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Local Agency and Structural Continuity: Views from an SHG-based Microcredit Scheme in Western India

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Abstract

This article uses Bourdieu and Giddens’ perspective of agency to investigate an anti-poverty programme of the Indian government that relies on self-help groups for the disbursal of microcredit. Multiple actors impact and refract away from the official agenda of the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) scheme in Gujarat. Instead of working towards entrepreneurialism through self-help, actors use the SGSY as a vehicle for populism, rent-seeking and as a saving scheme for children's weddings. Through the agency of these actors, practised within a specific historical, structural and dispositional context, the structures of patriarchy and neo-liberalism are reproduced in everyday socio-economic and political life. However, hints of structural change, for example in women's control over earnings via access to banks, are also evident. Evidence from the SGSY scheme is used to highlight the ways in which microcredit can simultaneously empower and restrict the lives of female beneficiaries.

Abstract

En partant du terme ‘agency’ dans l’acception que lui ont donnée Bourdieu et Giddens, cet article examine un programme de lutte contre la pauvreté adopté par le gouvernement indien, s’appuyant sur des groupes d’entraide pour le déboursement de micro-crédit. Au Gujarat, de multiples acteurs ont une incidence sur, et s’éloignent du plan d’action du programme SGSY. Au lieu de promouvoir l’esprit d’entreprise à travers l’entraide, les acteurs se servent du SGSY comme d’un instrument de populisme, de recherche de rente ou d’un plan d’épargne pour le mariage de leurs enfants. A travers les actions (‘agency’) de ces acteurs, réalisées dans un cadre historique, structurel et dispositionnel particulier, les structures du patriarcat et du néo- libéralisme se reproduisent dans la vie socio-économique et politique quotidienne. Des signes de changement se font pourtant sentir, par exemple dans le meilleur contrôle des femmes sur leurs revenus grâce à un meilleur accès aux services bancaires. En partant d’exemples tirés du SGSY, nous montrons comment le micro-crédit peut à la fois favoriser l’autonomisation des femmes et avoir des effets restrictifs sur la vie des bénéficiaires de micro-crédits et avoir des effets restrictifs sur la vie des bénéficiaires de micro-crédit.

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Notes

  1. For the politics of Gujarat's BPL list formation, see Sud (2007)

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Interviews (name, designation, location, date)

  • Ab. S, Secretary, DWCRA federation, Gandhinagar, 13/9/02, 14/9/02.

  • Arunbhai, Waghri hamlet, Ekgam, 9/9/02.

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  • Makwana, N., VLW, Ekgam, 17/7/02, 26/8/02, 24/9/02, 18/6/04.

  • Nai, R., SHG member, Bijapur, 17/7/02.

  • Pandya, H., Cashier, Dena Bank, Ekgam, 24/7/02.

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  • Parmar, R., VLW, Valad, 10/7/02, 26/8/02.

  • Parmar, U., SHG Secretary, Ekgam, 28/8/02.

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  • Rawal, G. SHG member, Ekgam, 20/7/02, 30/7/02, 18/9/02.

  • Rawal, J., SHG member, Ekgam, 30/7/02, 8/8/02, 21/8/02, 28/8/02, 2/9/02, 15/9/02.

  • Rawal, K., SHG member, Ekgam, 20/7/02, 30/7/02, 3/8/02, 12/9/02, 18/9/02.

  • Rawal, L., SHG secretary, Ekgam, 20/7/02, 3/8/02, 18/9/02.

  • Rawal, R., SHG member, Ekgam, 3/8/02, 8/8/02, 15/9/02.

  • Village Revenue Officer, Ekgam, 8/9/02.

Group Interviews.

  • Nai SGSY SHG, 14 members, Bijapur, 17/7/02.

  • Rawal SGSY SHG, 12 members, Ekgam, 30/7/02.

  • BDO meeting, 10 officials, Gandhinagar, 26/8/02.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to St Antony's College and the Oxford Department of International Development for financial support for this project. Nandini Gooptu and Cathie Lloyd provided critical insights on early avatars of this article. Numerous people gave freely of their time during interviews in Gujarat. Not all of them are mentioned here, but this research would not have been possible without their encouragement. Thanks also to Jamie Furniss and Hannah Hoechner for generously lending their French translation skills for the editing of the abstract. The usual disclaimers apply.

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  1. Department of International Development, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Nikita Sud

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Sud, N. Local Agency and Structural Continuity: Views from an SHG-based Microcredit Scheme in Western India. Eur J Dev Res 25, 271–287 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2012.40

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