Paper Title
Poverty Alleviation Through Neighbourhood Groups � A Study in Ernakulum District of Kerala State, India

Abstract
Poverty in India, like the nation�s population, is predominantly rural but remarkably responsive to economic growth.as the economy grows, poverty diminishes, faster when growth is strong, slower when it is not. The approach of poverty alleviation through economic growth focuses on the poverty reducing potentials of growth process by appropriate choice of policies and strategies which would enhance the flow of benefits to the poor. Therefore the government of India has implemented variousschemes to reduce poverty, for empowering poor women and topromote gainful employment. Kudumbashree is a comprehensive poverty alleviation programme in the state of Kerala and it focuses primarily on micro finance and micro enterprise development. The mission of Kudumbashree is �to eradicate absolute poverty in ten years through concerted community action under the leadership of local self-governments, by facilitating organization of the poor for combining self-help groups with demand led convergence of available services and resources to tackle the multiple dimensions and manifestation of poverty holistically�. The aim of the project is to examine the extent to which NHGs have contributed to poverty alleviation and household welfare. For the collection of data, both primary and secondary sources were used. Interview schedule was administered for collecting primary data. The finding reveals that kudumbashree NHG movement has achieved remarkable success in making the poor economically active by way of increasing the employment and income levels as well as the asset base. Keywords- Kudumbashree, Micro Enterprise, Micro Finance, NHGs