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| Orissa starts project to take banking to rural households |
| Bishnu Dash / Bhubaneswar May 29, 2009, 00:26 IST |
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As part of its initiative to make banking services available to the poor, the Orissa government has decided to launch an information, communication and technology (ICT) pilot project.
The six-month project seeks to extend banking services to the rural areas and strengthen the financial inclusion process in the state. The preparatory process is almost over and the scheme is likely to be launched by the month-end, sources close to the development said. It will be implemented in 29 villages across four gram panchayats (GP).
It will cover Salagaon GP of Tangi Choudwar block in Cuttack district and Betna, Bhagabatchandrapur, Budhikhamari GP in Baripada block of Mayurbhanj district. An estimated Rs 6 lakh is proposed to be spent by the state panchayatiraj department, which is the implementing authority for the project.
An officer of the rank of deputy director in the panchayatiraj department will act as the nodal officer for the pilot project. Uco Bank and Union Bank of India have been roped in for the project. Payment of wages to beneficiaries of schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) will be made through these state-run banks.
However, as the banks do not have branches at the village level, it was decided to adopt the Business Correspondent (BC) model as devised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The Zero Mass Foundation (ZMF) will work as a BC to deliver financial services, including NREGS wage payments, in the rural areas. ZMF will recruit and train people at the customer service points to enrol customers and provide banking services in the villages.
Sources said that the BC would provide identical biometric devices with IDCOL Software for recording the registration, demand for work, work allocation and attendance with longitude and latitude of the projects under NREGS.
Data pertaining to the fingerprint of the beneficiaries will be shared with the server of the panchayatiraj department and NREGA Soft.
IDCOL Software will inspect and guarantee high availability of the fixed equipment consisting of a laptop, two identical biometric devices, and two thermal printers with blue tooth facility for every GP covered under the project.
A meeting under the chairmanship of the panchayatiraj department was held recently to review the preparedness for implementation of the project. RK Misra, additional secretary and director (institutional finance), state finance department, will co-ordinate with all the stakeholders for better implementation of the pilot project, sources added.
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