Journal Press India^®

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One of the basic problems confronting India is unemployment. Over the years, the need has been felt to work for the people, who are marginalized and excluded from the mainstream. Therefore, to make the poor people capable, there is need to create and strengthen sustainable livelihood opportunities. Microfinance programme has been able to create self-employment among the rural poor. The basic objective of the study is to analyse the impact of microfinance on the livelihood creation of the rural poor. The study is mainly based on primary data collected from Kharibari block of Nadia district, West Bengal. From 32 SHGs taking 5 members from each group, altogether 160 members have been selected. A structured questionnaire was used for collecting data from the respondents. To interpret the results, percentage and paired sample t-test were used. After analysing data it was found that employment of the participants increases due to join the SHGs. Thus, it can be concluded that microfinance programme plays an important role for creating livelihood of rural poor particularly for rural poor women.

Keywords

Livelihood; Self-help Group; Microfinance; Economic activities; Self-employment

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