BHUBANESHWAR, A snake charmers village, which was in distress, ever since the government imposed restrictions on such traditional activity, has undergone a socio-economic change, through microfinance initiatives.
Adhikar, a microfinance institution, operating in 13 districts with 35 branches across the state, had started work at Padmakesharipur, four years ago, encouraging the womenfolk to avail loans from banks. They started with Rs 1,000 and today, these women have taken loans up to Rs 15,000, as productive loans and Rs 25,000 as housing loans.
Special camps were organized by Adhikar Microfinance and Neelachal Gramya Bank, Patia Branch, with the sponsorship of IOB, for no-frill accounts, in a large scale financial inclusion, for the people, at the village recently. Three hundred villagers participated and opened savings bank accounts.
Mr. Kaza Sudhakar, regional director, RBI; Mr. P Srinivas Rao, DGM, RBI; Mrs. Manisha Mishra, AGM, RBI; Mr. D.K Nanda, P.K Mohanty, Sarat Chandra Mohanty, R.K Narang, DGM, IOB; Mr. M.D.N Amin, president; Mr. Sheikh Sahajahan and others, interact with the villagers.
Mr. Sudhakar explained the role of RBI and distributed account passbooks to the villagers. Mr. RK Narang, DGM IOB, encouraged Adhikar members, as well as the steps of Neelahal Gramya Bank, to be proactive in the area, while Mrs. Manisha Mishra, AGM, RB, I discussed the story of “Raju and Money Plant”, a difference of bank savings and in-house savings and reviewed about proper utilization of money.
Mr. Purna Mohanty, GM, NGB, explained about his own entrepreneurship, bank savings, insurance system and loan credit system from the Bank.
