Can the vicious cycle of gender inequality, poverty and malnutrition be broken through microfinancing of women SHGs? Explain with examples.

Argue that credit through SHGs alone cannot break the malnutrition cycle without public nutrition and maternity services for women and girls.

• PMMVY, the maternity benefit scheme, implements the NFSA's cash benefit of ₹6,000, and Mission Shakti adds a benefit for a second child if she is a girl.
• Anganwadis reach more than 8.9 crore children, women and adolescent girls, and Poshan Maah 2026 focuses on protein-rich food for pregnant and lactating women and the first 1,000 days.
• The op-ed calls for community ownership of anganwadis through local committees and social audits, showing collective local action works best alongside assured public funding.

Women's SHGs gaining commercial credit and now serving as Pension Sakhis show microfinance widening women's access to finance, with the caveat that credit can burden the poor.

• The op-ed cites women's self-help groups in Maharashtra gaining access to commercial credit as an example of organised smallholders reaching finance.
• On 15 September 2026 the Department of Rural Development and PFRDA announced 'Pension Sakhis' from SHG networks under DAY-NRLM to help rural households enrol in the National Pension System.
• Caveat: group credit can burden poor women if incomes do not rise, and the examples are illustrations rather than a system-wide evaluation.