Poverty and Microfinance in Char Areas of Dhubri District in Assam (original) (raw)

In India, 70% of population lives in rural area and 60% of population earn their livelihood from agriculture which implies a high rate of underemployment and poverty. The root cause of poverty is the low access to credit facilities. Micro finance in this respect can play a vital role in providing financial services to the poor. In India Micro finance is dominated by self-help groups (SHGs), bank linkage programs aimed at providing a cost effective mechanism for providing financial services to unreached poor to fight against poverty. The chapter, thus, aims at identifying the current status, role, and performance of microfinance in Char areas of Assam in India. The chapter is concluded with the stress that more and more number of SHGs should be encouraged to form among the poor household in the study area to avail the benefit and cross poverty line.