International Science Community Association International Research Journal of Social Sciences 2319 - 3565 2 9 2013 September 14 The Role of Women Self – Help Groups in Rural Development of Karnataka State, India 23 25 EN AvdijaAvdi S. 1 Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Indiana State University, USA Bharani N. 1 Department of Political Science, Bangalore University, Bangalore, INDIA Shihabudheen N. 1 Dept. of Applied Economics, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi, Kerala, INDIA SinhaAmal Kanti 1 Department of History, Janata College, Kabuganj, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, INDIA Manjunatha S. 1 DOS in Sociology, University of Mysore, Mysore, INDIA > Research Article 2013 7 20
 2013 September 14 Today, in India the problem of rural poverty is increasing very rapidly. There are a very few way to eradicate rural poverty in India. Mainly providing economic support to the rural people, particularly to the rural women, has been proved very fruitful to reduce the poverty in rural India. Providing economic support or loans to the rural women helps them to empower, not only economically but also socially, further this strengthens the whole society in general. Hence, the present study is placed in this context to examine the relationship between Self Help Groups and socio-economic development of rural community in general and women in particular of Karnataka state and also to suggest suitable measures for the effective improvement of functioning of SHGs in improving the socio-economic conditions of the rural people. For the said purpose the primary data has been collected from field survey in Hassan district of Karnataka state. In the present study, based on the analysis and discussion on the performance evaluation of women SHGs and rural development in Karnataka state, major findings of this study have been explained in detail. Copyright@ International Science Community Association