INTERNSHIP REPORT

VIDYALAXMI GROUP OF INSTITUTION

BRAHMAVARA
(AFFILIATED TO MANGALORE UNIVERSITY, RECOGNISED BY GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA)

Title: A study on Programs and Schemes of SKDRDP

Submitted by:
Rashmitha Bhandary
R.No: 192512930

Submitted to:
Mr. vighnesh Bhat
Department of Commerce and management
Vidyalaxmi Group of Institution Brahmavara
 DECLARATION
I RASHMITHA BHANDARY, student of Vidyalaxmi Group of Institution
Brahmavara studying in 3rd year Bcom, hereby declared that I had completed my
project in “Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project” ( SKDRDP)
during the academic year 2021-2022, the information submitted is true and
original to the best of my knowledge.

Place: Brahmavara Rashmitha

Date:
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project report would be incomplete without expressing my sincere

gratitude to all those who have supported me in preparing it successfully.
I express my utmost gratitude to my project guide Mr. Vighnesh Bhat,
Department of commerce and management who has enthusiastically imparted
relevant information, guided and supported me in carrying out of this project.
My sincere gratitude to Mr. Rajith Kumar M.D, Manager SKDRDP Brahmavara
Branch, for his support, co-operation and providing all necessary information
required for the project.
My sincere thanks to Mr. Guruprasad KJ, HOD of Commerce and management,
whose timely suggestions and encouragement supported me to complete this
project successfully.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to MRS. Seema G Bhat, Principal,
Vidyalaxmi Group of Institute Brahmavara for her support in carrying out this
project.
I am also thankful for Mr.Subramanya, Chairman and Mrs.Mamatha, Director
Vidyalaxmi Group of Institute Brahmavara.

Place: Brahmavara Rashmitha

Date:
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION:
SHRI KSHETHRA DHARMASTHALA RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT [SKDRDP]
(A secular, not for profit, non political, registered voluntary organization)
SKDRDP is a charitable trust promoted by Dr.D. Veerendra Heggade. SKDRDP concentrates on the
empowerment of people by organizing Self Help Groups (SHGs) on the lines of Joint Liability Groups (JLGs)
and provides infrastructure and finance through micro credit for the rural people.
SKDRDP is registered under the Charitable Trust Act of 1920 in the office of sub-Registrar, Government of
Karnataka, Belthangadi Taluk, dakshina Kannada District in the year 1991.
SKDRDP is functional in Karnataka State of the Union Territory of India. The individual family development
programme is operational in 21000 villages of D.K., Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Chikamagalur, Shimpoga,
Kodagu, Dharwad, Haveri, Gadag, Mysore, Belgaum, Tumkur, Koppal, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Mandya,
Bangalore-Rural, Bellary, Raichur and Bagalkote districts of Karnataka State.
The Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project encompasses all aspects of enriching the rural
life. It is currently expanding its developmental activities to all the districts of Karnataka. SKDRDP is active
with its Community Development Programs throughout the state. The core strengths of the organization
are the blessings of its promoters, dedicated band of workers, good will of the stakeholders and above all a
comprehensive program to better the living environment of the chosen areas. During the Financial year
2015-16 SKDRDP has extended its area of operation to cover the state of Karnataka completely.
SKDRDP began to play its role in transfer of technology, providing infrastructure, and providing finance
through micro credit. Besides, the project concentrated on the empowerment of rural women and hence
began 'Jnanavikasa Program'. In response to the social needs of the area the SKDRDP innovated into
activities like Janajagruthi, Community Development, Siri etc.

At the time of inception, a village-level worker known as 'Sevaniratha' would approach the stakeholder
families, sit with them to prepare a five year development plan and assist them to implement the same.
The Dharmasthala temple has given the required material support like equipment, seed materials on a
charity basis. In keeping with the HR policy of the organization, the supervisory staffs were promoted from
the sevaniratha cadre in the prevailing areas. This provided a great opportunity for the youngsters to show
their oraganisational skills in the new area. Now sevaniratha are replaced by Sevaprathinidhis.

