Rajeshwari Devi: From Household to Helm
Rajeshwari Devi was 33 when she joined the Balaji Self-Help Group in Daravar village, Anupshahr Block. Her husband Sunil worked to keep the household going, and the family managed on an annual income of around INR 50,000. It was enough to get by, but insufficient to move forward.
She had no particular plan when she walked into her first group meeting in September 2021. What she was looking for, she would say later, was simply an opportunity to do more for her family.
The group saw something in her that she had not yet fully seen in herself. Within a short time, her fellow members chose her as Group President, a role she took on alongside her household responsibilities without allowing either to falter.
The discipline the group instilled came gradually. Monthly savings, however small. Loans are taken only when needed and repaid on time. Over two years, these habits built something harder to measure than money: a steadiness in how Rajeshwari faced challenges, and a growing confidence in her own judgment.
When she decided she wanted to open a beauty parlour, she brought the proposal to the group. They approved a loan of Rs. 1,00,000. She set up her business, found her footing, and began to thrive.
Today, her annual income stands at Rs. 1,40,000, nearly three times what it was when she first joined. The parlour is running. The family’s financial position has changed in ways that are both visible and deeply felt.
But Rajeshwari will tell you the income is only part of it. The group gave her a platform to speak, first to a room of ten women, then to larger gatherings. She speaks now without hesitation, something she would not have said about herself four years ago.
“The group is not just about money,” she says.
It is a place where women
come together, share what
they are going through, and
find answers together.
At 36, Rajeshwari Devi holds the presidency of her group and a business of her own. Two things that, not long ago, she could scarcely have imagined for herself
