitting etc. here I would like to quote the first prime
minister of India:-

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”-

: Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru

The international labor organization says that women: -

• represent 50% of the population

• 8.30% of the labor force perform

• 60% of all working hours

• receive 10% in the world income

• own less than one person of worlds property.

Women work mainly for economic independence, economic necessity as some

women are qualified enough to work for a sence of achievement and to provide
service to the society. Most Indian women, by and large undertake productive

work only under economic compulsion. This is the reason for high female
participation rate in economically under privileged communities. Usually,
upperclass women are limited to home. The work participation rate is found to be

higher among rural women than the urban woman.

• Gender discrimination in India is the main reason that affected the socio-
economic development of women. It is known that women in rural areas are not
having proper facilities and education for their development. Most of the rural
women have less access to health care. Women in villages are mostly house wives
and work in farm field for their livelihood.

• It is observed from the studies that most of the women earnings from working
in agricultural fields, tailoring, selling vegetables, fruits and working in Sulabh

4
international as sweepers. Some of the women are working in educational
institutions as sweepers.

• Hence,it is understood that most of the women are not educated and it is
necessary to address socio-economic development of women in the village.

• Women and girls together carry two-third of the burden of the world’s work yet
receive only a tenth of the world’s income. They form 40%(percent) of the paid
labour force. They are paid half of three-quarters of the money while their male
counterparts earn for the same job. The Women in India earn 25% less than men,
proving that gender continues to be a significant parameter in determining salaries
in India, according to the Monster Salary Index (MSI) on gender for 2016.

• While men earned a median gross hourly salary of Rs. 345.8, women earned Rs.
259.8 in 2016 Educational Deprivation: In India the literacy rate of women is
much lower than men because boys receive more schooling than girls. T.P. Sechan
says that there are parts of India where the literacy rate of women today is as low
as 3 percent.

Objectives: -

• To study all about women empowerment through cooperatives and selfhelp

groups.

• To basically focus on working of women in cooperatives especially in

Ganjam district of Odisha.

• To provide information about the various government policies for man India
being a country of high cultural values has always celebrated the place of women
in every field of the society be it social, cultural, political, economical etc. Our
main focus in this work is upon the condition of in Indian society and their
economic upliftment.

5
 Chapter-2 Role of self-Groups
Rachel MacHenry argues that cooperatives have several common features that
are particularly beneficial to women, including "ensuring a fair return on work,
support for members, safe working conditions, availability of pooled or
purchased raw materials, and access to viable markets.

• " Furthermore, she says that they served as a crucial link between Western
markets and local kin-based structures in developing countries.”

• Women of oppressed communities of india often bonded over common

experiences and similar motivations for participation in the cooperatives.
Women's cooperatives are often built on ideas of sisterhood, equality, and strength
from unity.

• Consequently, many have rejected hierarchical organizational structures in favor

of more democratic participation where every member's input counts equally.

• Equal participation relies on individuals verbally articulating their opinions to

the group; this in itself can be unequal since more experienced and articulate
members can dominate discussions.

• Unlike in profit-oriented organizations, outcomes can be measured in terms of

politics and policy, cultural outcomes, mobilization, and self-development. The
cooperatives have covered various sectors such as agricultural, care work sector,
craft and artesian sector and financial sectors.

• There have been various cooperatives in India which have dealt in the field of
providing economic stability especially to women.

Functions of self-help groups: -

• It looks to build the functional capacity of the poor and the marginalized in the
field of employment and income generating activities.

6
• It resolves conflicts through collective leadership and mutual discussion.

• It provides collateral free loan with terms decided by the group at the market
driven rates.

• Such groups work as a collective guarantee system for members who propose
to borrow from organised sources. The poor collect their savings and save it in
banks. In return they receive easy access to loans with a small rate of interest to
start their micro unit enterprise.

• Consequently, Self-Help Groups have emerged as the most effective

mechanism for delivery of microfinance services to the poor.

Need for SHGs: -

• One of the reasons for rural poverty in our country is low access to credit and
financial services.