In order to give opportunities to the housewives and unemployed young women in rural areas who have
time and inclination to do social work, SKDRDP has developed a new cadre called the  Sevaprathinidhi, who
work in their spare time and support the SHG movement in the village. Most sevaprathinidhis are women
and this has positively affected women men ratio in the organisation. Now sevaniratha are replaced
completely by Sevaprathinidhis.

Large quantities of rice was distributed during the initial decades as a compensation for the families while
they worked in their own lands. The concept of 'Food for work' was implemented by SKDRDP, with a view
to develop the lands.  Thus the initial decade of SKDRDP can be considered as the charity phase.

In the early 90s, on review of the project, it was realised that mere charity does not give the desired result.
Hence SKDRDP adopted the self-help mode by organizing Self-help Groups (SHGs), more on the lines of
Joint Liability Groups (JLGs).

OBJECTIVES FOR THE STUDY:

To know about the various programs and schemed of SKDRDP.

To understand whether SKDRDP helps the rural people to come up.
To examine whether SKDRDP is necessary for the development of the society.
To analyze the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of SKDRDP.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

 Time: The greatest employer of man, which is time, was not in my favor. I get only few days for the
completion of the internship.
 Finance: The research work generally involves money but considering my stand as a student, I was
limited by financial in completing the internship effectively.
 Response Rate: the information to be analyzed in the study will be limited to those who would
respond voluntarily to the questionnaire.

RESEARCH METHODOLGY:

Research Methodology is the specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process and
analysis information about a topic. The methodology section answers two main questions: How was the
data collected or generated? How was it analyzed?
 PRIMARY DATA:
The data was collected from the face to face interaction with the manager and the staffs and also
from observation.

 SECONDARY DATA:
Secondary data was collected from the internet, newspapers and the articles. The data which is
unavailable in primary source can be collect from secondary source.

