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In this Issue...

EditorialBISWA organises State Level

Consultation on Social Finance Other news of BISWA

ADVISORSPitabasa Sethi

Ajoy Ku. Shroff

Pramod K Patnaik

Prasant Kumar Sahu

Dr. Jharana Mishra

Ninu Nair

The LinkChief Editor

Debabrata MalickEditor

Pramod K PatnaikDTP

Govinda Ch. Tripathy

Our Source of Inspiration

Dr. K. C. Malick

Chairman, BISWA

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY Communicate Minds

4

FORTNIGHTLYVolume-145 1st March 2011

Pub lis hed by Deb abr ata Mal ick ,Chief Editor. Th e L ink, a t B ISW A,

Dan ipa li, Bud har aja , S amb alp ur.PIN -76 80 04 Ph. No. 066 3-6 45 12 37,

Fax : 066 3-2 53 35 97,Ema il: the lin k@b isw a.o rg

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BISWA organises State Level Consultation

on Social Finance for Sustainable HumanDevelopment in Odisha

BOOK-POST

BISWA held its policy advisorymeeting and State Level Consultation

on Social Finance for Sustainable

Human Development in Odisha at

Bhubaneswar on 15th February to

discuss the vital issues of the

organization and the proposed

'BISWA Bank of Odisha'. All the

members of the policy advisory board

including Padmashree Dillip Tirkey

were present and shared their

valuable views on the matter. The

meeting began with key note address

by Mr Prafulla Kumar Dhal.

Mr Dhal stressed the need for

BISWA Bank of Odisha in the current

Micro Finance scenario in the country

and after the Malegam committee

report. He presented a view of

'BISWA's initiative in linking micro

Central Office

BISWA

At- Danipali, PO- Budharaja

Dist. Sambalpur, PIN-768004

Tele fax- +91-663-2533597

Email:biswamalick@rediffmail.com,

kcmalick@biswa.org, www.biswa.org

State Offices

ODISHA

Gada Gopinath Colony, In front of High

School, Plot No. E/7,

PO: Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar-751010

CHHATTISGARH

J-1, Sector-2, Agrasen Nagar,

In front of Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar

Thana, Ring Road No.1, Raipur Chowk,

Raipur (C.G.)

MADHYA PRADESH

Gandhi Chowk, Near Samay Press,

1st Floor, RCM Bazar, Sabji Mandi,

Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh-484001

TheLink

BISWA

At-Danipali

P.O-Budharaja

Dist-Sambalpur

PIN-768004

+91-663-6451237(O

)

finance with sanitation, health,

education, enterprise development,

social security and marketing to bring

out a working model to solve the very

purp ose of holi stic deve lopm ent

through integrated approach.

To begin with, Dr Bhagawan

Prakash said: "We are toeing with the

idea of 'BISWA' entering into banking

'BISWA's presence in BIRD Meeting& Workshop at Lucknow

Bankers Institute of RuralDevelopment (BIRD) in Lucknow

organized a two day Syllabus Committee

Meeting-cum-Consultation workshop in

February 2011 for finalizing the syllabus

for Bankers. BIRD is a training institute

constituted by NABARD. 35 participants

in all from NABARD, Nationalized

Banks, District Central Co-operative

Banks, Training Centres and NGOs tookpart in the seminar. Mr Ajoy Kumar

Shroff Manager-Training represented

'BISWA'.

Mr S V Nemlekar faculty member

(FM) BIRD was the course coordinator

who at the outset gave a brief outline of

the workshop. Mr R K Das joint director

BIRD welcomed the participants. In the

introductory speech he said that training

had become quite necessary in view of

the Mega trends taking place in the

society. He spelt out some of the Mega

Trends like the bulging population,

integration of global economy and its

effect on the common people due to thebond between the IT and the Telecom

sector. "India is no longer a global

playground but has emerged as a strong

global player with potential stake," Mr

Nemlekar said. He fu rther added that

training had become a challenge in the

present days.

