is a polio victim. At the age of five, her right leg was afflicted by polio. She has three brothers and four sisters all of whom are elder to her. She has never gone to school. She stays in , a predominantly backward village that falls under the Phase 1 area of the project.
Till the age of 22, she stayed with her siblings but after they got married they could not pay much attention to Yankamma. She realised that it was time that she made a life of her own. She left her joint family, got a house, and started living alone.
She opened a petty shop in her house with the help of her brothers and Rs. 500. In the beginning, due to the meager investment, she earned only around Rs.15 per day, - hardly enough to sustain her.
Around this time, a friend who is an Anganawadi schoolteacher taught Yankamma to stitch clothes. But she did not have the funds to buy a sewing machine. Yankamma had already joined a Munjavu group called the Basaveshwara Group and she decided to take their help. She borrowed Rs. 2000 in 1997 at the rate of 24 percent per annum, repayable in six months. Now Yankamma stitches school uniforms for children and dresses for women and girls.
Her economic condition improved and she repaid the entire loan with interest before the time allotted for repayment. In 1998, she again borrowed Rs. 1000 to invest in her shop, the earning from which is around Rs. 40 a day. The next year, she borrowed Rs. 500 and bought a goat which she sold after six months for Rs. 800. In 2000, she borrowed Rs. 1000 to buy another goat, which she has given on lease. In November 2001, she borrowed Rs. 2500 to invest in her petty shop. She has made a profit of Rs. 1350 from that one. After generating a surplus of Rs. 3350, she has now bought 6 grams of gold. Her present savings in the group is Rs. 1222!
Yankamma's status in society has changed. She now commands respect and is not dependent on anyone for her livelihood. "I lead a very comfortable and financially sound life. I now have the confidence to face financial problems," she says. Since Yankamma has repaid all loans, she owns a sewing machine worth Rs. 2000. Her petty shop is worth Rs. 3000.
