NELLORE: Rural women, especially members of Self Help Groups, are a happy lot now as the state government has taken up the Stree Shakti programme in the district for their empowerment.The Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) is implementing the 30-day programme in 946 villages of 46 mandals in the district. It focuses on rejuvenating SHGs and economic empowerment of the poorest of the poor women in villages to enable them to live a better life.As part of the programme, all SHGs should strictly adhere to ‘Pragatiki Padi Sutralu (10 points for growth) for eradication of poverty in rural areas, says SERP officer K Rajapratap.He added the focus would also be laid on effective implementation of all components of Indira Kranthi Patham as part of the programme.“Training will be given to SHG members in better management of the women’s groups. It also covers financial literacy, book-keeping, bank linkages, pavala vaddi, Abhayahastam, insurance products and social issues,” he said.Prior to the launch of Stree Shakti programme, the District Rural Development Agency conducted a comprehensive survey on socio-economic status of women in villages and social evils like child marriages, child labour, dowry, bootlegging and other things and their adverse impact on women’s empowerment. The survey report was already submitted to the government.“Despite implementation of several programmes for the empowerment of rural women, there has been very little development in the quality of their lives. Hence, the Stree Shakti programme has been taken up to cover the poorest,” says DRDA project director L Vijaychandar.As many as 3.75 lakh women from 34,000 SHGs are expected to participate, during which bank linkage loans worth `100 crore will be disbursed.A sum of `6.5 crore released for various development works, including construction of Stree Shakti buildings.
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