Savita Kharadi's initial saving was Rs 25 a month. Since then, the mother of three — who used to live in a shanty and worked as an agricultural labourer — has come a long way.
Kharadi has not only managed to put her first daughter through nursing education but is also confident of funding the education of her two other daughters. In a span of just over a decade, Kharadi — who then owned a very small piece of land — bought more plots and three buffaloes, three cows and three calves.
Kharadi's achievements may not seem much until you realise that she has not received any formal education beyond Class 7.
For turning around her life, the woman today gives credit to the saving and co-operative society she runs in Bhiloda.
Kharadi is among the over 1,000 women who became members of the Adivasi Mahila Bachat and Dhiran Sahakari Mandali in Bhiloda of Arvali district.
Kharadi had first joined a Self Help Group (SHG) of women in 1997 when she worked as a labourer and lived in a shanty on her uncle's land.
"At that time, my husband and I worked in a farm. My husband had one-hectare land that was divided among five brothers. When I first joined the SHG, they taught me how to save and my first savings was a mere Rs 25," said Kharadi.
As she began to be active in the group and the group transformed itself into a credit society, Kharadi over the years borrowed money for her several needs. "I first borrowed Rs 30,000 to build a borewell in my farm and that ended our trouble as now we had water to farm through the entire years," said Kharadi. She meanwhile developed as a trainer, giving villagers information about vaccines and savings.
"I then borrowed Rs 50,000 to build a house of my own. Until that time we lived in a shanty. Since we build our own house with our own hands we could manage to build it with Rs5 0,000," said Kharadi. Over the years she has borrowed money from the credit society to put her first child through medical school. "I would have never been able to achieve all that I did had I not been part of the credit society. No one would lend money to a poor woman like me except for fellow women who were going through the same grind of poverty as I was," said Kharadi.
“I would have never been able to achieve all that I did had I not been part of the credit society. No one would lend money to a poor woman like me except for fellow women who were going through the same grind of poverty as I was,” says Savita Kharadi