Empowerment of Rural Women Through Self-Help Group – a Comparative Study in Two Selective District of West Bengal

The paper examines the effects of SHGs on the social and economic status of the rural women in two districts of West Bengal, namely, Cooch Behar and Kalimpong, with a view to comparing the change in decision-making immunity and the degrees of financial and social emancipation. Cooch Behar-1 is mainly selected as the particularly intensity block of high SHG and Sitai represents the intensity block of low SHG. Kalimpong-I is mainly identified as the intensity block of high SHG and Lava mainly referred to as the intensity block of low SHG.