Bubhukshitam kim nakaroti papam

It was a mid-winter and I had gone to Sambalpur to mentor and monitor the functioning of SBIRSETI, Sambalpur, sponsored by SBI. During my tenure as State Coordinator, I used to visit Rseti’s and interact with the trainees in all the 30 institutes in Odisha. A peculiar incidence happened during my interaction with trainees on that day at Sambalpur. Before I proceed further, let me throw some light on Rsetis.

Rseti or Rural Self Employment Training Institute, is an extended arm of Banks under Corporate social responsibilities to augment employment in rural areas. This model has been accepted by MoRD, Govt. of India in 2011 in the lines of RUDESTIs sponsored by Syndicate Bank, Canara Bank and Sri Dharmasthal Educational trust founded in 1982. Accordingly, the banks were asked to open these rural training institutes in all the lead districts of the country, by obtaining land, free of cost, from state govts, getting grant of Rs1crore per Rseti from MoRD, and managing and bearing the expenses themselves.

In course of my interaction individually with trainees, who came from across the district, I used to draw my conclusion about the quality of training, quality of food provided free of cost and most important on the quality of escort service, post training, and credit linkage to augment employment. The trainees provided me the required input on the above matters and my interaction was heading for conclusion when a youth from the interior of the district, scantily dressed, stood up and sought permission for a personal question. He asked me, “ Sir, Can you provide me a pant?” I was utterly unprepared to receive such feedback from a trainee as this question created sudden laughter among the other trainees who looked down towards him. I did not react immediately but decided to spend a night more at sambalpur to find answer to the query.

Next day I came bit early to the Rseti and asked the Director, to call for the boy for more personal talk. The young boy responded positively and when I asked him why he asked for a pant, he reveal the following, He said:

“I am the only son of my parents who use to make earthen pots and get a modest earning for our subsestence by selling the pots in local market. They have allowed me to study and I have completed 12th class from local college and now I am doing my graduation. I am not allowed by my parents to help them in the family business as my father wants to see me as a job holder or pursuing a more lucrative employment. What they get from local market is hardly sufficient for meeting the daily needs and I do not have any dress except the pant, T-shirt and towel I am holding now. He told that we are surviving because of the One Rupee rice per kg amounting to 25 kgs supplied to us by the Govt. every month.”

On hearing this, I saluted the Govt for its 25kg rice program against which I had objections earlier. I made a temporary solution to his requirement but inside, I was shaken for the abject poverty we find still in our society. The boy was being provided with mobile repairing training with EDP at the Rseti and I followed up till he got an engagement with a local firm selling mobile phones, earning about Rs 3000/ per month initially. The SBI Rseti provided him the support for wage employment and assured for credit linkage if he preferred self-employment.

Poverty is the mother of all sins we find in the society. Thanks to the Govt. now Food security Act 2013 is implemented and govt supplies adequate food to people, especially those who are deprived of basic nutrition. According to UN, India is having a population of around 195 million, who are under nourished and under fed which amounts to be a quarteter of world’s hunger burden.

If one recollects, about 50 years back, India was rolling under severe food shortage due to continuous drought during 1966,67, and 68. In Odisha, our people were hard struck and getting two meals a day was a luxury. In rural villages, people depended upon forest to fetch their daily food by collecting various leaves and roots. India got doles from US under PL480 and also from other countries to feed her hungry population. Hunger is the worst evil to humanity. However, we have come out of the hurdles now and situation is not that panicky as it was then.

If one looks at the people living below poverty line and listens to them, as in the case of the Sambalpur youth, one would agree that:

1. Poor have a strong desire to come up economically,
2. Poor are bankable.

Banks, in India, are totally different from others as they are performing more social responsibilities than their counterparts in the world. The Govt is showcasing the success of Indian banks in the field of PM Jaan Dhan Yojana and Mudra(PMMY) and DBT schemes at United Nations. Banks’ contribution in training the rural youth, at no cost to the trainees, is an important escort service being provided in more than 580 districts now. This is a more significant service rendered by banks which needs to be propagated more.

The Rsetis/Rudseti in Odisha, found by SBI, Uco, BOI, Andhra bank, Central bank of India and Canara- Syndicate bank have been providing training to over 22000 youth annually out of which almost 69% are settled through self-employment or wage employment. The Rseti model is a short duration training model with long period of hand holding, imparting soft skills with EDP and emulating a Gurukul type teaching environment.

There should be a focused approach in removing poverty from the society through permutation and combination of schemes. We have tried our way through 20 point Economic programmes, followed by the subsidy driven schemes like IRDP, ERRP, then following group based community approach of SHGs and JLGs since 1998. Presently Livelihood programmes are being taken with and one cannot say that poverty has not been attacked and reduced. If one goes to any village now, one will find pucca roads, pucca houses and more motorised vehicles than before. Bullock cart is slowly being replaced with tractors, power tillers and trolleys. What we need now is a proper take off, keeping the health of banks safe, as banks are the promoters of growth and beacon of hope in a country like ours.

Mr. Gokul Chandra Mishra is Ex General Manager, Syndicate Bank. He welcomes readers' feedback at his email - gcm402@gmail.com