CHAPTER 2
Review of literature:
Joshi (2012) has analyzed the role of leadership and management and leadership of the NGOs in rural
development. This study was carried out with special reference to SKDRDP. The author arrives at the
inference that the practical wisdom and leadership of the Chairman Dr. D Veerendra Heggade and the
professional management of the SKDRDP are the major contributing factors to success. Joshi makes a very
interesting observation in his study referring to Harper- “In SKDRDP, Harper noticed a unique combination
of development, divinity and dharma which became possible on account of inspiring leadership qualities of
Veerendra Heggade.” In the words of Harper as quoted in Joshi (2012), “SKDRDP is essentially a traditional
community-based institution, inspired by a local God, and relying on a local institution and locally recruited
staff, to serve local people. Its competence is homegrown rather than professionals, and Dr.Heggade has
whenever possible resisted the employment of development professionals.” This study has managerial and
leadership perspectives of SKDRDP and no empirical study was taken up to examine the effeteness of its
extensive SHG network in brining integrated growth of rural poor.
An in-depth descriptive study was made by Shylendra et.al. (2012) on SKDRDP and arrives at the conclusion
that it is the model with certain positive lessons worthy of replication in microfinance. The authors
attribute the success of SKDRDP to various factors such as: committed leadership of the NGO, values of its
spiritual moorings and altruistic principles, thrust on not-for-profit approach and adoption of integrated
approach to livelihood by combining interrelated developmental inputs. The focus of this paper was
limited to examining the strengths and abilities of SKDRDP in reaching the microfinance to the rural people.
Hence, no comprehensive study was carried out on the SHG model of SKDRDP.
Another study by D’souza et.al. (2013) analysed the effectiveness of SKDRDP’s Business Correspondent
(BC) Model for the inclusive growth. The study concludes that the BC Model is the best tool to attain
sustainable development of the country. Again, the focus of the study was laid down prominently on the
credit delivery and financial inclusion and the study was descriptive. The study resulted mainly in opinion
formation and such opinions are not tested for validity by the authors. Further, there was no study on
SKDRDP’s SHG model.
A study was conducted by AkshathaandAkash (2014) to evaluate the relevance of rural development
programs of SKDRDP in rural areas of Shivamogga district. Similar to the findings of other studies, this
paper also observes that the rural intervention strategies of SKDRDP were very effective in transforming
the lives of the people benefited. The training and activities toward entrepreneurial skills were the
prominent factors leading to success. This apart, as the author says “spirituality and devotion to god makes
people to work with faith and belief, which is the reason for its rapid growth in all rural areas.” There are
certain gaps in this study. Firstly, study has arrived towards conclusion based on descriptive study without
empirical testing. Secondly, even this paper did not pay attention to study the relevance and impact of
SHGs.
Belli and Raghvendra (2014) analysed the role played by SKDRDP in sustainable rural development through
microfinance. The report of the study reflects that the formation of self-help groups (SHGs) by SKDRDP and
linking such SHGs to banks for microfinance accelerates the process of financial inclusion of rural
population. The study outcome also exhibits that SKDRDP plays limited role in marketing the products of
SHGs. However, SKDRDP’s SIRI GramodayaYojana provides ample marketing opportunities to the products
produced by the SHG members. Further, this paper has not made any study of the primary clients to
examine the impact of SHGs on their living standards. Thus, the study of Belli & Raghvendra (2014) are
ambiguous and demands a fresh investigation on the subject matter.
A paper by Priyakumari (2015) shows that the SKDRDP initiatives have transformed lives of women. The
study reveals that the standard of living of the participatory women has improved drastically since their
joining of SKDRDP. The income of women has rise, savings increased and their purchasing power has
improved. In addition to economic development, the study observes an improved capabilities of women
under SKDRDP. They have gained self- confidence, can speak freely in front of large group of people, and
they enjoy better status in the society. They are capable enough to play a greater role in household
decision making. However, the study id descriptive and the conclusions are hypothesis and they are not
tested analytically. Further the study has not bought out whether SKDRDP played role on empowering
women.
Shetty and Pinto (2015) have examined the success rate of financial inclusion adopting SHG-BLP model by
SKDRDP. It is evident that both the studies emphasize mainly on the financial inclusion and hence these
studies are partial. As human development is a comprehensive concept, well- being cannot be measured
only through credit availability rather multi-dimensions of well-being such as social well-being,
empowerment, safety and security, organizational participation etc. needs to be incorporated. This creates
scope for examining whether SKDRDP’s interventions lead to comprehensive development. Further the
SHG model needs to be studied beyond bank linkage.

An intensive study on the mechanisms of SHG – bank linkage program of SKDRDP was conducted by
HonnappaandBasupattad (2016). The study reveals that apart from provision of rural credit, other
philanthropic initiatives of SKDRP build up the confidence and skills required to start business ventures
leading to a sustainable livelihood. The study seems to be partial as it talks about only financial inclusion
without studying the role of SHGs in multidimensional development wherein financial inclusion could be
one among the several aspects.

CHAPTER 3

COMPANY PROFILE:
Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, popularly known as SKDRDP, is a charitable trust
promoted by Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade. SKDRDP concentrates on the empowerment of people by
organizing Self-help Groups (SHGs) on the lines of Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) and provides infrastructure
and finance through micro credit for the rural people. The Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development
Project encompasses all aspects of enriching the rural life. It is currently expanding its developmental
activities to all the districts of Karnataka. SKDRDP is active with its Community Development Programs
throughout the state. The core strengths of the organization are the blessings of its promoters, dedicated
band of workers, good will of the stakeholders and above all a comprehensive program to better the living
environment of the chosen areas. During the Financial year 2015-16 SKDRDP has extended its area of
operation to cover the state of Karnataka completely.
SKDRDP was started in 1982 in Belthangadi District. Later on it spreads to all the districts of Karnataka.
Now we can found SKDRDP in all the districts of Karnataka. It came to Udupi in 2005.

President : Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade

President, Jnana Vikasa Women Programme: Smt. Hemavathi V Heggade.
Trustees : Sri. D. Surendra Kumar
Sri R.V. Shasthri
Sri B.B. Shanbhogue
Sri Uday Kumar Shetty
Sri Sampath Samrajya
Sri Shyam Bhat
Sri Y. Nageshwar Rao

Active SHG’s: 606213

Total members: 4912025

Loan outstanding (Crores): 16712

Savings Accumulated (Crores): 2645

THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:
Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Develpoment Project,
Dharmasthala Building, Dharmasthala, Dakshina Kannada district,
Karnataka, India, 574216
Ph: (91)-(8256)-277215
Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.skdrdpindia.org/about-us
Category: Charitable Organization & Foundations, Organizations.
Web Rank: 4 Million
Key Words: Sampoorna Suraksha Dharmasthala,
Skdrdp,
Custom Hiring service Centre in kannada,
Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project.
From the above diagram easily we came to know the structure of the organization. President and the
Board of trustees are head of the organization. Under that Executive Directors and the Directors will come.
After that project officers those are the head of the project office. Under those project supervisors will be
there, they were also called Melvicharakas . And to help them and to minimize their burden Sevanirathas
will be there. And Self Help Group will be controlled and managed by the Sevanirathas. And also besides
this there is a Taluk Federation and Village Federation. And also Chief Auditor and Branch Auditor will be
there to help the Directors and the project Officers.
 CHAPTER 4

Programs of SKDRDP:
1. Village Adoption:
SKDRDP works in the villages as a single window for initiating the development process. The animator
identifies the eligible and prospective stake holders sits with them and identifies the areas requiring
intervention. He then promotes the Self Help Groups containing people from similar background and
promotes the federation of Self Help Groups.
The animator helps
• Agriculture extension
• Transfer of technology
• New avenues for income generation.
The animator promotes :
• community participation in village development
• creation of assets
• community development programs
• celebration of festivals, meals etc.,
• escorts the stakeholders to avail the benefits of Government programs.
• Manages the Micro Finance
• The social health schemes of the project.

2. Empowering village community by organizing Self Help Groups. (SHGs):

Promotion of Self Help Groups is the vehicle through which the developmental activities of the
project are carried forward.
Two types of the SHGs are promoted:
Janana vikasa Self Help Groups for poor, uneducated landless womens
 The Pragathi Bandhu Groups consisting of small and marginal farmers.

3. Exclusive SHGs for farming community – Prgathi Bandhu Groups:

 5 to 8 neighborhood Small and marginal farmers are organised under the
unique Pragathi Bandhu Model of Self Help Groups.
 The groups engage in once in a week labour sharing, thrift and micro credit.
 The Pragathi Bandhu Groups in a village organise themselves into a federation
of groups.
 Village level federation come together to form taluka level federation.
 The labour sharing has helped thousands of small farmers to achieve important
farm works like fencing, well digging, land leveling, house/shed construction
through participatory labour.
 The success of the SKDRDP programme is mainly due to Pragathi Bandhu
Model.
 
4. Jnana Vikasa – SHGs for poor, uneducated women:
  Jnanavikasa Kendra are unique centres of socio economic empowerment for
uneducated under employed rural women without lands.
 In the Jnanavikasa Kendras such women empower themselves with knowledge
on health, family welfare, hygiene, children education, clean surroundings,
better living in weekly interaction of upto two hours with each other.
 Normally shy woman unsure of herself transforms herself into a confident, self
respecting, determined woman, through her participation in Jnanavikasa
Kendra.
 jnanavikasa Kendras are now attempting to train the women in various
production activities like floriculture, dairying, vegetable cultivation, home
industries etc., Here women, not only find source of inspiration but also train
to inculcate family values to a better management.
 So far 2,35,284 Jnanavikasa groups have been working in 21,000 villages
comprising of 27,40,410 families.

