ASRAYA VANITHA SHG, THAMARAKULAM MUDICKAL, MUDICKAL P.O., VAZHAKULAM BLOCK

The ASRAYA SHG is a homogeneous group and all the members belong to families below poverty line. The first meeting of the group was held on 8th August 2001. The Extention Officer (Women’s Welfare) of Vazhakulam Block presided over the meeting. The Village Extention Officer Mr. Abdul Saleem, L V E O Smt. Beena Rani, Ward Member Sri. Abdul Khadar Kunnathan were also present in the meeting. All of the 15 numbers present in the meeting decided to collect Rs. 10/- as the thrift amount at weekly intervals. The unit has registered under charitable society registration act of 1960 on 7th November 2001(Reg. No. 1161/2001).
They opened an SB Account at SBT Mudickal Branch and invested there thrift amount. They took individual consumer loan from this account and repaired it in time.
The group members have undergone training for the preparation of soap powder and started the production of soap powder and bar soap. But it was not so profitable as the people got the same product in a cheap amount in the market. Thus they stopped the production of soap powder.
The first grading of the group conducted on 16th July 2003 and they received Rs. 25,000/- as Revolving fund. Then they started production of Rice powder in a small scale. Along with this they prepared food products like Avalose pody, Pathiri etc. They received order for more products.
On account of the large demand of the rice powder and other food products, they wanted to expand their business. The group has undergone second grading on 8th August 2006. They submitted a project for agriculture and food processing for an amount of Rs. 2,03,325/- at SBT Mudickal. The project was sanctioned and they got a subsidy of Rs. 94,000/- under SGSY Scheme on 13th December 2006. They expanded their business with this amount. Now they have a sale of 2000 Kg. to 3000 Kg. rice powder in a week. Three members of this group undergone training on food processing at Food Craft Institute, Kalamassery. With the experience from this training, they decided to produce more food products like Jam, Squash etc. They also started Jasmine Cultivation. At first they planted about 250 Jasmine Plants. After six months, now they started to harvest Jasmine. They earned a living from this business.
Their loan repayment is regular and prompt. They repay Rs. 4,400/- per month without any dues till date. The Ward Member and Staff of Vazhakulam Block Office always encourage them. Thus the ASRAYA SHG become a model to other SHG’s in the block.