• A Committee constituted under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan to

prepare a comprehensive report on 'Financial Inclusion in the Country'
identified four major reasons for lack of financial inclusion: Inability to
provide collateral security, Poor credit absorption capacity, Inadequate
reach of the institutions, and Weak community network.
• The existence of sound community networks in villages is increasingly
being recognised as one of the most important elements of credit linkage
in the rural areas.
• They help in accessing credit to the poor and thus, play a critical role in
poverty alleviation.
• They also help to build social capital among the poor, especially women.
This empowers women and gives them greater voice in the society.
• Financial independence through self-employment has many externalities
such as improved literacy levels, better health care and even better family
planning.
7
Benefits of SHGs: -

Social integrity – SHGs encourages collective efforts for combating practices

like dowry, alcoholism etc.

• Gender Equity – SHGs empowers women and inculcates leadership skill

among them. Empowered women participate more actively in gram sabha
and elections.

There is evidence in this country as well as elsewhere that formation of Self-Help

Groups has a multiplier effect in improving women’s status in society as well as
in the family leading to improvement in their socio-economic condition and also
enhances their self-esteem.

• Pressure Groups – their participation in governance process enables them

to highlight issues such as dowry, alcoholism, the menace of open
defecation, primary health care etc and impact policy decision.
• Voice to marginalized section – Most of the beneficiaries of government
schemes have been from weaker and marginalized communities and hence
their participation through SHGs ensures social justice.
• Financial Inclusion – Priority Sector Lending norms and assurance of
returns incentivize banks to lend to SHGs. The SHG-Bank linkage
programme pioneered by NABARD has made access to credit easier and
reduced the dependence on traditional money lenders and other non-
institutional sources.

Improving efficiency of government schemes and reducing corruption through

social audits.

• Alternate source of employment – it eases dependency on agriculture by

providing support in setting up micro-enterprises e.g. personalised
business ventures like tailoring, grocery, and tool repair shops.

8
 • Changes In Consumption Pattern – It has enabled the participating
households to spend more on education, food and health than non-client
households.
• Impact on Housing & Health – The financial inclusion attained through
SHGs has led to reduced child mortality, improved maternal health and the
ability of the poor to combat disease through better nutrition, housing and
health – especially among women and children.
• Banking literacy – It encourages and motivates its members to save and
act as a conduit for formal banking services to reach them.

Opportunities: -

SHGs often appear to be instrumental in rural poverty alleviation.

• Economic empowerment through SHGs, provides women the confidence

for participation in decision making affairs at the household-level as well
as at the community-level.
• Un-utilised and underutilised resources of the community can be mobilised
effectively under different SHG-initiatives.
• Leaders and members of successful SHGs bear the potentiality to act as
resource persons for different community developmental initiatives.

Active involvement in different SHG-initiatives helps members to grow

leadership-skills. Evidences also show that often women SHG leaders are chosen
as potential candidates for Panchayat Pradhan’s or representatives to Panchayati
Raj Institution (PRI). Women’s Economic Participation in Cooperative Societies
Economic empowerment increases women’s access to economic resources and
opportunities. If women’s access to productive resources were the same as men’s,
women’s contribution could reduce the total number of hungry people by 12 to
17 percent in support of Millennium Development Goal 1 of eradicating extreme
poverty and hunger (FAO, 2011). Global statistics show that women's

9
participation in most types of institution is low. Participation in rural cooperatives
is no exception. In the developing world, there are many social pressures that
make difficult for women to play an active role in leadership and improve their
living standards (FAO, 2007). Even though cooperatives are open for both men
and women, participation of women in terms of membership and leadership
position is still minimal. Thus, there is still much to be done to strengthen
women’s participation in cooperatives. As a matter of fact numerous women‐
based cooperatives demonstrate that women are capable of developing their own
businesses and improve their technical knowledge and organizational self‐help
capacities (McKay, 2001). Cooperatives provide plenty of opportunities to their
members to involve in different income generating activities such as petty trade,
the establishment of irrigation schemes, agricultural production and process, etc
(Young, 1992). The recent scenarios show that women are not born for
reproductive work only, but they are also active entrepreneurs recording a rapid
growth in their business. In Africa, women are known to produce up to 80% of
the food. However, they receive very limited inputs like only 7% of agricultural
extension services, less than 10% of the credit offered to small-scale farmers, and
own only 1% of the land (FAO, 2011). In this context, women are often found
concentrated. in subsistence agriculture and unpaid farm work. The cooperative
and self-help model can change this by enabling women and men farmers, or
women only, to come together for purposes of acquiring inputs, production
services, and marketing of their produce, etc .

