Jharkhand SHG gets national award for effort to eradicate child labour

RANCHI: Grihalaxmi, a self-help group (SHG) from Jharkhand, was lauded for its efforts towards eradicating child labour from Goilkera block in West Singhbhum district by the Union ministry of rural development. The four-year-old SHG from one of the most backward areas of the state was among the 34 recipients of the national award conferred on SHGs by Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar in New Delhi on Monday.

Talking to TOI, Vikas Kumar, communication head of Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS), said: "Grihalaxmi has 11 members with an annual corpus of Rs 4 lakh. The members have not only used SHG-based loans and schemes to revamp their lifestyle, but are actively working towards eradication of child labour from their district. They have also been involved in the Swacch Bharat Mission Gramin project and have built toilets for villages in Goilkera block."

Anjali Pradhan and Surekha Pradhan, village-level entrepreneurs from the SHG, attended the award ceremony in New Delhi and received an honorarium of Rs 1 lakh for their work. A compilation of 24 best practices by SHGs working under the National Rural Livelihood Mission across the country was released by Union ministers Ram Kripal Yadav and Narendra Singh Tomar on the occasion.

From Jharkhand, three success stories of initiatives by SHGs made to the list. "The community journalist initiative made it to the list of the year's best practices from Jharkhand. The active involvement of women in the construction of toilets through SBM-G and the Banking Correspondent Sakhi initiative from Jharkhand were also appreciated by the union ministry," Kumar added.

The nationwide awardees were screened on various parameters including capacity building, financial inclusion and livelihood generation by the union ministry of rural development for the awards.