'Join self help groups to become self sufficient'

NAGPUR: Umeshwari Gawai, a resident of Jaitala, has made it big in her own way. A decade ago, this homemaker was facing a lot of financial problems and her family was facing difficulty in making ends meet. Things changed after Gawai formed the Kalyani Self Help Group (SHG).
The group started a business of making decorative bangles and selling them through exhibitions.Over the years Umeshwari has participated in various exhibitions across the state, in cities like Mumbai, Kolhapur and Badlapur. She now employs some 10 women, all of whom make a living with the help of this business.
Pushpa Tembhre has scripted another success story with an SHGs in the city. In 2002, she started Ramabai Self Help Group after she was thrown out of her home by her in-laws. She started a small unit of white phenyl and washing powders, which got a tremendous response. "In the SHG, you are the owner unlike a job in the government or private sector, where you are under someone. Striving for improvement in your work in the SHG is with the motivation that you are doing it for yourself," she said.
On Wednesday, NMC felicitated five such women for their success in running self help groups in the city at its ongoing fair. Cine star Kirron Kher felicitated the ladies during the ongoing fair-cum-sale to provide proper market for 200 women self help groups between October 16 and 22 at Kasturchand Park.
Exhibitions spread awareness about the SHGs as well as give out information about various government schemes available for SHGs, said BJP president Nitin Gadkari. Kher too pointed out that with high inflation women should share equal responsibility in earnings and SHGs can help them do this. She also urged other women to avail various subsidies for businesses provided by the government.
Gawai's asked women to become independent by leaving their homes and starting to work. "Women should take full advantage of various government schemes and live a better life. Today, I am a self-sufficient woman and independent," she said.
Another SHG member, requesting anonymity, said, "Working with the SHG provided me self-respect and dignity. Despite being separated from my husband, I earn and help my children. I am not dependent upon others. If I had not been in the SHG, I would have died of starvation."