Inclusive growth through Self-Help Groups - A Gandhian Paradigm of Sustainable Development
By Dr. Marina B. Pereira
India faces many challenges in the New Millennium. Most notable among them is attaining the objective of Inclusive growth and reducing the Great Divide between the haves and the have-nots. Efforts should be made to bridge this gap because grinding poverty in dehumanized conditions may sow the seeds of a violent revolution. Mahatma Gandhi understood the flaws of the Percolation or top-down development model where power-relations were centralized. Bapu's paradigm of society is governed by the principles of interdependence, complementarity, fraternity, consensus and participatory management.
Only Inclusive growth will lead to sustainable development. In this context Gandhiji's concept of development namely Sarvodaya through Antyodaya, implying the welfare of all through the weakest of the society holds great value. The plans for the economic development of our country should make a beginning from the bottom of the pyramid with the people who have been left behind or swept aside.
Only Inclusive growth will lead to sustainable development. In this context Gandhiji's concept of development namely Sarvodaya through Antyodaya, implying the welfare of all through the weakest of the society holds great value. The plans for the economic development of our country should make a beginning from the bottom of the pyramid with the people who have been left behind or swept aside.
The objective of this Paper is to analyse the application of the Gandhian economic model through rural Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to attain the objectives of inclusive growth and sustainable development in the New Millennium. Collective empowerment through SHGs can remove deprivation and social exclusion. This model is based on the notion that the marginalised are better equipped to overcome the negative social pressure against them through group identity and activity. This paradigm of Development is based on Gandhian principles like Sarvodaya, Antyodaya, co-operation, collective endeavour, trusteeship and decentralisation with primary importance to community welfare and villages.
