SELF HELP GROUPS-Madhabpur

BACKGROUND:
Madhabpur is situated in Boram tehsil and located in Purbi singhbhum
district of Jharkhand. It is one of 73 villages in boram Block. There are
16 Self-help groups in Madhabpur. Each group consists of 10-15
members. These Self-help groups have been formally associated with
TSRD for the past 2 years. TSRD trains two woman per group to read
and write rudimentary material. Each group meet at least once in a
week and discuss about their problems. Each group has one savings
bank account under its name & every member chip in funds to the
savings account. If any member of the group need financial help
money will be adjusted from the savings account. Some times they do
take the loan from the bank to meet the financial needs of any
member.

OBSERVATIONS & PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:

The entire community in the village is mostly dependent on the
agriculture especially from tomato & cereals harvest. Only three to for
families are dependent on business like cycle repair shop, department
stores for their income. It is also observed that the market place is
80kms from their village and the road which is used to transport the
harvested goods is very bumpy and in very bad condition. So most of
the time half of the harvested perishable crop gets spoiled before they
reach the market. It is also observed that villagers face water shortage
problem for their irrigation needs.
Most of the families in the village have TVS at their home but the
nearest primary health care center is 8kms from their village & for any
major medical need they have to come all the way to Jamshedpur.

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS:
A river has been identified near the village. This river water can be
used for the irrigation of the crops. Lift irrigation can be done to meet
the water needs for irrigation. It is a heavy investment project, so apart
from NGO government has to step in to implement this project. This
project may require lot of time to get off the ground. In the mean while
cash crops suitable for the soil which dont require can be grown . This
can be a feasible solution as there is lot of land available for growing
the crops & also they have sufficient funds to invest in the cash crops,
but they lack the knowledge of how to grow cash crops. If TSRD can

train these people regarding growing cash crops with the help of any
government or nongovernment organizations it would increase the
quality of livelihood of the villagers. This can be done easily as there
are minimal constraints in implementing this project.
As the villagers face the problem of spoilage of their harvested goods
before they reach the market, cold storage can be built in the feasible
location. This could help the villagers in great way because the entire
community is dependent on the harvest of the perishable crops like
tomatoes.