10
 Chapter-3

Role of women in Odisha’s economy

Women participation in household economy means all those activities of the
household women which generate income or cause saving. The rural women’s
economic participation in Odisha are mostly dominated in the agricultural sector
though they are also involved in some of the other sectors. A woman is the
companion of a man in all sorts of development including her contribution in the
economic activities of household economy. The women in its various roles as
mother, wife, daughter, grandmother, and daughter-in-law help in household
affairs to boost the economy. So, the household has been taken as the basic unit
of analysis for studying women economic contribution. Women all over Odisha
are mainly involved in incense stick making, saree weaving, farming and
producing dairy products such as milk, curd, paneer etc. some of the economic
aspects are highlighted below: -

Economic contribution:

Women’s economic activities contribute directly to growth and efficiency in

dealing with informal business problems and poverty reduction is one of the main

issues for policy makers.

i) Capital formation:

Entrepreneurs mobilize the idle savings of the public through the issue of
industrial securities. Investment of public savings in industry results in the
productive utilization of national resources. The rate of capital formation
increases, which is essential for rapid economic growth.

11
ii) Improvement in Per capita Income:

Women entrepreneurs in India have also been exploiting the opportunities the
opportunities. They convert the latent and idle resources like land, labour and
capital in to national income and wealth in the form of goods and services. They
help increase the country’s net national product and per capita which are
important yardsticks for measuring the economic growth.

iii) Generation of employment:

Women entrepreneur in India are playing an important role in generating

employment both directly and indirectly. By setting up small scale industries, they
offer jobs to people.

Social Contribution:

Women entrepreneurs are also contributing towards improving the balanced

regional development and improvement of living standards in the country.

i)Balanced Regional Development:

Women entrepreneurs in India to remove regional disparities in economic

development. They set up industries in backward areas to avail of the resources
concessions and subsidies offered by government.

ii) Improvement in living standards:

With the setting up of small scale industries, reduction of scarcity of essential

commodities and introducing new products can be achieved. Women
entrepreneurs in this country are producing variety of goods on a large scale and
offering them at low rates, as a result, achieving improvement in the standard of
life.

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iii) Innovation:

Innovation is the key to entrepreneurship. It implies the commercial application

of an invention. As an innovator, the entrepreneur assumes the role of a pioneer
and an industrial leader. Entrepreneurs have contributed many innovations in the
developing new products and in the existing products and services. All these have
resulted in economic development by way of generating employment, more
income etc.

Challenges to set SHG: -

• Lack of knowledge and proper orientation among SHG-members to take

up suitable and profitable livelihood options.
• Patriarchal mindset – primitive thinking and social obligations
discourages women from participating in SHGs thus limiting their
economic avenues.
• Lack of rural banking facilities – There are about 1.2 lakh bank branches
and over 6 lakh villages. Moreover, many public sector banks and micro-
finance institutions are unwilling to provide financial services to the poor
as the cost of servicing remains high.
• Sustainability and the quality of operations of the SHGs have been a matter
of considerable debate.
• No Security – The SHGs work on mutual trust and confidence of the
members. The deposits of the SHGs are not secured or safe .
• Only a minority of the Self-Help Groups are able to raise themselves from
a level of micro-finance to that of micro-entrepreneurship.

Measures to Make SHGs Effective :-

• The Government should play the role of a facilitator and promoter, create
a supportive environment for the growth and development of the SHG
movement.
13
• Expanding SHG Movement to Credit Deficient Areas of the Country
- such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, States of the North-East.
• Rapid expansion of financial infrastructure (including that of NABARD)
and by adopting extensive IT enabled communication and capacity
building measures in these States.
• Extension of Self-Help Groups to Urban/Peri-Urban Areas – efforts
should be made to increase income generation abilities of the urban poor
as there has been a rapid rise in urbanisation and many people remain
financially excluded.
• Positive Attitude – Government functionaries should treat the poor and
marginalized as viable and responsible customers and as possible
entrepreneurs.
• Monitoring – Need to establish a separate SHG monitoring cell in every
state. The cell should have direct links with district and block level
monitoring system. The cell should collect both quantitative and
qualitative information.

