Self-help is key to curbing farmer suicides: Neelima Mishra

Neelima Mishra, the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay awardee, gives credit to her network of self-help groups (SHGs) for the total absence of farmer suicides in different villages in Parola taluka in Jalgaon district in the last couple of years.

Mishra, the winner in emergent leadership category, was speaking to the media after her lecture, organised by Sir Parshurambhau (SP) College on Wednesday. “With the help of women SHGs, the farmers and tribals of Parola are now economically independent,” she said.

The social worker said that SHGs should not seek any government help in order to work without any pressure. “We should ask for government assistance only when we want to implement a project successfully on a large scale, as the government has a vast infrastructure,” she said.

Only getting money through SHGs is not enough, she said, “We have developed some criteria for SHG members. They should save money regularly in the SHGs, regular meetings of the groups, no one in the family should consume alcohol and women of the house should have haemoglobin levels of over 12,” she said.

Successful SHG members would soon be starting a construction company with an initial corpus of Rs50 lakh.

Addressing students of SP College, Mishra said she had not done anything great. “I just did all that I wanted to do, in a selfish way. I did not listen to society or to anyone else. I have been more selfish than selfless,” she said.

Asked about her innovative ideas that transformed villages, Mishra said, “It was just that when people came with problems, I asked them for solutions and sure enough they had answers, which we implemented. I took solutions from them and put them to work.”
Supporting the cause raised by anti-graft crusader, Anna Hazare, Mishra said, “Although I completely agree with Hazare, I could not join his movement physically as I am already bogged in SHG work.”