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As part of its ongoing mission to empower women and make banking services available to villages across the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has launched the Banking Correspondent Sakhi Scheme to recruit banking correspondents. The government has already recruited and trained 17,500 banking correspondents under the scheme while training of the remaining 58,000 women for the post is underway.
Additional Chief Secretary (Rural Development) Manoj Kumar Singh said, “Money is being transferred to the 17,500 women who have already completed training. The state government’s initiative has also made it convenient for people to withdraw and deposit their money in villages, saving them both time and money as they no longer need to visit bank branches and queue up for long hours for the purpose. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath started Mission Rojgar, Mission Shakti and Mission Kalyan to lead Uttar Pradesh to become a self-reliant state. The departments concerned have also accelerated their efforts to implement the master plan prepared by the state government in this regard.”
Under the State Rural Livelihood Mission, 30,000 women are being trained for the banking correspondent’s job in cooperation with Bank of Baroda, the lead bank of UP. The UP Industrial Consultants Limited is also making its contributions as a partner in this initiative. Earlier, the Yogi government had appointed 500 male and female banking correspondents through UP Scheduled Castes Finance Development Corporation Limited.
Official sources said that the UP government has accorded priority to retired soldiers and teachers as well as women in the appointment as banking correspondents. The mandatory requirements for an applicant for a banking correspondent’s post include completion of 12th grade, computer compatibility, no police case and clearing the test for it.
Formerly engaged in garment business, Dharmendra Singh of Barhalganj village in Gorakhpur  said that the banking correspondent scheme of the state government benefited him immensely and gave him both respectability in society and also an opportunity to serve people.
Similarly, internet café owner Asif Ali  of Sethal village of Bareilly said that it provided him with monthly income, enabling him to plan his future.
On the other hand, Mohsin Mirza from Nakhas in Lucknow remarked that the banking correspondent Sakhi scheme offered people a major source of livelihood and rendered bank transactions much easier for the rural folk. Bhagwan Das from Sonbhadra said that the scheme not only provided him with a job and enabled him to increase his income, but also benefited customers immensely in facilitating convenience in banking transactions.