The Government of Jharkhand is putting every effort to curb the spread of the Covid19 pandemic in the state without impacting the delivery of essential services and ensuring benefits of Government schemes reaches the beneficiaries.
At the request of Chief Minister the Banking Services Sakhis are proving to be handy in making the banking services accessible to all in the village at their doorstep. These women, known as Bankwali Didi in the villages, are proving to be the backbone of the rural economy. With the help of these BC Sakhis, along with other banking facilities, services like widow pension, old age pension, wages of MGNREGA workers are also being provided door to door. Bouyed by the tremendous success of this arrangement, the Chief Minister has also set a target of appointing one Banking Correspondent Sakhi in every panchayat.
Anjum Ara is a Banking Correspondent Sakhi of Maganpur panchayat in the Gola block of Ramgarh district. During the lockdown period, Anjum has completed transactions worth more than 46 lakhs through the service delivery to the beneficiaries. Anjum says, “I provide banking services to people in my panchayat as well as other nearby panchayats. Even during the previous lock-down, I was offering banking services to the people of my area. While delivering banking services to the people, I am constantly in contact with people. This may expose me to the virus infection. I take all precautions and proper care while providing banking facilities to the people.”
Similarly, Sonia Kansari of Karra block of Khunti district is also providing banking facilities to the people of her panchayat at this time of crisis. All the services ranging from money deposit, withdrawal and insurance are available to the people of Karra block at their doorstep. Sonia processes up to 25-30 lakh rupees of transaction every month.
Today, the entire country is fighting a war against the Covid-19 pandemic. In this hour of crisis, many banking correspondents like Anjum and Sonia are continuously providing banking services to the villagers even during the lockdown. Last year too, during April-July 2020, when a strict lockdown was imposed across the state, 1679 Banking Correspondent Sakhis had processed transactions of more than Rs. 327 crores in doorstep delivery of essential banking services to the rural population.
B.C. Sakhis active in the state, making banking services available to the people of their village/panchayat, are continuously running awareness drives related to Covid appropriate behaviour in rural areas. They are playing important role as a frontline warrior and contributing to the fight against the Covid19 pandemic.
The Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society, under the Rural Development Department, has 3383 Banking Correspondent Sakhis working across the state, who are providing banking services to the villagers. The sisters of Sakhi Mandal are being trained and posted as Banking Correspondent Sakhi by linking them with various banks under NLM and NRETP. On the one hand, with this initiative, the Didis are getting employment, while the remote villages are getting banking facilities. B.C. Sakhi s are providing all banking services including the opening of accounts, cash withdrawals, deposits, widow pension, old age pension, scholarships, MNREGA wages, insurance to villagers with the help of their laptops and E-PoS machines. Since April 2021, more than 91 crore transactions have been done by these banking correspondents.
Looking at the positive impact of the Banking Correspondent Sakhi initiative, the Chief Minister has now decided to take it forward to every Panchayat of Jharkhand. One sister from Sakhi Mandal will be trained as Banking Correspondent Sakhi in every panchayat of the state. These way villagers can access banking facilities in their panchayat itself.