Role of micro credit in uplifting the socio economic status of rural women in Tirunelveli district

Abstract

Micro-credit is a critical antipoverty tool, a wise investment in human capital. When the poorest especially women receive credit, they become economic actors with power to improve not only their own lives, but in a widening circle of impact, the lives of their families, their communities and their relatives. newline newlineMicro credit programmes have, in the recent past, become one of the more promising ways to use scarce development funds to achieve the objectives of poverty alleviation. World-wide awareness and the importance of micro credit for the upliftment of the poor has been growing over the years as different countries are attempting to devise ways and means to enhance the access of the poor to credit facilities. Micro credit scheme is adopted in many countries in the world such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Pakistan. Further, the micro credit experience world-wide has shown that poor borrowers, especially women, make productive use of credit for self-employed micro-enterprises/small farms and are prompt in repayments, with average repayment rates above 90 per cent, much better than recoveries under normal lending. newline newlineThe study aims at ascertaining the impact of microand#150;credit on the women beneficiaries at postand#150;credit stage. Further, the study attempts to evaluate the changes in the income, savings, asset holdings, housing conditions and the impact of micro credit on the social and economic empowerment of women. newline newlineThe micro-credit schemes have done well in different parts of the country, in implementing the poverty alleviation programmes more effectively, when compared to the Government and non and#150; Government Organizations. So it is necessary that more and more micro-credit schemes are encouraged to sustain in future for various other activities which will bring the women to the main stream.