RBI launched outreach program to educate villagers about banking

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been working to take banking to villages. Following this as part of its platinum jubilee celebrations, has launched an outreach program in the country to educated villagers about banking and its benefits.

In view of this RBI is in a process to develop Khopi, located 30 kilometers from Pune, as a model village with an aim to encourage every villager to open his/her own bank account. Later on the same model will be replicated in other villages. In addition to Khopi, eight more villages around Pune including Kalyan, Shivare, Vinzer, Kusgaon, Shivapur, Kelad, Sangvi and Velhe have been selected for the outreach program.

The RBI has chosen Khopi for its pilot project due to specific reasons. Not only that villager does not have bank accounts, there is not a single doctor in Khopi. People have to go to Pune for every small medical necessity. Thus when Maya More, an MBBS aspirant contacted RBI to get an education loan, the apex bank readily accepted her request.

Maya belongs to a poor family and can not pay for medical study until the RBI gave her an education loan.

Maya was given an amount of Rs 2.80 lakh for the next five years after which she obtained 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 prices 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 one to get the loan. Kamala Rajan, chief general manager and principal of College of Agricultural Banking (CAB), RBI told, “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".

Under the program, the CAB has been undertaking various programs for creating awareness about financial inclusion among villagers. In view of this, a team of officers from the CAB will be visiting nine different villages in the district till March next year.