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A Case Study of THE ANDHRA PRADESH RURAL LIVELIHOODS PROJECT”
Dharmavaram, a small town in Anantapur district is famous for its sarees, which provide a source of livelihood to scores of weavers. Born into the weaving community and having acquired the traditional skills of weaving, many weavers work on wages for others, earning a meagre Rs.50 per day. For many, owning a loom is a dream because only then can they hope for a decent livelihood. The market for Dharmavaram sarees is assured; the weavers need the capacity to invest, and have initiative and entrepreneurial skills in order to have an independent income.
S J Sattamma and Srinivasulu who live in Chinnapalli Village in C K Pally Mandal of Anantapur district have two children. Their nine-year-old son studied in the third standard and four-year-old daughter went to the anganwadi. Sattamma’s mother-in-law, Kondamma, and father-in-law, Linganna, live with them. Srinivasulu was an expert in design and weaving sarees. He longed for a loom to start on his own. However, he could not afford it and knew no way to access finances to purchase a loom. So they both worked as weavers, earning a daily wage. Sattamma earned Rs.20 and Srinivasulu earned Rs.50, which was not enough, and the family suffered from poverty. It was getting so difficult they wanted to change their occupation so that they could earn more money.
Though self-help groups had been started in the village, Sattamma did not join up for a long time, as she did not know how it would help her. However, in 2006 her in-laws encouraged her to join the Saraswati women’s group. Initially she saved Rs.20 per month and in the next year, she is saved Rs.30 per month. Before the APRLP watershed programme was initiated, the self-help groups lacked guidance and did not function efficiently. Monthly meetings were irregular, and there was poor participation by the members, payment of installments was delayed, and the book-keeping was poor.
The credit of strengthening the self-help groups goes to Laxmi Narayana, member of the watershed development team of the project. He helped them to streamline all their activities, encouraged participation and discussion among members to help them set their own goals, and make their micro-credit activities more systematic. All the self-help groups in the village were brought together to form the village organisation.
In 2002 APRLP officials organised awareness programmes for the women on:
• Formation of a self-help group by ten women
• Ten groups federated into a village organisation
• Monthly savings (Rs.20-30)
• Norms for the proper utilisation of loans
• Process of writing books
• Process of conducting monthly meetings
• Importance of the village organisation
In March 2004 the project sanctioned Rs.200, 000 to the village organisation for the benefit of all the women’s groups of the village. Support was given to the three categories of women identified as very poor, poor and belonging to the middle class. 25 women in these categories were identified and a loan of Rs.8, 000 was given to each.
Sattamma was one of them. She used this loan to buy a varpu (a critical part of the loom) so that her husband could weave sarees. But to buy the entire loom she needed Rs.30, 000. After a few days Sattamma’s mother-in-law was eligible for a loan of Rs.10, 000 from the village organisation. She spent Rs.9, 000 on buying three jukas, (important parts of the loom), and Rs.1, 000 on raw material. They borrowed the rest of the capital from outside and erected their own loom. It was a dream come true.
They stopped going to work for others. Now they get orders and weave the sarees themselves. Each Saree takes five days to weave and they make a profit of Rs.800-1,000 on each. They make far more money today than they could ever hope to make as wage labourers. One loom has changed their lives. A small loan can make all the difference between poverty and plenty for a poor family.
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