14
 Chapter-4

Mission shakti in Odisha, its role and

objectives:
Recently the government of Odisha has launched 'Mission Shakti’ the 15th
Finance Commission period 2021-22 to 2025-26. Mission Shakti is an integrated
women empowerment programme is launched as an umbrella scheme for the
safety, security and empowerment of women for implementation. It consists of
schemes of One Stop Centre (OSC), Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti
Padhao (BBBP), with a new component of Nari Adalats - women's collectives to
promote and facilitate alternative dispute resolution and gender justice in society
and within families. It consists of erstwhile schemes of Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh
and Working Women Hostel have been included with modifications. In addition,
the existing schemes of National Creche Scheme for children of working mothers
and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under umbrella Integrated
Child Development Services ICDS have now been included in Samarthya. Across
India, organizing women into self-help groups has been one of the more popular
methods used for empowering women and lifting them out of poverty. This is
particularly true in the coastal state of Odisha, where the government’s Mission
Shakti program has helped six million women in more than 600,000 self-help
groups since 2001. TCI scholar Anshuman Gupta spent the summer of 2019
studying the implementation of a program to promote community aquaculture by
self-help groups. Odisha’s community aquaculture initiative takes advantage of
an estimated 60,000 community tanks in the state, 80% of which remain in
disrepair or are not utilized. While the primary aim of the initiative is to increase
rural incomes through the production of fish, like rohu of the carp family, the
aquaculture program also aims to improve household nutrition by improving
15
access to nutritious small fish like Mola. The program is implemented through a
partnership between Mission Shakti, the Department of Fisheries and Animal
Resources Development, and the Department of Panchayati Raj and Drinking
Water. WorldFish, an international research organization, provides technical
support through training and capacity building. As a participant in TCI’s Summer
Internship Program, Gupta received guidance from WorldFish to better
understand the implementation of the aquaculture program and identify key
factors that, if addressed, could lead to better outcomes for the project. Through
interviews with staff from WorldFish and government agencies, Gupta created an
“outcomes pathway map” for the project, which demonstrates how inputs like
community tanks, tools, and support staff are used to engineer outputs, such as
increased fish production, higher incomes, and improved nutrition. The map also
presents a set of key indicators for each input and activity, that if monitored, will
ensure proper implementation of the program. He also met with women from self-
help groups participating in the aquaculture program to assess their needs. To
identify specific factors that could affect the program’s effectiveness, a mix of
groups were chosen from areas with different levels of development, having
exhibited high and low levels of productivity in their community tanks. The
women who were interviewed identified proper training as their primary need.
None of the self-help groups had prior experience with aquaculture, so they
lacked basic knowledge such as best feeding practices. This was exacerbated by
administrative delays in their initial training. The women also said that they
needed access to credit to be able to buy inputs and suggested that the poor initial
quality of the community ponds meant that they had to spend a disproportionate
amount of funds on cleaning. This led to diminished productivity; yet, the women
reported being optimistic that they will have more success in the coming years.

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Objectives of Mission Shakti: -

• Provide immediate and comprehensive continuum of care, support and

assistance to women affected by violence and for those in distress.

• To put in place quality mechanisms for rescue, protection and rehabilitation of

women in need of assistance and victims of crime and violence.

• To improve accessibility to various government services available for women

at various levels.

• Making people aware about Government schemes and programmes as well as

legal provisions to fight social evils like dowry, domestic violence, Sexual
Harassment at Workplace and to promote gender equality etc.

• Collaboration with partner Ministries/ Departments/ States/ UTs for

convergence of policies, programmes/ schemes and to create an enabling
environment for public private partnership for safety and empowerment of
women across sectors.

• To prevent gender-biased sex selective elimination; to ensure survival,

protection, education and development of the girl child.

• It also seeks to reduce the care burden on women and increase female labour
force participation by promoting skill development, capacity building, financial
literacy, access to microcredit etc.

• The scheme seeks to make women economically empowered, exercising free

choice over their minds and bodies in an atmosphere free from violence and
threat.

• It also seeks to increase labour force participation by promoting skill

development, capacity building, financial literacy, access to microcredit. Mission
Shakti has two sub-schemes namely, Sambal and Samarthya.

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Sambal Sub-scheme

The ‘Sambal’ sub-scheme is for the safety and security of women. Sambal Sub-
scheme Components:

The components of the Sambal sub-scheme consist of erstwhile schemes – One

Stop Centre Scheme (OSC) –

• The OSC Scheme has been implemented since 1st April 2015 to provide
integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence and in distress,
both in private and public spaces under one roof.

• Currently, OSCs are being set up in every district of the country.