5. Land development project:

 Un irrigable dry lands like hilly areas are cultivated with rubber and cashew
plantation. Special attention is given in these farms to different methods of
water conservation such as terracing, contour bonding.
 Watershed methodologies are used to stop soil erosion and for the proper
utilization of rain water.
 Cash crops like arcanut, coconut plantation, vegetable cultivation is facilitated
in irrigable areas.
Performance :
 Farmers have been provided with 15,66,000 arecanut saplings, 5,22,560 coconut
saplings, 6,00,820 cashewnut saplings and 30,13,878 rubber saplings.
 More than 7,92,530 acres of agricultural land is aided in constructing border trenches
and fences to protect the field from wild animals.
 More than 2,30,000 acres of barren land is converted and developed as cashewnut
and rubber gardens.
 As a result more than sixty thousand families increase their income considerably.
 The SKDRDP coordinates with various line departments like horticulture, agriculture,
forest etc., in equitable distribution of seed materials and other facilities provided by
them to the deserving farmers.
 CHAPTER 5
SWOT ANALYSIS:
 STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 Benevolent leadership of Dr.D  Relatively higher lending rate.
Veerendra Heggade.  High risk but relatively lower
 Mass acceptance of the model emoluments to field workers/
 Very large client base. supervisors.
 Effective cost management.
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 New markets  Government policies
 New products  Political inference
 More collaborations with
 Sustainability of SGHs
government agencies

A SWOT analysis of SKDRDP will provide clear picture on the sustainability of benefits derived from the
SHGs. This analysis is facilitated by the interactions and discussions with the SHG members and SKDRDP
functionaries. It could be noted that the strengths and weaknesses of SKDRDP SHGs are mainly contributed
by internal factors, while opportunities and threats are factored externally. The major strength of SKDRDP
SHG is the leadership of Dr.D.VeerendraHeggade, whose presence instils confidence in the entire system.
The charismatic leadership and philanthropic background of the organisation led to acceptance of SKDRDP
by people of all religion and caste. The large number of members in SHGs supply manpower to run multiple
events successfully. SKDRDP primarily hires and trains people locally for the different positions in managing
the operations of SHGs. This is the major route through which it could manage cost of operations
effectively. Compared to many of its competitors, SKDRDP has the lowest cost towards payment of
salaries. Having so many strengths, SKDRDP has the potential to serve society for a long run on a sustained
scale.
Amidst advantages, two areas of concerns could also be identified. Firstly, higher interest rate and
secondly, emoluments to last mile employees. Most of the informants, who are the SHG members, felt that
interest rate charged on the loans granted to them was higher. From the perspective of SKDRDP, though it
is justified on the ground of risk of lending loans without collateral from banks and cost involved in loan
collections, the people at grassroots level have additional financial burden. It is also a cause of concern that
the field workers and the field supervisors are the very important link between SKDRDP and grassroots
population. They build up groups, implement all SKDRDP programs at villages, face/solve problems during
loan collections and improve the quality of the group. But it appears that they are relatively underpaid.
The SKDRDP with spectacular success record in rural empowerment, also has certain opportunities for long
run sustainability. It may expand operations to the new areas like north-east India which requires
organizations like SKDRDP for reviving development of the region. SHGs can also engage with new
schemes/programs to meet changing socio- economic structure of the economy. Having an extensive SHG
network and deep connection with the poorest of the poor, most of the government schemes on rural
empowerment could be implemented through SKDRDP’s SHGs. The sustainability of SHG networks appears
to be encountering with two major external threats which are beyond the jurisdiction of SKDRDP. Firstly,
some of the policies of the government are detrimental to the growth of SHGs. For instance, farm loan
waiver. This causes growing expectations of illiterate rural farmers getting loans waived off from SKDRDP
linked bank loans as well. This raises the loan defaults and reduces the quality of the groups.
Secondly, dissidence of local political leaders and obstructions they cause is also another potential threat in
the sustainability of SHGs.

1.

