India, the world's most populous country, is grappling with the significant challenge of a majority of its population residing in rural areas. To tackle this issue, the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India has implemented the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).This paper is an attempt to surface critical challenges faced by SHGs, possible solutions, and government efforts to address these challenges. Direct interaction with women of SHGs is done with the focused group method in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, further solutions for these critical difficulties are developed with the interaction of Government officials and other experts.We have clustered the critical factors affecting women's participation. Experts’ solutions and governmental action to take care of these issues are also identified and reported in the paper. The research is unique as it not only identifies the problems but suggests possible solutions for the issue. Research implications are wide, it can be taken as an ignition to a series of such researches, and more important is to develop solution strategies in advance.

Keywords : Self Help Groups, NRLM, critical factors, women, Government, women empowerment.