• The OSC shall be the mainstay of the Ministry at the district level for
coordination and convergence with other initiatives under the Nirbhaya Fund
such as Women Help Lines, Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs), Women
Help Desks (WHD), Special Fast Track Courts (SFTCs), etc.

• Know more about the One Stop Centre Scheme in the linked article.

• Women Help Line (WHL) – The Women Helpline provides toll-free 24- hours
telecom service to women seeking support and information by connecting them
with the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) for all emergency services
like police/fire/Ambulance services and with One Stop Centres.

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP)

• A new component of Nari Adalats/women collectives has been added to promote

and facilitate alternate dispute resolution and gender justice in society and within
families.

Samarthya Sub-scheme

The ‘Samarthya’ sub-scheme is for the empowerment of women.

18
Samarthya Sub-scheme Components:

• The components of the ‘Samarthya’ sub-scheme consist of erstwhile schemes of

Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh and Working Women Hostels.

.For administrative purposes, Swadhar Greh and Ujjwala Scheme have been
merged and will be known as ‘Shakti Sadan’- Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation
Home.

• The existing schemes of the National Creche Scheme for children of working
mothers and Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under the
umbrella ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) have also been included
in the Samarthya sub-scheme.

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 Chapter 5:-

Initiatives taken by Odisha government.

Mamata Yojna:

This initiative has been adopted to alleviate the issue of maternal and infant
undernutrition, Government of Odisha has launched a state specific scheme for
pregnant women and lactating mothers called MAMATA- a conditional cash
transfer maternity benefit scheme. This scheme provides monetary support to the
pregnant and lactating women to enable them to seek improved nutrition and
promote health seeking behaviour Transition from Old to New guideline for
MAMATA Yojona (Now Rs.5000/- is given in 2 Instalments) where first
instalment (Rs.3000/-) is given after completion of 6 months of pregnancy & 2nd
instalment (Rs.2000/-) is given when the baby after birth completes 10 months.
MISSION SHAKTI:-

Total WSHGs in Ganjam District – 41211 involving 4,34,488 members under

Mission Shakti.

Total WSHGs (old & new) received Seed Money @ Rs.15000/- per SHG – 25,918
SHGs benefitted

NEW INITIATIVES OF GANJAM

MO GELHA JHIA INITIATIVE: -

MO GELHA JHIA is a new initiative launched by the district administration to

improve child sex ratio at birth in Ganjam District. (Launched as a sub-scheme
of Biju Kanya Ratna Yojona only in GANJAM DISTRICT)

Inaugurated on 14.01.2019 at Chatrapur, the activities like fixed District &

project level observations involving all line departments, home visits by Collector

20
& eminent people’s representatives have sensitised communities to consider new
born girls as “ KANYA RATNA’S”.

• Key activities: District & Block Level gatherings , Home Visits to new
bornes , Cake cuttings, Distribution of appreciation letter, sweets, baby
care kit, distribution of fruit bearing plants etc.
• Felicitation of 500 new born girls during district level observations. o
Felicitation of 2400 new born girls in all G.P Level Observations.
• It is estimated that during both project & district level events, more that
14000 community members from all walks of life had gathered & got
sensitized.
• All social media forums & media houses have captured the activities
under Mo Gelha Jhai. This has helped in wide publicity.
• Improvement in sex ratio at Birth : It is praise worthy to note that the
Child SEX Ratio which was 854 in 2017 has improved to 937 per thousand
males in 2019.

SWAYAMSIDHHA :-

It’s a mobilizing self interested Women Self Help Groups of Ganjam District
functioning under the umbrella of Mission Shakti & OLM.( About 60,000 +
WSHGs in Ganjam )

• Make them self reliant to tackle natural or man-made disasters & help
them to take quick decisions, which will lead to zero casualty and
minimize loss of property.
• Acceptability of WSHG members staying close/cohesively with the
community will enable them to reach community members in distress.
• Under this new initiative the new pregnant mothers are welcomed
during occasions of VHNDs in AWCs of Ganjam District.

21
• This creates a friendly environment in-between the AWW & the
community members & in process of Communication & service
delivery.
• MCP( Mother & Child protection card is given to all such mothers.
• Further it will help district administration to implement desired plan
of action & deliver resources.

