The correct choice is Option 1: (i), (ii) and (iii).

Detailed Explanation:

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are informal associations of people (mostly women) who come together to find ways to improve their living conditions. They are typically mobilized and promoted by institutional or structured developmental entities rather than commercial exploiters.

Here is a breakdown of why specific entities mobilize them:

(i) Gram Panchayats: As the local self-government, Gram Panchayats play a pivotal role in community development. They promote SHGs to implement rural livelihood schemes, empower local women, and channel government welfare funds.

(ii) Banks: Financial institutions—especially Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), NABARD, and commercial banks—actively mobilize SHGs under programs like the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme. This allows them to foster financial inclusion and provide micro-loans safely.

(iii) Voluntary Organisations: Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and civil society groups are historically the most active pioneers in mobilizing SHGs by conducting awareness campaigns, providing skill training, and organizing communities at the grassroots level.

Why (iv) and (v) are excluded:

(iv) Individuals: While an individual social worker might help, standalone individuals generally lack the institutional capacity, legal framework, and long-term resources required to formally mobilize, sustain, and link SHGs to mainstream financial systems.

(v) Local Traders: Local traders often operate on commercial profit motives and are traditionally part of the unorganized credit system (often acting as informal moneylenders). Since SHGs are designed to liberate the rural poor from the debt-traps of local traders and middlemen, traders do not mobilize them.