Mapping Self-Help Groups (SHGs) as alternatives to capitalist development: an ethnographic enquiry from India

This paper presents cases of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) from Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Bardhaman district in West Bengal (WB) that we argue have the potential to demonstrate alternatives to capitalist development by strengthening the community economies of women belonging to marginal groups. SHGs in Kotha Indlu village in Chittoor district have provided the Dalit and backward women an alternative to earn their livelihood from practicing sericulture with local resources, indigenous knowledge and training. In Paarhaati and Ganti, villages of Bardhaman district, some SHGs have benefitted while some others have failed to cater to the economic needs of women from marginalized communities. With the help of empirical evidence from fieldwork, the paper aims to understand in what ways SHGs have helped or hindered the Dalit and tribal communities to enhance their self-reliance in the study areas. In regions where community participation and local self-government is proactive, SHGs are seen as strong sustainability initiatives for the rural marginalised groups. However, it is also seen that implementing SHGs as a sustainability program has been difficult in certain regions due to social inequality, financial dependence on local landowners and inadequate community participation. Thus, the paper puts forth both the successes and failures of SHGs as an important sustainability program at the grassroots level in rural India.