Though, Mahesh promised Shiela that he was going straight to the vegetable market, he got deviated on his way to the market as his friends invited him to a game of cards that involved gambling with money. Mahesh got trapped in the gambling game and lost all his money. Then, he did not go home as he lost face and did not know how to answer Shiela. When Mahesh did not turn up till late evening, Shiela got upset and went to the village square to find out about his whereabouts. She came to know that Mahesh was gambling and had lost all her money in the game, whereas her hungry kids were ailing at home. She turned furious and ran to her Group to unfold her woes. Prem, the SHG Secretary, asked shiela as to what action would she like the group to take. At this, Shiela wondered whether it was possible to put a stop to gambling in  the village as it was ruining so man the village as it was ruining so many homes of the poor local people. Kusuma Devi(the SHGChairperson) and Lilavati (the Treasurer) reaffirmed with Shiela whether she was ready to challenge her husband. Shiela answered in the affirmative stating that she was ready to face her husband rather than being subservient to him and witnessing the kids sleep hungry.
               
Thus, the women’s group decided to take out a rally throughout the

Women protesting against gamblers by tearing off their playing cards

village and challenge the gamblers. The local people were quite in awe of such a rally, full of women, that was joined by many other women. In fact, the rally grew from just 15 women to more than 50 within no time. Even the elderly men of the village joined the rally. These ladies protested against
                                                                                         
 gambling by tearing away the playing cards of the gamblers and shredding them into small pieces. The women warned the gamblers that if they ever gambled again, their action would be reported to the police. The people present there supported the women and started noting the name of the gamblers, including the names of some of the persons belonging to higher castes. Some of the culprits started abusing the women, at which the group caught hold of them and they fled from the spot. The villagers appreciated this action of women, where as some of them protested against it.

This is a success story of Village Ramgarh Mohalla, which is two kilometers away from Niwari Block, situated on the Tikamgarh Road near the Niwari station. Development Alternatives (DA) established a Self Help Group called Maya, under the Swa-shakti Project of Madhya Pradesh Government.DA trained the self-help group –Maya- on how to save money on a monthly basis and

Women SHG helps to set up      printing press

 also hold regular meetings on various issues concerning the group.

During one of the SHG meetings, one of the members - Kaushalya Devi – proposed to set up a printing press as her son was well versed with printing operations and was keen to initiate a press at home. She suggested her son to hire a room for establishing the press, but that entailed a total expenditure of 20,000 rupees. Kaushalya, with all her assets, could not gather more than 16,000 rupees for the same. So, she requested the group if they could extend a loan of 4,000 rupees for the press. She promised to return the principal amount of the loan with interest within a span of two months. At this, the group gave its consent and provided her the desired loan amount. Kaushalya set up this new printing press, named Rahul Printing Press, and all the members of Maya participated in its inauguration along with SHGs like Gangotri and others. All those present at the inauguration agreed to get their printing done at the Rahul Printing Press to help Kaushalya and her son. After a period of two months, Kaushalya was able to return the loan of 4000 rupees, along with the interest amounting to 240 rupees. Today, Kaushlya Devi and her elder son, Dalchand, earns between 3500 to 4000 rupees on the average, every month.