Rural Women as Agents of Change: Assessing the Role of Empowerment Programs in Sustainable Development in Telangana
Author(s): Dr. Mercy Vasantha
Publication #: 2608023
Date of Publication: 04.12.2018
Country: India
Pages: 1-9
Published In: Volume 4 Issue 6 December-2018
Abstract
Rural women in Telangana have increasingly become central actors in the state's development strategy through their participation in institutionalised empowerment programs, chief among them the Self-Help Group (SHG) movement promoted by the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP). This paper examines the extent to which such programs have functioned as instruments of women's economic, social, and political empowerment, and assesses their contribution to sustainable rural development in the state. Drawing on secondary data from government sources and published empirical studies conducted across districts of Telangana, including Nizamabad, Ranga Reddy, Warangal, and Suryapet, the paper situates the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme within the wider architecture of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission and analyses its outcomes through illustrative data tables. Findings indicate that SHG membership expanded rapidly after the formation of Telangana in 2014, with over 45 lakh women organised into more than 4.3 lakh groups by 2017–18, generating measurable gains in savings behaviour, credit access, decision-making participation, and civic engagement. The paper also identifies persistent constraints, including uneven caste-wise representation across sample villages, a rural–urban divide in formal credit linkage, and a form of "political empowerment" confined largely to electoral participation rather than substantive leadership. The paper concludes with recommendations for deepening the transformative potential of empowerment programs as vehicles of sustainable development.
Keywords: rural women; women's empowerment; self-help groups; sustainable development; Telangana; SERP; rural livelihoods.
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