Miscellany-Banking on plays

Out of 6 lakh villages in India, hardly 40,000 villages have access to banking facilities. Revolutionary changes have taken place in the banking sector, but still 70 per cent of the rural population is unaware about the banking services. With various limitations and lack of resources, even banks have not been able to extend their network to all villages. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken note of this grim situation and has embarked upon opening of customer service centres in villages. Any person with a basic knowledge of banking can become a “Bank Mitra” and render services to the rural masses.

All banks have been instructed by RBI to support this scheme. Civil society organisations have also joined hands in spreading the awareness. In one such effort, the Initiatives for Development Foundation (IDF), and the Vattikuti Foundation (VF) have joined hands to realise the objective of attaining bank literacy in every Gram Panchayat in Kunigal taluk.

They are also encouraging youngsters to enrol themselves as Bank Mitras. State Bank of India (SBI) is working in co-ordination with IDF and VF for this. Understanding through visuals.

For centuries street play has been one of the most effective and popular medium to spread awareness about social and environmental problems among general public. Usually, they focus on issues related to the environment, water conservation, government programmes and other social issues. IDF and VF used the same medium to spread awareness on banking services in the rural areas of Kunigal taluk. Many local organisations have joined hands to spread the cause.

“We had RuPay cards but we had no idea about its usage. These street plays gave a clear picture about its necessity and functioning,” says Lakshmamma of Amrathuru village. “We have a customer service centre of a bank in our village, but I have seldom gone there. After watching the street play, I understood about all the services available at the centre. Hereafter I will make use of this facility effectively,” adds Ramachandraiah of Vaddarakuppe.

Street plays were held for three days in 10 villages of Kunigal taluk. More than 1,500 people have watched the plays, a majority of them being women. The benefits of various banking schemes, insurance facilities, the necessity of opening student accounts, special features of Jan Dhan Yojana and many other aspects of banking were enacted.

Characters such as farmer, his wife, agricultural labour, unemployed lazy youth and bank representative were enacted to enable villagers to relate the play to their lives. The street play was known as Nimma oorige bandaithe mini banku (a mini bank has come to your village). The effort has yielded positive results. In a village, a customer service centre was opened to provide information about banking services. Initially people were reluctant to use the centre’s services. However, at the insistence of women, people changed their attitude and came forward to make use of the services and open bank accounts.

In Ippadi village, a villager came forward to open a banking service centre after he watched the street play. Vivekanand Salimath, executive trustee of IDF, feels that it is difficult to reach  the masses through any medium other than street plays, in a short span of three days.