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| RBI begins financial literacy drive |
| BS Reporter / Chennai/ Bangalore Sep 23, 2009, 00:20 IST |
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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subba Rao on Tuesday initiated the financial literacy programme at Doddaballavangala village in Bangalore rural district, about 60 km from here, to achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion in the country.
As part of its platinum jubilee celebrations (1935-2009), the RBI selected the village to roll out the first outreach programme in the country. “The purpose of the programme is to make people understand the objectives of RBI’s responsibilities and functions, and how we make a difference to the life of a common man,” Rao said.
He told reporters, the RBI has selected Karnataka as the pilot state for launching the financial literacy programme. Display of financial products and services offered by various banks to the people, interaction with bankers on their initiatives under the 100 per cent financial inclusion and, adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) in achieving the goal are some of the activities that mark the financial literacy programme, he said.
“We have asked the Karnataka government to incorporate the financial literacy course in the text books for students of class five, class seven and class nine from the next academic year. The books, which will be distributed freely to the students of these classes, will be translated in the local language,” Rao said.
To achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion across the country, the Central Bank has decided to work with state governments for opening no-frills accounts in every village with a population of 2,000. The bank accounts should be operational with facility to deposit money, take credit and make other transactions. Financial inclusion means that all people or every household in the country must have an operative account in a bank, Rao stated.
“One of the most important things we are doing as part of the platinum jubilee is to run an outreach programme with commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks in a village for a day and disseminate information about the banking sector and most importantly on what we should be doing to achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion,” Rao added. To roll out the programme nationwide, besides Rao, top officials of RBI, including deputy governors, executive directors and general managers will participate in similar programmes throughout the platinum jubilee year.
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