Traditionally, people of India have saved funds and generated capital from small and individual sources by developing self-help groups to support their needs and to also help people in need. This has been done particularly to support farming ventures and to start small agricultural businesses. Thus the concept of microfinance is not new to India. Microfinance is the provision of banking and financial services to those in need or those unbanked and lower strata of the economy where such services are usually not available. Microfinance program is an initiative undertaken by various self-help groups and microfinance institutions (MFIs), primarily, with the help of NABARD to help rural India sustain themselves, to provide them with a livelihood, to reduce poverty, to help farmers pay their debts and to help rural communities uplift their economic and social status. There are more than 30% people who are living below the poverty line in India without access to basic needs. Thus microfinance plays a vital role in to help rural people provide access to basic banking services and their need to be debt free. Formal banking sector has not been able to effectively cater to the needs of rural sector, thus microfinance came into play which is purely dedicated to providing a range of financial services to the rural households. In India, the concept of microfinance is blooming with the help of government agencies that have been instrumental in providing services to the poor household on a regular basis. This paper attempts to study the position of microfinance in rural India, the achievements of various institutions and the road ahead.

Background: Smoking, age, gender, socioeconomic class and education may contribute to the hearing loss. In this study hearing loss between smokers (current and ex) and non smokers was compared. Materials and Methods: 145 smokers [79 current (68 males, 11 females) and 66 ex smokers (60 males, 6 females)] and 145 non smokers (69 males, 76 females) were studied. Modified Kuppuswamy scale and smoking index were used. Hearing loss was assessed by Audiometry. P value of<0.05(unpaired t test and chi square test) was taken as statistically significant. Result: Statistically significant and non significant differences were found between the mean age and educational status of current-ex smokers and smokers-non smokers respectively. Statistically significant and non significant differences were found between the socioeconomic status of smokers-non smokers and current-ex smokers respectively. Difference was significant between smoking index of current and ex smokers (p=0.003). 70.05% males had hearing loss as compared to females (49.46%). About 59.24% and 26.09% hearing loss cases belonged to low education and upper and upper middle social class respectively. 68% and 24.24% of moderate and severe smoking index were of professional to graduate educational status. 36.17% and 30.30% of moderate to severe smoking index belonged to upper and upper middle socioeconomic class. 73.91% were from low social classes. 47.59% non smokers and 25.51% smokers had no hearing loss. The severity of hearing loss was more in heavy smokers. Conclusion: Hearing loss associated with smoking was found to be more in male gender, advancing age, low socioeconomic and educational classes.