Women Self-Help Groups Become Crucial Voting Bloc in Telangana Elections

Hyderabad: Nearly 40 per cent of women voters in the state, numbering about 65 lakh, are members in women self-help groups (SHGs) and could play a key role in deciding the results of elections. This has made them the prime source of attention for political parties.

The Congress is reaching out to the 6.5 lakh women SHGs in the state, with its recently launched 'Mahila Shakti' policy document which aims to make one crore women members 'crorepatis' in the next five years by sanctioning ₹ 1 lakh crore loans through banks and the state government's 'Stree Nidhi' initiatives.

The Congress claims claims that the party Congress government led by Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy from 2004 to 2009, made women SHG members 'lakhpatis.' The A. Revanth Reddy government will make them 'crorepatis.'

On March 12, the Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister A. Revanth, approved the Mahila Shakti policy, restoring interest-free loans and pavala vaddi loans extended by the Congress governments from 2004 to 2014 but scrapped by the BRS when it came to power.

Revanth Reddy also addressed a meeting at Parade Ground in Secunderabad the same day where thousands of women SHG members were mobilised from all the districts.

The BJP is promising to expand the ‘Lakhpati Didi’ self-help group initiative for rural women. The BJP promised to integrate women SHGs into the service sector and enhance their market access. There is also the promise of ‘Drone Didis’ among other initiatives in the party’s national manifesto released for Lok Sabha polls last week.

The BRS is at disadvantage on this front, having failed to find an adequate replacement for the Congress-era interest-free loans and Pavala Vaddi loans. This pushed women SHGs into a financial crisis as the interest arrears on their loans accumulated to over ₹ 4,000 crore as the BRS government failed to release money to the banks. The women SHGs were forced to repay interest on loans on their own.