INTRODUCTION:

Government has always laid emphasis on development of rural women. Involving rural women in some form of economic activity as an individual or as group was always part of government policy [1]. However, in a span of 6 decades the situation of rural women has not improved significantly [2].

IRDP or the integrated rural development program was started to enable the rural women to cross the poverty line [3]. But the financial assistance to these women were to marginal and was not sufficient for them to facilitate them to cross the poverty line. The government then started group program with a view to motivate women to come together to cross the poverty line [4].

The women in a group were required to carry out economically viable activities. This program was named as DWCRA. This program was implemented across the India.

The focus of DWCRA was on improvement of socio-economic condition, health and education status of rural women [5]. This was to be done by providing rural women some form of financial assistance. Simultaneously government laid emphasis on creating employment opportunities for such women. DWCRA was different from IRDP, in view that under DWCRA funding was provided to the group and not to individual family [6].

The main objective of this work is to study the hurdles that are present in proper execution of DWCRA program in Chhattisgarh. Special context has been given to the Raipur district. The study will help in identification of constraints that are hampering operations of DWCRA program implementation and how these constraints can be reduced or removed.

METHODOLOGY:

The main objective of DWCRA is to improve the socio-economic health and educational status of women residing in the rural areas of India. Despite many programs that has been started to improve the living condition of rural area, nothing much has been achieved with respect to it. The reasons behind such condition is the hurdles that are present in effective implementation of DWCRA program.

There are numerous reasons that are responsible for non-effective implementation of DWCRA program, these reasons have been accumulated by study of various literature that has covered similar themes. These reasons were analysed in context to Chhattisgarh state.

This study is based on primary data. To collect the primary data questionnaire was designed. In the designed questionnaire, it was required by the respondents of the questionnaire to rank the reasons on a scale of 1 to 12 as per their choice. The choice was to be made as per the following statement “the factors that they think is the greatest hurdle in the implementation of DWCRA program should be ranked first and subsequently other factors should be ranked, the factor that as per them is least affecting the implementation of DWCRA program effectively should ranked last”.

The respondents of the questionnaire were the women that are member of DWCRA groups. The total number of respondents were 400. The received response will be analysed using Henry Garret Rank Analysis. The output of the analysis will arrange the factors in descending order. The factors that are most notorious and are hampering the implementation of DWCRA program will be ranked first while rest other will ranked subsequently as per the outcome of the analysis.

The following factors has been selected for the analysis

1. Poor identification of individual’s skill – DWCRA program requires individual woman to come together in a group and carry out one form of activity or another. A group activity is a cumulative effort of individuals. Everyone can do something and cannot be made to do works that are out of her scope. Hence it is necessary access individual’s skill and to employ them in work of group that they can do the best.

2. Poor identification of available market – DWCRA program requires woman to come together and carry out one form of activity or another. This activity results in production of goods. These goods are required to be sold in the market and profit earned with the activity is needed to be distributed among the group members. With initial investment, some goods can be produced but these products need to be consumed by the consumers. The products to be consumed by the consumers is needed to reach the market. The market should be such that there exists a demand for the product that has been produced by the group. If the product is not consumed the group will not earn profit and thus its existence will cease sooner or later

3. Poor Support from Family Members – Orthodox mentality is still prevalent in rural India. Many still consider that women should be confined to household activities only and should not go out to work. Hence mental support from family members is missing to these women, resulting in degraded moral and thus eventually dropping from the group thus reducing it functional size.

4. Insufficient Training – Female members of the group must compulsorily carry out economic activity. These economic activities are in general related to production of goods. These goods can be brooms, handicraft items, edibles and pickles. These products, to be fit for consumption by the consumer should be of minimum appreciable standards. To make the products of appreciable standards sufficient training and exposure to the preparation technology and methods is must. It is generally noticed that these female members are not exposed to trainings sufficiently.

5. Substandard goods – Since the exposure to the preparation technology is improper. The produced goods by these DWCRA groups are of lower standards and in the market, hence, they are not able to finds suitable consumers.

6. Poor selection of group activity – The activities should be so selected that the finished product of the selected activity will earn the group a substantial profit.

7. Insufficient Bank Instalments – Even if the group is willing to carry out an interesting activity that can fetch good returns, their hopes are hindered with bank dispensing insufficient bank instalments. Insufficient funds lead to reduction in purchasing power of the group essential for installing necessary machinery for goods production. Thus, Lack of funds hinders the prospect of good economic activity.