Mr S K Chatterjee stressed four issues

relevant to the meeting - such as MFI

crisis and its aftermath, integratedContinued ... Pg.2

approach, JLGs taking over the SHGs

and greater coordination among training

establishments.

Mr Shroff gave a bird's eye view of

'BISWA', its Five Pillars, the integrated

approach and single window service. He

further drew the attention of all towards

the fact that the interest rate of 'BISWA'

is 19% (REDUCING) which is the

lowest one in India."The integrated approach and the

concept of BISWA's sustainable

development has helped 'BISWA' to

come out with flying colours even at this

juncture," Mr Shroff said. These were

highly appreciated by all the participants

especially the director.

The faculty members of BIRD

elaborated the proposed NEW courses

as well as the existing repeat courses.

On the second day; the concerned

FMs reviewed the discussions held of the

inaugural day. They summarized the

viewpoints of the participants in the

respective groups in presence of thedirector and the joint director of BIRD.

There was constructive suggestions

and exchange of views followed by

brainstorming discussions. Participating

in the deliberations; Mr. Ajoy Shroff

reiterated the points and opined that

NGOs should be included in some of the

Trainings designed for Banks and

Cooperatives. Accordingly, contents and

durations of the Courses were modified.

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32

Bank for the PoorIt is undoubtedly a fact that India has got a robust

banking system. When most of the banks in USA

got perished during the recession period, Banks in

India survived facing all hurdles. But it is another

fact that poor people of this vast democratic countryhave got very meager access to all these banks.

Even Cooperative Banks and Gramya Banks

established with the sole aim of financing such

people also shockingly fail in their duties. More

so, symptom of cracking down to such mindset

towards making poor people bankable is not is the

scene.

But we at 'BISWA' are now sincerely thinking

for the people who hardly get the benefits from the

nationalized or private banks. The solution that we

reach is social banking through 'BISWA Bank of

Odisha'.

Many a developmental activities are taken up

for the poor people including making them

bankable. But still it remains a far dream. If one

thinks to build a Taj Mahal, it costs nothing; but

really it costs if one builds it. In the similar line

thinking for the entire poor is never a solution to

any of their problems, but working for them, what

so ever small may it be, is what they really need

and that can only improve their standard of living

including financial status.

The sole aim of establishing 'BISWA Bank of

Odisha' is to bring up the poor people to the

mainstream and develop their Banking habits sincethey also don't do it of their own for various reasons.

Academicians and intellectuals from all over the

country and State have given their positive nod for

it. Hence, it is the common people whose support

and cooperation that we need in materialising this

novel dream. This can enable us to make Odisha

poverty and hunger free state. Our efforts will surely

be a harbinger for an unexpected result to come.

sector. Biju Patnaik saw the dream of Kalinga Bank

and 'BISWA' is going to translate this dream to reality."

He further said that the very purpose behind

nationalising the Banks in the 1970s had been totally

defeated as because 90 percent resources of these banks

are channelized to the rich people and the industrialists;

whereas only six to seven percent of the total resources

go to farmers. Such reluctant attitude of the banks

gave birth to Micro Finance (MF), he said.

But now we discovered that MF is also not free frommistakes and even political interference. So we feel

the necessity of a discussion how to include those

deprived people in banking sector. But the fact is that

Indian banks are with the rich people mostly.

Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh proved that poor

people are also bankable. Further poor women are

more bankable than the male. "We have been doing

all these through MFI since last 25 years with fair

amount of success, and our own bank will sure to take

us ahead," he said.

In his address Dr. K. C. Malick chairman 'BISWA'

gave his deliberation on- "BISWA Bank of Odisha: A

Strategy for Social Financing for the Poors in Odisha".

He explained that the sector was going through totally

a new scenario. First MF operation started in India byNABARD in 1992. After getting success in many

places, now the survival of the sector is questioned

due to structural changes. No political party is in favour

of the MFI. The interference of the politicians affects

the sector immensel y. But it is a good sign that

Malegam committee report is in favour of Micro

Finance. 'BISWA' is one of the largest institutions in

the county in MF sector. To become more successful,

lamented that this practice is

continuing as on today. Hence

'BISWA Bank of Odisha' will be a

solution for such negative mindset.

