Hamstrung banking services and poor lending performance discussed

NORTH DISTRICT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE TAKES STOCK OF DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITIES
GANGTOK, 27 April: The District Consultative Committee meeting for North Sikkim was held at Mangan on 24 April. An official press release informs that during the meeting chaired by DC North, TN Kazi, all the banking and developmental activities of the district were reviewed for the quarter ended 31 December, 2011.
During the deliberations the DC informed the house about the connectivity problem being faced at Chungthang due to which State Bank of India’s Chungthang branch was not being able to provide satisfactory sevices to its customers. The DC suggested that SBI consider installing a V-SAT at Chungthang so that all the customers could enjoy uninteruppted service. He also put forward the idea of SBI extending “non-home transactions” immediately till an alternative arrangement is made by them at the branch.
The LDM, SBI, noted his suggestions and assured to take it up with his controlling office. The DC also expressed the need to have an SBI ATM installed at Mangan which continues to have an incongruous situation where the bank was issuing ATM-cum-Debit cards to customers here but had no ATM of the bank at Mangan or anywhere else in North Sikkim.
The release further mentions that on the Credit-Deposit Ratio (CDR) in the district, the AGM, RBI, Anil Kumar Yadav, expressed concern over the poor offtake of credit in the district. He informed the house that the C-D Ratio in the district was just 47.8 as on December 31, 2011. He urged the bankers to explore viable ventures in the district to lend and added that the Line Departments such as Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, SRDA etc can play a constructive role in identifying the beneficaries.
He also requested the DC, North to ensure healthy attendance of Line Departments in all DCC meetings as it would lead to fruitful deliberations and pave the way for the economic development of the district. Mr Yadav also exhorted the bankers to extend credit to agriculture, dairy and other allied sectors in the district which have huge potential in the district, which would increase the CD ratio in North Sikkim, the release adds.
The meeting also deliberated upon other agenda items pertaining to PMEGP, SGSY, SJSRY, KCC etc. Joint Director of  Animal Husbandry department apprised the house about the potential of milk production in the district and urged the bankers to finance this sector.
The DCC meetings are held on a quarterly basis in each district of the State to review the achievement of the Annual Credit Plan (ACP) targets by different banks located in each distict. District Collector is the Chairman of these meetings and the Lead Banks convene the DCC meetings with representatives from RBI, NABARD, SRDA, DIC, SKVIB, KVIC and other line departments of the State Government as members. In North Sikkim at present there are 6 branches of SBI at Mangan, Chungthang, Phodong, Kabi, Lachung and Dikchu and one branch each of Union Bank of India and Sikkim State Co-operative Bank (SISCO Bank) at Mangan.

NFDC team films rural development initiatives in South Sikkim

NAMCHI, 17 Feb: To highlight rural development in Sikkim, a five-member team led by Pragyan Bhattacharya, head of Delhi-based e-Media Solution is currently in South Sikkim. The team is here to highlight rural development and at the same time focus on Bharat Nirman Volunteers and the various work carried out under Bharat Nirman.
The purpose of their visit is to make training films and a documentary to stir up the process of rural development and at the same time also to create awareness on rural development. The team will be touring across South Sikkim for a period of 15 days which began on 11 February.
This team from e-Media Solution represents the National Film Division Corporation (NFDC) which is making the documentary along with training films for the State Institute for Rural Development (SIRD) and also for all institutes involved in rural development. The team has already visited places like Salghari, Tinik-Chisopani, Poklok-Denchung and Mellidara in the South District. Besides this, it is for the first time that such a documentary is being made in the Nepali language by the Ministry of Rural Development.
Simultaneously, similar projects are under progress in other states as well. In the days to come the documentary prepared in Nepali language based on rural development in South Sikkim would be translated into other regional languages so that it would help and provide an example for the people of other states, informed the members of the team.

