Microfinance as a tool to empower women and alleviate poverty

Women Empowerment in its simplest form means the manifestation of realization of power that challenges patriarchal ideology and the male dominance. It is both a process and the rest of the process. The government of India announced a National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001, to bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of women belonging to weaker groups, including Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Castes.the study is to examine the various poverty alleviation programmes in the country in general. In particular, the study attempts to measure the levels of empowerment of women and levels of poverty in study area, making a comparative analysis between Velugu Mandal and Non - Velugu mandals. Empowerment in all respects, namely, economic, social and political empowerment has been measured.