Particulars Respondents Percentage

Yes 37 64.9
No 14 53
Maybe 6 29.8
total 57 100

Respondents

Yes
No
Myabe

2.
Particulars Respondents Percentage
Yes 36 63.2
No 21 36.8
Total 57 100

Respondents
35
30
25
20 Respondents
15
10
5
0
Low Somewhat

3.
Particulars Respondents Percentage
Yes 36 63.2
No 7 12.3
Maybe 14 24.6
total 57 100

High

Somewhat Respondents
Percentage

Low

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

4.
Particulars Respondents Percentage
Yes 43 75.4
No 6 10.5
Maybe 8 14
Total 57 100

Respondents

Low
Somewhat
High

5.
Particulars Respondents Percentage
Low 6 10.7
Somewhat 31 51.8
High 21 37.5
total 57 100

60

50

40

30 Respondents
Percentage
20

10

0
Low Somewhat High

6.
particulars Respondents Percentage
yes 33 58.9
No 24 41.1
total 57 100

40
35
30
25
20 low
somewhat
15
10
5
0
Respondents Percentage

7.
Particulars Respondents Percentage
Low 7 14.5
Somewhat 26 45.5
High 24 40
Total 57 100

high

somewhat Percentage
Respondents

low

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

8.
Particulars Respondents Percentage
Low 7 12.5
Somewhat 20 37.7
High 30 51.8
Total 57 100

Respondents

low
somewhat
high

9.
Particulars Respondents Percentage
Low 4 5.4
Somewhat 23 41.1
High 30 53.6
Total 57 100

80

70

60

50
Percentage
40 Respondents
30

20

10

0
Yes No Maybe

10.
Particulars Respondents Percentage
Yes 14 23.2
No 16 28.6
Maybe 27 48.2
Total 57 100
Findings:
The main objective of this study was to identify whether SKDRDP SHGs contribute to the empowerment of
rural poor. It also aimed at identifying the different aspects of living of such people which are impacted due
to their active participation in SHG activities. In order to identify the factors and related variables of rural
living of the households which are influenced by SHGs, exploratory and empirical tools are applied in this
study. For data analysis, Exploratory factor
analysis and confirmatory factor analysis approaches have been adopted. Following are the major results
derived from this study.
 The results provide sufficient evidences to conclude that SKDRDP promoted SHGs significantly contribute
to the empowerment of rural households in the study area. This is essential to note that the development
derived from SHG participation are multi-dimensional and the benefits procured are not mere economic in
nature. They have enabled holistic empowerment of rural people especially women. More than 73 percent
of the informants for this study were women and hence the results are representative of the status of
women participating in SKDRDP SHGs. It is found from the study that SHGs have contributed significantly to
the financial inclusion, economic well-being, social reforms and capability enhancement of the people at
the grassroots level. The size of impact of SHGs differ from factor to factor.

 It is found from the study that the progress made in rural areas could be substantially attributed to the
impact of SKDRDP promoted SHGs on the following aspects of living: Since joining SKDRDP SHG, people
enjoy higher degree of freedom in their life, they have become more responsible towards family and
society, their confidence level has raised to a greater extent, find increased support for employment and
ability to make decisions for self and family. The multiple programs of SKDRDP which are floated through
the platform of SHG network which comprise members who belong to poor sections of the society. The
SHG provides direct access to the target population. This accessibility of SHG, makes its intervention
programs highly impactful.

 The SHGs also contributed on a moderate scale in improving the living standards of rural people by
benefiting the other aspects of living such as: improved hygienic sense, possession of more economic
assets since joining SHG, raising economic and social status since de-addiction of the rural people, timely
guidance on financial handling of the poor members of SHGs by SKDRDP helps planning savings and credit
payments and SKDRDP SHGs made them realize the meaning and value of their life.
Suggestions:

Digitization: The results show that though SKDRDP has made efforts in digital financial transactions by
issuing Rupay cards to SHG members, people lack awareness and knowledge on its usage. On priority basis,
SHG members may be trained on digital financial transaction which will support immensely Digital India
scheme of Government of India.

Extension and collaborations: SKDRDP may extend its successful SHG model to other parts of the country,
especially to north and north eastern states which are predominantly agrarian, rural economies and
backward as well. SKDRDP may initiate standalone projects in such region. Otherwise, it may also
collaborate with local organizations/NGOs and implement the projects through them. The extension can
also be in the form of SKDRDP mentoring NGOs/local organizations of on rural interventions.

Strengthening of men’s SHGs: Pragathibandhu SHGs of rural men is a very powerful model as it involves
weekly labor sharing which creates lot of economic activities without labor cost. Among the total members
of SHG, only 10 percent are men. Widening the pragathibandhu network would contribute substantially to
the economic wellbeing of the rural men.