Can Microcredit and Job under NREGS Jointly Bring More Happiness to the Villagers?
This paper examines whether access to microfinance loans and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) jobs have significant impact on satisfaction and happiness of villagers in West Bengal.
The paper investigates whether enhanced financial capacity due to microfinance brings more happiness to the rural poor. It examines microfinance under individual liability loan contract and joint liability loan contracts by investigating participants of the government-supported microfinance program, Swarnajayanti Grameen Swarojgari Yojana (SGSY), which uses group lending, and Vivekananda Sevakendra-O- Sishu Udyan (VSSU), a microfinance program that uses individual liability loan contracts. Findings include:
- Participation in the microfinance program, size of microcredit and getting NREGS jobs bring happiness to villagers;
- Members of SGSY self-help groups scheme are happier than members of VSSU;
- SGSY scheme increases credit availability, self-esteem, social recognition and intra-household decision making power of poor village women.
The paper attributes the difference in happiness levels to the fact that most of the members under SGSY scheme are women, while VSSU members are men. It states that members of SGSY have become more empowered after joining the microfinance program.
