RBI to teach Pune villagers how to bank

Swati Shinde,
|
PUNE: As part of its platinum jubilee celebrations,
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched an
outreach programme in the country with an aim
to create awareness among villagers about banking and its benefits.

The RBI is trying to develop Khopi, located 30 kilometers from Pune,
as a model village with a target to motivate every villager to have
his/her own bank account. The model will then be replicated in other
villages. Besides Khopi, eight more villages around Pune including Kalyan,
Shivare, Vinzer, Kusgaon, Shivapur, Kelad, Sangvi and Velhe have been
selected for the outreach programme.

The RBI had reasons to identify Khopi for its pilot project.
Forget about villagers not having bank accounts, Khopi
does not even have a single doctor. People need to rush
to Pune for every small medical necessity.
So when Maya More, an MBBS aspirant,
approached the RBI seeking an education loan,
her request was readily accepted.

Maya comes from a poor family and could not afford to study
medicine until Wednesday, when RBI disbursed her an education loan.



Maya received an amount of Rs 2.80 lakh for the next five years after
which she took admission into
Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College in Katraj.

"My parents are not very well off.
We do a bit of farming, but we are
hardly able to run a family of four
with what we earn. We don't get enough price
for our crops. And studying MBBS is not easy
with the exorbitant fees. When I learnt of this scheme,
I told my father about it and he willingly agreed to approach
the RBI for a loan, which was accepted."

Maya is not the only beneficiary though.
"There are several self-help groups (SHG)
operating in the villages. In order to strengthen
their business, SHGs also need loan but they do
not have access to banks as they are unaware of
the concept. As part of our drive, we are trying to
tell them what banks are, what it means to create an
account, how to take loan, repay them among other things,"
said Kamala Rajan, chief general manager and
principal of College of Agricultural Banking (CAB), RBI.

Under the programme, the CAB has undertaken various
programmes for creating awareness about financial inclusion
among villagers. In this context, a team of officers from the
CAB will visit nine different villages in the district till March next year.