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Abstract
The study was conducted on the working profile of women headed SHGs working under the scheme of Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY) in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand. On the basis of the collected data it is clear that how much the programme was effective to its beneficiaries i.e. swarojgaris and to the SHGs. Most of the SHGs were female headed and almost all the members of the SHG were female, priority was given to the SC category to empower them. SHGs undertook one income generating activity at a time, most of them have dairy as an economic activity, with maximum earning of Rs.8, 000 per month per head. Most of the SHGs follow group norms and follow cumulative saving pattern. SHGs got the loan at least for once and repaid it as soon as possible, all SHGs had the bank support while agencies were attached with only few of them. Trainings were provided to the maximum of the SHGs, but mostly on animal husbandry, financial status of the SHGs had also improved in last three years before closing of the programme, micro- enterprise at individual level were high, there were significant attitudinal changes in members. In short, SHG loans and activities helped the members to free themselves from the grip of the local money lenders, improved their management skills and also their social status in society.