“If we had not started this, then probably by this time the group would have been dysfunctional” – (Sima Saha, Member of BABUR ASHA SWANIRVOR GOSTI).
Indeed she feels that imposition of fine on absence at meeting was a right call to make. BABUR ASHA SWANIRVOR GOSTI, comprising 12 members was formed on 10th February 2011. The
group was formed with the intent of getting financially and socially empowered. Initially all the members used to attend the meeting of the group. Normalcy was observed with regard to all the
activities carried out by the group.
But over time, gradually the attendance at monthly meetings decreased. Thereby, the level of involvement of all the members was poor. It created problem in
mobilizing savings, discussing about individual credit requirement; in fact the overall transparency and coordination in the group was hampered. Now the question arises, what arrested this normalcy? What are the push factors which eventually led the group to be termed as a defunct group? Whether the reason was justified? Was it deliberate from the part of few SHG members to discontinue in the group?
Well, there are few cases which only on in-depth study, the reasons behind a particular cause gets unfolded. In this group, the sole reason behind poor attendance was ‘Mid-day Meal’ scheme of the government. Among twelve members of the group, seven members got work of cooking under ‘Mid-day Meal’ scheme, and other five members were non recipient of any income generating work. Now, this dismantled the unity of the group which definitely happens to be the foundation of this institution. Moreover, the group members opined that the sole objective to form a group was to meet consumption needs by getting a work. Hence, when that got addressed through getting work in ‘Mid-day Meal’, those members were reluctant in engaging in group activities. But others (left-out) were attending the meeting and were in search of a work.
The irony was when work in ‘Mid day Meal’ was assigned to other members of different groups which include the left out members of ASHA SWANIRVOR GOSTI; they lost the work and then again started to attend the meeting. This phase was between 2014-15. SPADE started to work as a resource agency from April 2015 at Nabagram Block of Murshidabad District. When this problem came into the attention of a Trainer-cum-Supervisor of SPADE, he consulted with the office bearers of the group for devising a measure to avert this low level of attendance and participation. It was decided that on absence on any meeting, a fine of Rs 5 will be charged to the concerned member and this decision was recorded in the minute register. Moreover, the group was made to realize that work in Mid day meal is temporary, depending solely on this means welcoming a precarious future. Hence through regular meeting and savings, the group has to be reformed and then after passing the ‘Panchasutra’ grading they can avail loan from banks. From May 2015, ‘Fine Imposition’ was in action and since then the level of attendance gradually increased and reached up to the level of 100%. From the last four months, all the twelve members are attending the meetings.
“The penalty may not have such strong impact but getting penalized in front of other members is an embarrassment which perhaps is a reason for the rejuvenation of our group” (Sima Saha, Member of BABUR ASHA SWANIRVOR GOSTI).As meeting is considered as ‘Heart’ of SHG, now on regular meeting and full attendance, the quality of the group got better. So it is witnessed that how a small intervention can actually have strong impact on the outcome.