NIRBHAYA KADHI:-

• It’s a new initiative & campaign to prevent child marriage’s in

Ganjam District.
• Committees are formed at Village , Gram Panchayat , Block &
District Level to track the status of Adolescents & sensitize
community members.
• Each of the committees have different roles to play to avoid child
marriages. ( Top to Bottom & Bottom to Top Approach)
• Issue of Age certificate , compulsory verification of Adhar Card &
HIV testing before marriage for both bride and groom (couples before
marriage) are also taken up under this initiative.
• Listing of Adolescents (11 to 18 years) & sharing of list amongst line
Department staff ( CDPOs) -list attached Monthly “Nirbhaya Kadhi”
Meeting on 3rd Saturday (Every Month at AWC) (AWW – Member
Convener)
• Monthly G.P Level meeting to track status of Adolescents within the
G.Ps (P.E.O – Chairman)
• Bi-monthly Block level meeting to sort out problems of adolescents
within the block ( BDO-Chairman)
• Quarterly District Level Review Meeting on status of Child marriage
prevention in various pockets of Ganjam District ( District Collector –
Chairman)
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 • Raise issues of Child marriage in the monthly meetings of WSHGs
under the banner of Mission Shakti & OLM ( 60000+ meetings)
• Distribution of 5141 Nirbhaya Kadhi Booklets to all AWWs of
Ganjam District.
• Distribution of 500 Nirbhaya Kadhi Booklets to DPC-SSA Office
,Chatrapur.
• Involvement of all Govt. line departments ( Health , Police , PRI ,
School) for Nirbhaya Kadhi.
• Right from the AWC/ASHA level the occurrence of Child Marriages
to be bought to the notice of District Administration ( 5141 meetings
every month)
• At the ICDS sector level issues of Child marriages to be discussed by
AWWs with Lady Supervisors ( 210 sector in Ganjam District).
• Counseling to avoid early Child Marriage, getting back to school/
college, HIV testing for healthy married life by senior citizen/Opinion
leaders from the community

Godh Bharai :

• Under this new initiative the new pregnant mothers are welcomed
during occasions of VHNDs in AWCs of Ganjam District.
• This creates a friendly environment in-between the AWW & the
community members & in process of Communication & service
delivery.
• MCP( Mother & Child protection card is given to all such mothers
Suryamukhi :
• Team of AWWs were formed. Those AWWs were oriented on;

i. Taking exact weighment & MUAC measurement.

ii. Plotting & in Growth register & Community Growth Chart

23
iii. Referral & Counseling of children who are SAM,

Severely Underweight & Moderately Underweight.

GAON KRUSHI SEVA KENDRA’S :-

Initially one such Kendra’s will be opened in each Sub-Division & later on Such
kendras will be opened in all G.P level points; where farmers residing within a
radius of 4-5 Kms would get benefitted” Each unit will comprise of farm
machinery that are commonly used for tillage operations for all crops, multi crop
equipment and a minimum of crop specific machinery. ( Farmers access point)

• GKSK will sell small equipment’s, fertilizer, pesticides and seeds. (Selling
point)
• GKSK will provide services to farmers related to farm sector. ( Improve
technical Know-how of farmers & scope for incremental income)
Polythene Free Campaign in all villages & Urban areas of Ganjam District
by AWC Children & WSHG members.

Abanti Tarai and Shantilal Tarai of Jagatsinghpur Ma Taara Tarini SHG

group are happy. Every morning after packing off their kids to school, they get
to their business of raising fish in the panchayat tanks, leased out to them for five
years. The earning from this business is a profitable one—Rs 15,000 for each
woman for a fish season of three months. But more than that, it is helping them
earn a living to support themselves and their children’s higher studies without
having to depend on their husbands. Abanti’s kids now go to a tutor and Shantilal
has diversified the extra bucks she earned from fishing into an eatery-cum-
canteen to supply food in the locality. With technical support and subsidies,
fishing, under the Mission Shakti women empowerment programme in Odisha,
is streaming in incredible dividends. As against a government subsidy of Rs
70,000, the women with their hard toil and business acumen have earned Rs
2,25,000 a year and the windfall in profit has made these women adventurous.

