A frail octogenarian lady , a Padmashree walking thru the corridors of power in Delhi coaching the government on the importance of micro financing–yes you guessed right , Jaya Arunachalam– who has single handedly established a huge network of micro financing in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra.
A lady to reckon with, her frail figure hardly hides her luminous eyes reflecting hope and determination .Sometimes she gets disappointed when she meets bureaucrats holding negative views on the success of the cooperative movement.
Recalling her interaction with the Central Registrar she feels bureaucrats need to be sensitized to the problem of micro credit. Many of them think it a state subject in which Centre has no role. She confides to Indiancooperative.com”the Minister Mr Sharad Pawar himself is a doyen of the coop movement”.
A strong votary of autonomy of cooperative organizations she dwells on its merit but when asked by the correspondent as to the figures of the successful cooperatives, she requests the Chief Executive of NCUI to commission a study on the subject.
Being the apex organization of the cooperatives, the job of NCUI is to find out as to why the cooperative movement has not achieved much in the country, she said.
Crediting Indira Gandhi with pioneering the concept of microfinance, she recalls the days when loan mela would be organized to save the poor from the money-lenders. The concept was weakened by the arrival of Self-help groups and NBFCs , she felt.
NREGA is harming both the poor and the agriculture, she said. Getting Rs 100 for 100 days in an year is not helping the house hold as the money gets used up over drinks and other vices. Worst of all , the man is not working in the field any more. We need to have a system where the money goes to the woman who cares for the household and the children.
She has always been at work helping women. She is no feminist, she does not forget to mention it. She set up Working Women’s Forum way back in 1978 to develop the human resource potential of very poor female workers in the informal sector.
She organized a grassroots trade union of working class women in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The unionized women are vendors and hawkers, other service specialists, fisherwomen, landless women, lace makers, beedi rollers, silk Weavers, agarbathi workers, embroidery workers, and several other working women.
Recognized internationally, Mrs Arunachalam could be seen keeping company of Hillary Clinton and likes. Her Indian Co-operative Network for Women is serving the purpose of an informal banking system to meet the needs of poor women.