As modern climate change causes rapid geographical shifts of environmental conditions, there are great concerns that numerous species could be unable to track suitable environments, thereby incurring a 'climatic debt'. Recently, Devictor et al. reported that the composition of bird and butterfly communities across Europe has changed at a lower rate than could be expected given the observed increase in temperature. They concluded that communities are accumulating a significant climatic debt.

This paper reviews the progress of SHG-Bank linkage programme at the national and regional levels, and examines its impact on the socio-economic conditions of SHG member households. The programme has grown at a tremendous