• Dr. Rajani Manikonda

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are a movement with the goals of reducing poverty, improving people’s standard of living, and giving women more agency via increased access to finance. Women have a crucial role as a valuable human resource, and enhancing their well-being in several domains such as the economy, society, health, education, knowledge, and politics may significantly accelerate the progress of socio-economic development within a nation. Investing in the capacities of women and enabling them to pursue their choices and opportunities is a very effective means of improving their living standards within society while also fostering economic growth. The present paper is an attempt to evaluate the impact of SHGs on quality of life of South Indian rural SHG women based on the primary data collected from 900 sample SHG women from the sample states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana in South India. The study reveals that implementation of microfinance initiatives through Self-Help Group (SHG) programs has been found to have a noteworthy influence on individuals' self-confidence in managing financial matters, their ability to address social issues, their level of involvement in family decision-making processes, their receipt of respectful treatment from family members, and their enhancement of communication skills. However, the SHG program demonstrates a limited influence on the demand for rights from family, community, and government. The quality of life of female self-help group (SHG) participants has shown improvement after their involvement in SHGs.

Empowerment, Domestic Violence, Decision making and freedom of Choice.

"IMPACT OF SHGS ON QUALITY OF LIFE OF SOUTH INDIAN RURAL SHG WOMEN ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no.492-504, May 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905Y72.pdf

"IMPACT OF SHGS ON QUALITY OF LIFE OF SOUTH INDIAN RURAL SHG WOMEN ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 5, page no. pp492-504, May 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1905Y72.pdf