Series of failed schemes starting from buses given to tribal youths to loans given for various livelihood programmes and state of MESO hospitals seem not to have deterred the Jharkhand State Tribal Cooperative Development Corporation limited (JSTCDC).
An independent body under State Welfare Department which has accumulated over Rs33 crore of their dues up till now has applied for fresh funds from various bodies of the Centre.
For the year 2014-15 the JSTCDC has approached National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation, National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) and National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation for fresh loans to be disbursed among the deprived sections to help them earn means of
livelihood. The central agencies are functioning under Tribal Affairs and Social Justice and Empowerment Ministries.
“We have applied for fresh funds. The amount for the current financial year is about Rs12 crore for all the three groups—Scheduled Caste, OBC and physically challenged. A letter in this regard has been sent on May 29,” said an official of JSTCDC sharing
the data.
Worrying is to know that the Corporation meant to assist the section of the society in Jharkhand is sinking further into debt due to serial offending as the loans distributed down turn bad more often than not.
“The JSTCDC is continuously running into losses and I am not sure about future of the corporation. The poor financial scenario has forced the Corporation to cut down its expenses. It is short staffed and apart from two three districts our offices are not functional in large parts of the State,” said Arjun Manjhi, Secretary of JSTCDC.
The Corporation finances loans for acquiring means of livelihood in the areas of transport, farming, services and business to the target groups at the interest as low as 3 per cent. But the real pain is that even that low rate of interest does not promote the beneficiaries to pay back promptly.
“Mostly because we lack recovery mechanism. There are not sufficient recovery agents with us and largely the JSTCDC depends on slapping notices. What we are also witnessing is the role of middlemen who take away the real benefits on the names of tribals and OBCs without bothering to pay back,” added Manjhi. It is the agents who meddle in the selection of beneficiaries at all the three levels — district, division and State. Attempts to contact Tribal Welfare Commissioner John Pascal lakra failed.