Mr A.V. Swamy former Member

State Planning Board Government of

Odisha praised this concept of

BISWA's social finance. He opined

that banks are now for specific

activiti es only. But 'BISWA bank ofOdisha' will work for social finance

with low rate of interest that is going

to open a new era in banking industry.

He cited an example of Ghaislet

Block where the 1st SHG was formed

40 years back.

Prof. M. C. Dash former Vice

Chancellor of Sambalpur University

warned that achievement in the level

of establishment is easy but

maintenance is difficult for

sustainability. Since 85% of people

of Odisha live in villages, BISWA

must translate its slogan to action for

these poor people. He appealed

participants to remain vigilant on it

so that this bank also does not fail like

other Nationalised Banks.

Mr. H. P. Mishra former Chairman

IPICOL, Mr Nageswar Patnaik

Correspondent Economics Times, Mr

Kapil Kaul Country Director Help

Age India, Prof. Benudhar Bhunya

Agri Business School Utkal

Continued from... Pg.1Editorial we are going through SHGmodel and collection is

made in group meetings

instead of houses of the

clients, he informed.

"But we feel that 19

percent (Reducing) interest

charged by us, though the

lowest in the country, is still

higher. Hence rate of

interest needs to be reduced

further," Dr Malick added.

Through our own network

in the country we can

establish 'BISWA' Bank and

provide banking at the doorstep to

the poor people at lower rate of

interest, he added. Dr Malick

further said that we have to scale

up efforts and resources to build

capabilities. He also showed the

road map of 'BISWA' to the

participants. He further narra ted

how a poor lady could be astakeholder in a Bank that

happened never before. "This is

not a banking model but a social

model," Dr. Malick clarified.

Dr Malick further informed that

the organisation has presence in

28,000 villages in Orissa and we

will try to expand it to all the

51,551 villages. He said how one

activity can generate many

enterprises. If you make toilets,

indirectly it will help in brick

making.

Prof. Radhamohan renowned

environmentalist and former RTI

Commissioner Odisha shared his

experience as a lecturer in

Baripada College and his initiative

to help a farmer in getting bank

loan for purchasing a pump set.

But the concerned Bank Manager,

then, told him to ask for Indira

Gandhi for a loan since she

nationalised the banks. He further

University, Prof S. P. Das

XIMB Bhubaneswar, Mr

Nag end ra Achar ya

consultant, Dr. S.C. Pujari

HoD Sociology Aeronautic

College Sunabeda, Mr B. C.

Padhee retd chief engineer,

Dr. B. P. Dash retd chief

engineer Mr. Biranchi

Nar aya n Mis hra ret dadditional secretary

Tourism and Mr S. N. Patra

Odisha Environment

Society narrated the dream

to promote a bank for poor people to

be highly laudable. "Lot of sportive

efforts are required to make it

successful. No charity but enabling

the poor people for banking habits

will be of immense benefit for them,"

all the speakers opined. Mr. Mishra

criticised the closed mind of the

industries in Odisha who never

encourage developing

entrepreneurship culture.

To conclude, the chairperson of the

session Mr. Vivek Patnaik said: "We

are concerned for the poor,

underprivileged, downtrodden who

have no access to financial services.

Money lending has been going for

years. But 'BISWA' now wants to

give it a new shape with pro-poor

approach." He further said that

Andhra experiment is no experiment;

rather it is a knee-jerk experience.

He further suggested that RBI

alone can take the responsibility of

bringing out details of UNCLAIMEDMONEY lying with Nationalised

Banks and divert this huge fund

towards Micro Finance sector. Not

only the session was brainstorming

but a prolific one from realistic point

of view.

Dr. Jharana Mishra chief manager

RDC, at the end, proposed the vote

of thanks to the participants.

T h e L in k T h e L i n k

Continued ... Pg.3

Continued from... Pg.2