8. Freedom of choice of group activity is limited – the group members are not allowed to choose the activity they are comfortable with. They are generally involved in those activities which is suggested by the program implementation officer. Lack of choice reduces the working efficiency of the group members

9. Poor identification of available resources – different geographies host different resources. If a DWCRA group is success in some area with an economic activity then it is completely possible that a different DWCRA group will not attain similar success with similar economic activity in different geography. This is because resources in case of group 1 was abundant in geography group 1 is existing in. While group 2 might struggle with the availability of the resources for similar economic activity because, similar resources are not available in their geography.

10. Lack of Constant Vigilance – Program implementation officers must keep constant vigilance on groups and activities carried by them. Constant vigilance tracks the loop holes present in the operations of the group and timely identification of such loop holes will result in speedy recovery of the group thus bringing them in profit mode at the earliest.

11. Poor identification of Constraints faced by DWCRA – the constraints that are faced by DWCRA groups should be identified with efficiency. Constraints if not addressed will lead to cease of operations of the group

12. Underutilisation of available time – DWCRA is all women group. These women do possess some household responsibilities as well. Thus, what happens is the members leave for their home early. As early as an hour or two before the official time of leave. Thus, number of labor hour that might have been their if they would have worked in timely manner is less. Less labour hour means less effort thus, production efficiency of group will go down resulting in lesser profit margin for the group.

ANALYSIS:

The table 1 presents the received response from the survey.

Table 1 Response received from the survey

Factors	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Poor identification of constraints faced by DWCRA units	36	23	16	45	35	28	16	24	95	55	8	19	400
Poor Identification of availble Market	59	45	7	2	3	42	43	75	54	21	18	31	400
Poor Support from Family members	11	42	23	72	20	23	31	36	32	3	97	10	400
Substandard produced goods	8	34	41	9	80	88	24	34	12	41	10	19	400
Poor Selection of Group Activity	17	33	45	9	43	12	34	21	65	14	83	24	400
Insufficient Bank Instalments	21	14	40	45	87	33	9	48	18	4	23	58	400
Freedom of choice of group activity is limited	50	84	65	36	28	24	69	11	4	5	7	17	400
Poor Identification of available resources	6	1	6	32	43	47	93	23	33	76	5	35	400
Lack Constant vigilance	40	2	12	21	6	45	20	57	26	104	49	18	400
Poor Identification of individual's Skill	51	19	3	42	2	28	24	53	34	19	23	102	400
Insufficient training	97	100	50	31	24	18	19	15	22	4	14	6	400
Underutilisation of available labour time	4	3	92	56	29	12	18	3	5	54	63	61	400
	400	400	400	400	400	400	400	400	400	400	400	400

Source: Primary Data

From the table above it is evident that 36 respondents ranked factor “poor identification of constraints faced by DWCRA units” as the factor that is most notorious for hampering the operations of the group i.e. 36 people ranked it as 1^st , 23 ranked it as 2^nd, 16 ranked it as 3^rd, 45 ranked it as 4^th, 35 ranked it as 5^th, 28 ranked it as 6^th, 16 ranked it as 7^th, 24 ranked it as 8^th, 95 ranked it as 9^th, 55 ranked it as 10^th, 8 ranked it 11^th, while 19 ranked it as 12th .

Similar explanation can be provided for other factors as well. To reduce the redundancy explanations are limited to factor one only.

The next step in Henry Garret Rank analysis is calculation of percent score. Table 2 presents the calculation of percent score. Every rank ranging from 1^st to 12^th have an associated percent score that is presented in table 2.

Table 2 Calculation of Percent score

Rank	Equation (100 X(Rank -0.5)/12)	Score
1	(100 X (1 -0.5)/12)	4.166666667
2	(100 X (2 -0.5)/12)	12.5
3	(100 X (3 -0.5)/12)	20.83333333
4	(100 X (4 -0.5)/12)	29.16666667
5	(100 X (5 -0.5)/12)	37.5
6	(100 X (6 -0.5)/12)	45.83333333
7	(100 X (7 -0.5)/12)	54.16666667
8	(100 X (8 -0.5)/12)	62.5
9	(100 X (9 -0.5)/12)	70.83333333
10	(100 X (10 -0.5)/12)	79.16666667
11	(100 X (11 -0.5)/12)	87.5
12	(100 X (12 -0.5)/12)	95.83333333

Source: Calculated

Once the score has been calculated, Garret table is used to obtain the Garret Values associated with the score. Once Garret Values associated with each score has been obtained, they are multiplied to elements of table 1 column wise. For example, Garret values associated with Rank 1, percent score 4.166, gets multiplied with every element present in column 1 of table 1. Similarly, the procedure is repeated for all elements. Once this procedure is done, all the elements are then added row wise and is then divided by number of respondents. The mathematical operation is presented below

Sum=[(element(row1,column1)+element(row1,column)+element(row1,column3)+…+element(row1,column12)]/400

The sum so received for every factor is arranged in descending order. The factor with maximum sum is most notorious factor and as per respondents is the number 1 factor responsible for hurdle in operations of the DWCRA groups.

