Impact of Self – Help Group in Case of Change in Income of the Rural Women in Cooch Behar District of West Bengal

Women empowerment through self- help group constitutes an emerging and rapidly expanding trend towards social and economic development of the nation. Self Help Groups (SHGs) are a cutting-edge and critically important concept to promote women's entrepreneurship, self-employment, and empowerment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of women Self-Help Groups on women empowerment through income generation, increased communication skills, decision-making ability and awareness, and improved social status. The study was conducted in Coochbehar-I and Coochbehar-II block of Coochbehar district. The present study used multi-stage, purposive and simple random sampling methods. The district was selected purposively and blocks, gram panchayats and respondents were selected randomly. The total number of respondents for the study was one hundred eighty (180) women SHG members. After joining SHG, changes in annual income among the members were in low level and changes in empowerment were in medium level among the members of women SHG after joining the women SHG. The prime reason for joining SHG of the women SHG members in the study area is for promoting their savings.