A one-day training of SHG leaders and members was conducted by NABARD, Punjab Regional Office, Chandigarh at Village Lalheri near Khanna in District Ludhiana. The objectives of the meeting was to impart training to Self Help Group (SHG) members and group leaders formed in association of NABARD by District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) Ludhiana and various NGOs regarding basic mathematic, writing of books, scheduling of meetings, social aspects like women empowerment, basics of lending money, borrowing, repaying and income generation activities such as embroidery, stitching, Achar and papad making etc.The training program was attended by Mr Rupinder Singh, Manager, Khanna, DCCB Ludhiana and Mr Dalveer Singh, Manager planning and recovery, DCCB Ludhiana along with Financial counselors, and SHG members having expertise in various income generation activities such as pickle making, embroidery etc.
Mr Parveen Bhatia, AGM, NABARD, Ludhiana, in his opening remarks, indicated that Self-Help Groups are informal associations of people who choose to come together to find ways to improve their living conditions. They help to build Social Capital among the poor, especially women. The most important functions of a Self-Help Groups are to encourage and motivate its members to save, to persuade them to make a collective plan for generation of additional income, and to act as a conduit for formal banking services to reach them. Such groups work as a collective guarantee system for members who propose to borrow from organized sources.Consequently, Self-Help Groups have emerged as the most effective mechanism for delivery of micro-finance services to the poor. The range of financial services may include products such as deposits, loans, money transfer and insurance. NABARD continues to support and enable the entire ecosystem of support for the SHG-Bank linkage programme and other microfinance innovationsMr Rupinder Singh, Manager, Khanna, DCCB Ludhiana and Mr Dalveer Singh, Manager planning and recovery, DCCB Ludhiana explained principals of book keeping, need of income generation activities and saving and credit linkage of SHG members.