Table 3: Final Table after Analysis

Factors	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Sum	Rank
Poor identification of constraints faced by DWCRA units	2988	1679	1056	2745	1995	1456	768	1056	3800	1870	216	342	49.9275	5
Poor Identification of availble Market	4897	3285	462	122	171	2184	2064	3300	2160	714	486	558	51.0075	4
Poor Support from Family members	913	3066	1518	4392	1140	1196	1488	1584	1280	102	2619	180	48.695	7
Substandard produced goods	664	2482	2706	549	4560	4576	1152	1496	480	1394	270	342	51.6775	3
Poor Selection of Group Activity	1411	2409	2970	549	2451	624	1632	924	2600	476	2241	432	46.7975	8
Insufficient Bank Instalments	1743	1022	2640	2745	4959	1716	432	2112	720	136	621	1044	49.725	6
Freedom of choice of group activity is limited	4150	6132	4290	2196	1596	1248	3312	484	160	170	189	306	60.5825	2
Poor Identification of available resources	498	73	396	1952	2451	2444	4464	1012	1320	2584	135	630	44.8975	10
Lack Constant vigilance	3320	146	792	1281	342	2340	960	2508	1040	3536	1323	324	44.78	11
Poor Identification of individual's Skill	4233	1387	198	2562	114	1456	1152	2332	1360	646	621	1836	44.7425	12
Insufficient training	8051	7300	3300	1891	1368	936	912	660	880	136	378	108	64.8	1
Underutilisation of available labour time	332	219	6072	3416	1653	624	864	132	200	1836	1701	1098	45.3675	9

Source: Calculated

From the above table it is evident that as per respondents insufficient training is the number 1 factor responsible for hurdles in operation of DWCRA groups, while poor identification of individual skill is the least.

CONCLUSION:

From the analysis, the following conclusions can be derived

1. It is evident that insufficient training is identified as the most notorious factor that is hampering the operations of the group. The women of DWCRA groups should be provided efficient training before assigning them tasks of the group. The training should be of proper nature and should cover every possible prospect of group’s operation.

2. Freedom of choice of group activity is the second most notorious factor creating hurdle in groups operation.

3. Factor “Substandard produce goods” was ranked as third notorious factor. This is because group members are not provided proper training to produce the goods.

4. Officials or program implementation officer should ensure that the goods that are produced by the groups have a proper market place to get displayed. Secondly it should also be identified whether the market the goods are reaching have demand for these goods.

5. Insufficient bank instalment was ranked 6^th in terms of creating hurdles for DWCRA group operations. Funds should be released to the group on timely manner. Banks should create a survey team that can prepare detailed project report and can assist the bank for timely release of funds to the groups for efficient functioning of groups.

REFERENCES:

1. Alosius P. Fernandez. (2007): "A Micro finance Institution with a Difference" – Economic and Political Weekly – Vol. No: XLII No.13 – March 31, 2007, PP. 1185-1189. [49].

2. Jairam Ramesh (2007): "Self –Help Groups Revolution: What Next? – Economic and Political Weekly – Vol. No.XLII No: 36, September 8, 2007, PP. 3621-3624. [50].

3. Indrabhusan Singh & Usha Kumari (2007): "Rural Development and Women Empowerment" – Kurukshetra – Vol No.55, No.5; March, 2007, PP. 3-8. [51].

4. Suneetha R. (2007): "Is DWCRA Programme Empowering Rural Women?" – Kurukshetra – Vol. No.55, No.5, March 2007, PP. 17-20. The Role of SHG in Women Empowerment- A Critical Review DOI: 10.9790/5933-0703023339 www.iosrjournals.org 39 | Page [52].

5. Rath N.C., Lipidas, Mishra S.K. and Lenka S. (2007): "Social and Institutional Framework for Mainstreaming Women in Agriculture - Kurukshetra – Vol. No.55, No.5, March 2007, PP. 21-27. [53].

6. Oommen.M.A. (2008) Micro Finance and Poverty Alleviation : The Case of Kerala’s Kudumbashree. Working Paper No.17.Centre for socio-economic& Environmental Studies (CSES),Kerala

Received on 22.05.2017 Modified on 15.06.2017

Int. J. Ad. Social Sciences. 2017; 5(2):122-126.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2679.2017.00012.3