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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Pan Singh Tomar’s great grandson Anuj is a banking correspondent at village Kosarlkalan in Morena -Deepshikha Sikarwar
-The Economic Times

Pan Singh Tomar, the legendary steeplechase athlete-turned-dacoit, earned an annual salary of 120 or thereabouts from the Indian Army, where he served as a hawildar in the 1950s. These days, his great grandson roams around their ancestral village dispensing similar amounts to those at the bottom of the Indian pyramid.

If Tomar Sr had resorted to guns for the latter part of his life, Anuj Singh Tomar too has his handheld of choice: a biometric machine that helps identify beneficiaries of schemes so he can open bank accounts, verify account holders and distribute cash.

Tomar Jr works as a banking correspondent in village Kosarlkalan in Morena, near Gwalior. He is part of a new army that forms the last mile in Madhya Pradesh government's ambitious financial inclusion programme. The target: a bank account for every individual above 12 years in the rural areas by the end of the fiscal.

"Earlier, I had to spend 30 on bus fare to go to the bank to collect my pension of 150," says Suman Devi, a resident of Naugaon near Girwai, who is a beneficiary of the state government's widow pension plan.

The scheme has given a new avenue of livelihood for unemployed youth such as the 22-year-old Tomar.

Tomar's great grandfather was a national-level athlete who took to the Chambal ravines after a land dispute.

Anuj Tomar makes nearly Rs 2,500 a month plus commission, but the path he chose was anything but smooth. For starters, the villagers were suspicious after being stung by a massive chit fund fraud not very long ago.

"People would think we were some kind of a chit fund company flashing these hand-held devices that would gobble up their money," says Irfan Khan, an official with Synapse Solutions that provides technical support to Central Bank of India in the region. But word-of-mouth publicity has helped, with people realising how easy it has become to get wages for Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme through these accounts. Anuj, a graduate, also makes people aware of the benefits of being part of a formal banking system. The stamp of approval from the panchayats, which are involved in the banking correspondent scheme, is also helping spread formal finance to the under-banked areas.

The state undertook a comprehensive exercise in June to map commercial banks, post offices, co-operative banks with distances and population, and all areas sans access to any of these institutions within a 5-km radius were earmarked as shadow area. Of the 52,000-odd villages in the state, nearly 14,767 fell into the shadow area and would have remained uncovered with the population criterion. All panchayat headquarters falling in the shadow area have been earmarked for an ultra small bank to ensure access well within reach.

Besides providing space and free Internet connectivity in village panchayats, the state government has also begun to route all payments for NREGA and state government schemes through these accounts to make the branches a viable option for public sector banks.

These branches can provide loans of up to Rs 25,000 to individuals having accounts with them. "Some of these individuals have begun to leave money in these accounts instead of withdrawing the whole amount due to geographic proximity of the branch," said a Central Bank official.

"I usually take out what I need...I can come again if I need more," says Bhola Adivasi, a MNREGS beneficiary and a new account holder. For Adivasi, payments have not only come within geographic reach but have also become faster. And Anuj Tomar is an important cog in the system.