Chandus Dairies

Not a typo.

I read an entire manual on how the self-help group (SHG) federation of the Khed taluka works. A bunch of women form an SHG. A bunch of SHGs form a cluster. A bunch of clusters form a federation. The federation provides financial and social services to all its members. The loan disbursal and repayment procedures were also outlined. It was a very boring document that I had to force myself to go through without giving up midway.

They said I should go to the villages and see how this works. So I went. I went to Chandus, a village about 10km far from where I live. I waited for a woman named Krushnabai Karle, an employee of the federation and a facilitator of the SHG meets, at the bus stop by an old sign with the name of the village written over it. After 15 minutes, I saw a woman walk by in hurry. She signalled to me to come along with her. We were late by half-an-hour already. I ran to catch up with her, and we started walking on the long, winding road with the occasional house on its side but mostly grass and hills and cattle and fields.

I tried to make small talk. I mentioned the intern who worked with this village earlier to make myself seem less alien. She replied warmly but seemed preoccupied about being late.

A man driving a tractor stopped next to us and they had a brief chat in Marathi. She gestured to me to get on it. She climbed on in her sari with as much ease/difficulty as I did. The tractor took us into the village about 2.5km from the main road. We walked a little further from where her friend dropped us, and entered a house with brick walls that hadn’t been painted or even coated with cement yet. But the place had a television set, a dressing mirror and a couch that looked new. Someone spread a carpet for everyone to sit on.

Everyone kept staring at me and I kept smiling at them self-consciously. I figured I should introduce myself. Before I found my voice, Krushnabai Karle asked the women to do a round of introductions. Each woman said her name, the name of the SHG she belonged to, and her position as president/vice-president/secretary/member. The names of the two SHGs present were Bhairavnath and Gaurinath, names of Hindu deities. I immediately did a mental eye roll. Firstly because it makes me uncomfortable when people are too open about their religious beliefs. I assumed these were people who spent money on rituals and worshiping deities and donations to temples. Secondly, they just didn’t’ sound good to me. It was like choosing a name for your team. I had met no one yet who would choose Bhairavnath. No one. It’s just not, um, cool. Now Daphne or Apollo or Venus would’ve been cool. That’s Greek and Roman mythology. It’s from elsewhere. The other is cool.

It was my turn now. I told them about myself, still quite self-conscious. Krushnabai then began to talk about the need for financial, legal and health counselors and encouraged the women to attend training to qualify as counselors in their village. Many of them seemed eager to do so. Then, out came the cash. Each woman saves a monthly amount of a 100 rupees. This was collected and given to the president of the group. Then began the repayments of existing loans, and a new loan was given for someone’s child’s school expenses.

All of this amidst loud non-stop laughter and banter. Krushnabai kept talking about this new hair oil that makes your hair darker. They had these detailed log books to enter all the details of their transactions. The math was done rapidly by the presidents and cross checked by Krushnabai. She ended the meeting with a prayer and left with her bag to the next meeting. There were fourteen groups in this village.

It all looked like a well-oiled machine. I was told this is the oldest and most successful federation. And no, it wasn’t amusing or awe-inspiring to see that these women understand the importance of savings, can access credit and are able to use it productively and repay their loans on time. It just felt right and normal. The federation requires that properties bought from their loans be registered under the woman’s name in order to ensure they are financially secured in the future.

Four women belonging to SHGs have set up a dairy from a federation loan after being trained on dairy management. They say they don’t get enough milk from the village in spite of higher returns per litre, because a lot of people prefer the other dairies run by men.

About The Author: Jahnavi Reddy, 2014 Cohort Fellow, worked with Chaitanya in the western Maharashtra region in financial literacy program with women farmers, and wrote about her personal experiences overlapping with those of her women.