Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2016 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: A, , course: Ph.D.,, language: English, abstract: The key aspect of the present research is to identify the preliminary respondents through an interview with a few selected leaders and members. Further, a study has been conducted and the data have been collected from 50 SHG leaders and 150 SHG members and the results of the survey have necessitated certain changes for the final structuring of the interview schedule meant for the SHG leaders (500 Nos.) and SHG Members (1500 Nos.) chosen for the study Ever since Independence a number of innovative schemes have been launched for the upliftment of women in our country. Indian Government has taken lot of initiatives to strengthen the institutional rural credit system and development programmes. Viewing it in the welfare programmes of Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) and shifting the concept of Development to Empowerment. The Indian Government adopted the approach of Self Help Groups (SHGs) to uplift the rural women. The empowerment of women through Self Help Groups (SHGs) would lead to benefits not only to the individual woman and women groups but also the families and community as a whole through collective action for development. This book will be highly useful to students of social studies especially Women Studies, Social Work, Sociology, Economics and also to the students and research scholars specialising in Human Development and NGOs and also other functionaries dealing with women.. After independence, India has been adopting aggressive national economic development plans through various public policies and the policy makers have been emphasizing upon the need of national development ever since the advent of planning process in the country. The ultimate objective of national development is eradication of poverty and improving the quality of masses. In India, there has been an aggressive effort on the part of the Government, concerned with improving the access of the poor to formal credit system through implementation of focused programmes for removal of poverty and thereby aiming economic fortification.