World Bank extends $130 mn loan for development in North-East and SIkkim

LOAN TO FUND NE RURAL LIVELIHOOD PROJECTS AND PROJECTS IN 15 PANCHAYAT WARDS IN EAST SIKKIM
New Delhi, 20 Jan: The World Bank today extended a US $130 million loan to India that will be used to fund rural development programmes in the North East region, including Sikkim.
The money will be used to fund the North East Rural Livelihoods Project, which aims to enhance livelihoods of the rural poor, especially women, unemployed youth and the severely disadvantaged people in the North East region, the Finance Ministry said in a statement here.
Eight districts of four states — Aizawl and Lunglei in Mizoram; Peren and Tuensang in Nagaland; South, West and 15 Panchayat wards of East District in Sikkim; and West and North Districts in Tripura will be covered under the project, reports IANS.
The agreements for the North East Rural Livelihoods Project (NERLP) were signed here by Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, on behalf of the government of India, DL Wankhar, Project Director on behalf of the North East Rural Livelihoods Project, and Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director in India.
“The project seeks to develop an institutional platform for the communities, which will help them link up with the private sector, public sector, and civil society and to acquire the institutional, technical, and financial capacity needed for improving their livelihoods,” an official statement released after signing of the agreement states.
Loan will be extended by the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm the International Development Association. The concessional credit has a final maturity of 25 years, including 5-year grace period.

Workshop on ‘Lab to Land’ initiative held at Rhenock

GANGTOK, 11 Jan: A workshop on ‘Lab to Land’ initiative of Ministry of Rural Development was organized by SIRD, Karfectar on 11 Jan at the Rhenock BAC, East Sikkim. The programme was attended by all the Panchayat representatives of Sudung Lakha, Rhenock-Tarpin, Taja and Linkey Tareythang Gram Panchayat Units of the Block.
A total of 74 participants which included representatives from local NGOs, ASHA Workers, AWW, teachers, members of JFMC, VHSC, VWSC attended the workshop, informs a press release.
Block Development Officer of BAC Rhenock, BL Adhikari, highlighted the importance of the initiative and urged the Elected Representatives to be serious while recruiting Bharat Nirman Volunteers (BNV).
Field Facilitator of BAC Rhenock, Dorjee Tsh. Bhutia and Resource Person of the day gave a presentation on the objective of recruiting BNV, terms and conditions, role and responsibilities of BNVs, BNV diary, Rural Reporting, training to BNBs and expected out comes of the initiative, the release mentions.
Panchayat President of Sudung Lakha GPU, Hemlal Giri in his feedback thanked SIRD for this opportunity. During the interactive session the participants placed their queries which were answered by the resource persons.
In the workshop it was decided that by 20 January 2012 the recruitment of BNVs will be completed at the block level, the release adds. Similar sensitization workshops were conducted on 06 Jan at Kaluk BAC and on 07 Jan at Sumbuk BAC.

Workshop on ‘Lab to Land’ initiative held at Sumbuk BAC

SUMBUK, 08 Jan: A workshop on ‘Lab to Land’ initiative of the Ministry of Rural Development was conducted on 07 Jan at the Sumbuk BAC, organized by the State Institute of Rural Development Karfectar.
The programme was attended by all Panchayat representatives of Sadam-Suntaley, Mellidara- Payong, Turuk- Ramabung, Lungchok- Kamery and Sumbuk –Kartikey Gram Panchayats Units of the Block.
Altogether there were 74 participants in the workshop including representatives from Turuk Development Society (NGO), Indreni Pariwar (NGO), members of Young Orchid NGO, ASHA Workers, AWW, Teachers and members of JFMC, VHSC, VWSC.

Meeting deliberates on Potential Linked Credit Plan for South District

Rs. 8,020.67 LAKH PROJECTED FOR AGRI AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH DISTRICT FOR 2012-13NAMCHI, 22 Nov: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural development [NABARD] has initiated the preparation of district-wise Potential Linked Credit Plans [PLCPs] in a bid to build a more “meaningful link” between development planning and the process of credit planning to support agriculture and rural development.