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Ch. Prashanth Reddy

HYDERABAD, March 14

EVEN the poor people are consumers. This is the fact that Mr Satya Prakash Tucker, Programme Coordinator of the Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Programme (APRLP), wants the women self-help groups (SHGs) to realise; more so, in the light of reports that the per capita income in India is crossing $500 per annum.

Mr Tucker feels that the women empowerment movement in the State has got struck at the micro-credit level. If they have to sustain, the SHGs or the micro-credit groups should capture the market of the poor consumers before the multi-national corporations did. There is a need to create viable market-economies at community and mandal levels.

At present, India has 6 million women SHGs and by 2005, the number is expected to touch 100 million. Of these, 10 million groups are expected to be in Andhra Pradesh. Mr Tucker says that they will survive in the long run only if they move further from being just micro-credit groups to establishment of micro enterprises catering to the needs of micro markets.

If not, he feels, the famous economic law of ``diminishing marginal returns'' will affect the movement.

Keeping this in view, a Business Resource Centre (BRC) has been established. It is a partnership initiative of the Co-operative for Assistance Everywhere (CARE), Commissioner Women Empowerment and Self Employment (CWE & SE), Sri Ramananda Thirtha Rural Institute (SRTRI) and APRLP. BRC is expected to pave the way for recognising the rural poor as potentially significant part of the economy.

APRLP initiative in rural enterprise development combines infusion of new skills and technologies, helping the emergence of a service sector in rural areas, creation of markets and distribution networks and enabling extended networks that give maximum reach and value for products and services.

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