Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 02, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Jun 02, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
Benevolence personified: Members of the Bharathiar self- help group at Kannerimukku, near Kotagiri. Udhagamandalam: The Bharathiar self- help group (SHG) based at Kannerimukku near Kotagiri is just one of the 6655 SHGs formed since 2001 in various blocks, town panchayats and municipalities of the Nilgiris district. However what sets it apart from the others is that it comprises of only unmarried women belonging to the Badaga community. Women who have remained unmarried not by choice but due to circumstances created by the economic status of their families. But what is gratifying is the fact that neither their marital status nor their abject poverty are standing in the way of these twelve women making them selves useful to the society. All of them are between 29 to 55 years and maximum qualification is tenth standard. Having decided to remain as spinsters for the sake of their economically weak families, they are now not only taking care of their family members depending on them but also being useful to the society. Egged on by a local social activist Kakki Shanmugham they had joined the SHG movement about seven years ago. Speaking to The Hindu at Kannerimukku on Saturday, the head of the group K.Saraswathy said that all of them were landless labourers earning about rupees 250 to 300 per week. Consequently, they were constantly caught in the clutches of usurers. Though they toil for about eight hours a day nutritious food was out of their reach. However, their difficulties notwithstanding, they believe in ‘service with a smile’ and are much sought after by the villagers. Pointing out that being unmarried was not a source of concern to any of them, K.Rukmani said that if help in the form of group houses was extended to them, they can not only extend more help to their dependants but also be of considerable use to the village. Since forming the group they have managed to save a sum of rupees 1.18 lakhs by taking care of tea gardens taken on lease. Though family circum stances have deprived us an opportunity to get married we have not let it stand in the way of our progress, they added.
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