The Hindu Business Line : Andhra Pradesh women self-help groups' success `remarkable', says Wolfowitz

IMPRESSED by the "remarkable success" of women self-help groups (SHGs) in Andhra Pradesh, the World Bank has said that the model could be replicated in other States in India and in other countries.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday after interacting with SHG representatives, Mr Paul D. Wolfowitz, President of World Bank, said the success was remarkable in many ways.

"This is a great learning experience. We can tell others about the model," he said.

"I have visited countries in Africa, Indonesia and Bosnia but I found the self-help group movement in Andhra Pradesh to be the biggest one," he said.

Stating that the Bank was very honoured to be associated with the State Government in this programme, he said women had become self-confident after 15 years of initiating the movement.

Mr Wolfowitz is on a two-day visit to Andhra Pradesh to have a feel of the SHG movement.

The World Bank's assistance of $260 million was spread up to 2008.

He said women should be included in the development process so as to make it a successful one.

He visited Kosgi in Mahbubnagar district and, later in the day, he interacted with a big gathering of SHGs drawn from different parts of the State.

Several women related to him how SHGs transformed their lives from a state of desperation to confidence.

"I used to think that poverty is a curse and there is no way we can break that curse.

"But the SHG has changed it all. It gave us financial strength and confidence," a woman from Orvakal in Kurnool district said.

She was answering the question by the Bank President on what made them so confident and articulate.

A former teacher, Mr Wolfowitz wondered how these hapless women turned assertive and articulate.

"I know what a special skill is to express oneself in public," he said.

On supporting irrigation projects in the State, he said the Bank had no specific plan in this regard.

Answering a question on protests by Leftists groups against the World Bank programmes, he said there was no argument about the Bank's mission of eradicating poverty.

There would always be some argument about the method.

Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, said the banks had increased assistance to the groups in each mandal.

"It has gone up from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore in one year of our rule.

"I will ensure that this amount will go up to Rs 2 crore in the second year and Rs 3 crore in the third," he said.

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