24
Many are in the dried fish business, whereas some have ventured out to opening
a tailoring shop or a canteen. Such stories of sunshine keep popping up in the
agricultural field where women of economically weaker sections are encouraged
to take up remunerative vegetable and cash crop cultivation. Cultivation of
lemongrass, vegetables and millets is being encouraged. And things have come
to such a pass that men have chosen to work as farm labourers in their wives’
fields. The plan for empowering women under Mission Shakti was chief minister
Naveen Patnaik’s. But giving it a new leap, the government has started creating
employment opportunities exclusively for women in various government
departments. Over the past two years, close to 9.8 lakh women have found income
opportunities in as many as 13 government departments of Odisha. Though
administration is not ready to acknowledge them as any other recruitment in
government service for fear of stirring a gender war, but senior officials maintain
that such opportunities are as good as government jobs in terms of security and
monetary benefits. Moreover, going by the version of Mission Shakti, principal
secretary cum commissioner Sujata R. Karthikeyan, the ambit of opportunities is
likely to extend to seven more departments and the number of women covered
will double as many new departments are planning to enter into agreement with
the SHGs for hiring their members against a monthly remuneration. The decision
to make room for women in various departments began after Patnaik at a cabinet
meeting in May 2019, immediately after coming to power for the fourth time,
fixed the role of the government as the potential employer for women. It was
decided that the government would procure goods and services worth Rs 5,000
crore from the Mission Shakti Self Help Groups. While this would guarantee a
steady infusion of funds in the SHGs and cash in the hands of women, it would
at the same time take care of the scale of unemployment among 49 per cent of the
state’s population—of the state’s 4.6 crore population, women comprise around
2 crore, as per 2020 records. Odisha government is also creating employable
opportunities in sectors like power for reading of electricity meters, finance and

25
banking, public distribution system dealership and procurement of paddy, which
were hitherto male-oriented. Again, the finance department has hired a sizeable
section of women to work as banking agents and correspondences for all the
unbanked GPs. To begin with, women are operating in around 1,500 locations
where banks are yet to come up. There are plans of recruiting agents for 4,000
out of 6,000 unbanked GPs. The government’s empowerment policy is not just
about economic empowerment. “It is an identity and recognition for the women
in the family and society. Empowerment of women is one of the key development
initiatives identified by the Government of Odisha. It is well-known that
economic empowerment of women significantly contributes to their social
empowerment. As such helping women to achieve economic independence by
enabling them to have independent employment and income has been accorded
the highest priority. Therefore, promotion of Women’s Self-Help Groups
(WSHGs) under the aegis of ‘Mission Shakti’ programme was adopted in 2001
as a key strategy for achieving women’s empowerment. “Mission Shakti” is the
self-help mission for empowering women through promotion of Women Self
Help Groups (WSHGs) to take up various socioeconomic activities which was
launched in the state on 8th March 2001 on the eve of International Women’s Day.
Mission Shakti has the clear objective of empowering women through gainful
activities by providing credit and market linkage. Empowerment of women
through WSHGs under Mission Shakti is a flagship programme of the
Government. It envisages that over a period of time more & more women would
be part of a WSHG.

26
 Conclusion
In developing countries, among the poor, rural women are the poorest and more
vulnerable. Although the problem of gender inequality is a universal
phenomenon, it is highly pronounced in developing countries like india. The
results of the study indicated that women participation in cooperatives is very
limited. More than 80% of the respondents are involved in farm activity and only
5% are engaged in paid work. The socio-economic dimension of empowerment
depict that 90% of the respondents joined their cooperatives to access financial
sources and improve their bargaining power. However, their participation in
management position is minimal. Furthermore, they are not actively participating
in the affairs of their cooperative society except attending meetings. Nevertheless,
the results reveal that women members have improved their autonomous decision
making in executing social activities and they have also improved their decision
making after joining their cooperatives. But, the regularity of social and economic
decision making is limited. Most importantly, the respondents have emphasized
that their income and livestock ownership is increased and consequently, their
expenditure on food, clothing, transport, education, health and festivity has been
increasing. However, their regular income from farming and income from the
cooperatives is not sufficient to cover their expenditures. Especially, women from
rural background have to face many problems like illiteracy, untouchability and
also do not get enough source of income in the rural habitat. The men of village
are often the victim of liquor addiction therefore, the economic burden of family
falls upon women. But, certain government policies have come to their rescue
now a days, like mission Shakti under which women acheive economic
stabilization, their children receive education and live a life full of dignity. To
sum-up in majority of the metrics used the respondents have shown improvement
in their socio-economic status, however, there are still limitations that hinder
women from active participation in their cooperatives.
27
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