A village adoption scheme was introduced by the banks in 1960s in India with a view to enhancing their visibility besides encouraging agri-lending in a cost-effective manner.
With the passage of time, the scheme faded away. And now, the State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest bank, has taken a new initiative under its corporate social responsibility programme to revive the scheme, rechristening it as “SBI Ka Apna Goan”.
For this purpose, the SBI has launched efforts in Uttarakhand and other states to adopt villages with the active support of village panchayats.
The main purpose of the scheme is to achieve 100 percent financial inclusion for all BPL families. The scheme would also seek to promote self-help groups (SHPs), farm clubs with the participation of NGOs and other development agencies. The scheme would also focus on credit requirements of all eligible rural households and link community services with SBI banking services.
The SBI has already started identifying villages in this regard. A detail survey has been launched. The bank’s staff members would act as bridge between the villages and the SBI.
In Uttarakhand, the SBI would work in tandem with the state government which has also launched a similar “Atal Adarsh Gram Yojna” in all 670 nayay panchayats. One village in each nayay panchayat will be identified. Under this scheme, the thrust will be on development of social and infrastructure facilities in rural areas to remove regional imbalances.
“In our last meeting with the government, we have been given the task to provide banking facilities in all these villages by the state government,” said an SBI official. The SBI has also convened a meeting at Haldwani this week to give impetus to the scheme.