UP's rural sector to get a boost; training for 56,875 'BC Sakhis' to commence from December 15

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to undertake the training of 56,875 selected business correspondent (BC) 'Sakhis' from December 15 with the vision of promoting banking in the rural regions of the state. This programme will double benefit the people as it will create employment for women 'Sakhis' while also simplifying banking for the rural population, by offering them standard services at their doorstep.

Training, Testing and Recruitment to promote rural banking in UP

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The Additional Chief Secretary (rural development) said that around 2.16 lakh applications were received from 58,532 Gram Panchayats, across the state, for the post of BC Sakhis, however, only 56,875 candidates have been shortlisted for training in the first phase. He also notified that women will be trained in all state districts, once a week, in two batches of 30 Sakhis each.

The State has roped in Commerce Bank, Corporate BC and Fintech Payment Bank, linking them to the programme to ensure proper training of candidates. After the training, the Sakhis will have to appear for an online examination, which will be conducted by the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. Besides this, the official also highlighted that at least 34 companies had shown interest in a partnership, related to the programme.

Rural banking simplified!

In a bid to simplify and ease banking for the rural population, the UP government will provide the BC Sakhis with a desktop computer, a laptop, POSH machine, card reader and fingerprint reader. To avail this equipment, candidates will be provided with an interest-free loan. They will be given a monthly stipend of Rs 4,000, for 6 months and Rs 1,200 per month as a 'samooh sakhi' stipend.

They will also be permitted an overdraft of Rs 25,000. In addition to this, they will be paid a commission of 0.2% on every transaction. The additional secretary informed that these recruited women could also be empowered to draw funds for the payment of wages under the MGNREGS.

Besides these benefits, the BC Sakhis will also be treated as professionals and the state has assigned NIFT, Rae Bareli with the task of preparing their uniforms. These dresses will be specially designed, keeping their traditional background in mind. Weavers from Varanasi, Mau and Mubarakpur have been roped in to provide cloth for uniforms. Each BC Sakhi will get the first two sets of uniform, free of cost.

-With inputs from IANS