‘Yatra Naaryantu Poojanthe, Tatra Ramanthe Devatha’ says a famous Sanskrit verse means, ‘where the Woman is free, respected and given her due place there, in that land the people live in peace and happiness’.

Women constitute one half of the world’s population and a visible majority of the poor. Programmes/schemes aiming to improve the living conditions of the poor cannot, therefore, be effective unless women participate in their formulation and implementation, as contributors as well as beneficiaries. The formation of Self-Help-Groups through aiding micro-credit will enhance their socio- economic position in the society. It is recognized that while the empowerment of schedule castes and tribes women is a process that will not happen routinely, SHGs are suitable means for the empowerment of such women, especially women of scheduled tribes. Hence, to find out whether the impact of Self Help group (SHGs) programme towards change in employment and income generation of selected women of scheduled tribes beneficiaries, a sample study undertaken in Anantapuramu district, Andhra Pradesh state by using suitable statistical tools and techniques like frequency distribution, cross tabulation and in order to know whether the impact of SHGs on employment and income is significant or not paired t-test applied. It was found that there was increasing trend both in employment and income generation. But there was no more than 50% of physical and financial achievement of SHG’s under bank- linkage throughout the study period. Though there were many obstacles Self Help group (SHGs) programme effected positively significant change on employment and income of women beneficiaries of scheduled tribes in the study area after joining SHGs programme.

KEYWORDS: Self Help group, micro-credit, women, employment