Financial Literacy Program

- Unnao (from 1st Nov’2010 to 3rd Nov’2010)

Sponsored by-

Submitted to
Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava,
DDM Unnao, NABARD

by
Pragati Foundation,
Sitapur

Page | 1
“In a country like India, there is, of course, an obvious case for promoting financial
education at the more basic level, especially in the context of the development policies and
programmes initiated to reduce vulnerability and expand opportunities for the poor and
financially excluded.”
- From speech delivered by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble Finance Minister in
RBI-OECD workshop on Financial Literacy at Bangalore on March 22-23, 2010.
Table of content:

1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. Program Summary
I. Village Level Meet
II. School Quiz Program
III. Nukkad Natak
4. Conclusion
5. Annexure
I. Photographs
II. News Coverage
III. Certificates Issued
IV. Other Material
Executive Summary
Project duration
Activities conducted during
Project
Target audience of Project
Aim of Project
Village Level Meet
School Quiz Program
FINANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAM
1st Nov ’10 to 3rd Nov’10
Village Level Meet
School Quiz Program
Nukkad Natak
Students, Villagers, Women and different segments of society
from rural area.
 To increase financial literacy among the target audience.
 To provide information about Financial Institutes.
 To provide information about Banking Products &
Services.
 To inform & guide about no frill account and their
importance.
 To inform about micro insurance.
 To inform about Loan products for farmers & landless
farmers or non farm sector.
 To inform about loan schemes available for JLGs.
 To provide information about banking systems and
solving their myths about the same.
 Villagers from the place where the meet had been
organized and also from nearby areas had been
mobilized.
 Officials from banks where invited.
 Details about Banking products & services which is
useful for villagers.
 Brief about bank product & services delivered by bank
officials.
 An interactive session with villagers to understand their
problems and needs.
 Students from class X, XI & XII had been engaged.
 Brief session on Banking and its functions had been
 delivered.
 Teachers and other administrative staff were also
involved.
 Quiz Program conducted based on the session held.
 Price distributed to 30 students in one program.
 Certificates also distributed for participation.
 Also provided handouts to spread message to their
families.
Nukkad Natak  To generate awareness about banking and its products.
 To engage interest of audience through Nukkad Nataks
and sensitize them about different schemes banks are
promoting for rural areas.
 Villagers had come forward to clear their doubts, as the
Natak performed helped us in making a strong connect
with people.
Area Covered by FLP in Unnao
Schedule for Financial Literacy Programmes in UNNAO
Date Day Event Location Location Location Location
School Ma door Devi Inter
01-11-2010 Monday GGIC, Nawabganj Chatrapal Inter College, Taura
Quiz College, Bhagwant Pur
Village
Level Ichauli
Meet
Nukkad
Nawabganj Ichhauli Mishrikheda
Natak
School Mahatma Gandhi Inter
02-11-2010 Tuesday GIC, Chamrauli RKD Inter college, Kakori SAV Inter College, Achalganj
Quiz College, Taura
Village
Level Atarasa
Meet
Nukkad
Katra Atarasa Taura Chamrauli
Natak
School HM Higher Secondary Higher Secondary School,
03-11-2010 Wednesday GBG Inter College, Unnao
Quiz School, Unnao Thana
Village
Level Ghurkhet Dua Auras
Meet
Nukkad
Ghoorkhet Dua Auras
Natak

Introduction
Financial Inclusion is to provide affordable financial services, like deposits, withdrawal,
remittance, saving, loan and / or insurance; to that segment of society which is still not able
to avail or not availing these services. Even in today’s scenario there are lots of people who
are out of structured banking system.

Our Government, Apex Institutes and Banks are formulating new and innovative
policies and implementing them to achieve Financial Inclusion. In achieving the objective of
Financial Inclusion, one of the major hurdles is lack of knowledge and awareness about
Banking Products and Services. Financial Literacy can be the best measure for achieving
higher levels of Financial Inclusion.

By Financial Literacy we mean to provide following:

1. To increase knowledge about financial matters.
2. To develop better understanding of financial products and services.
3. To develop skill for managing finances.

In most of the developing countries poverty is the biggest problem, and to ensure that
poverty levels should not increase further we need to provide affordable financial services
to Bottom of the Pyramid. And Financial Literacy can be the tool to create awareness,
develop skills for Financial Management and achieving Financial Inclusion.

“Financial Literacy Program” is one of the most important initiatives taken by NABARD;
which act as facilitator in insuring ‘Financial Inclusion’. The objective of the whole program is
to educate and inform people on financial products, services and their importance in life.
Financial Literacy Program was comprised of following measures:
1. Village Level Meet
2. School Quiz Program
3. Nukkad Natak
In any training or educating initiative it is always important to choose the right medium
which depends upon target audience. These initiatives help to cover various segments, age
groups and also both genders of the society.
 Financial Literacy Program organized in Unnao was sponsored by NABARD and
organized by Pragati Foundation. Under this program we have conducted 5 village level
meets, 10 school quiz and 10 nukkad nataks.

Program Summary

1. Village Level Meet:

Villages are the mirror of any countries development; a country can be categorized
as developed only when its villages are developed. In India still there are lots of
villages which are not covered by structured banking system. At many places we can
find unorganized system of moneylenders or borrowing money from each other.

Village Level Meet had been organized at VDP villages; here all the people from
village had been invited. After mobilizing the crowd, they are briefed about different
topics like benefit of banks, no frill account, Kisan Credit Card, Joint Liability Group
and other details depending upon scheme of Bank which is in the concerned area.

Objectives of Village Level Meet

- To educate & inform about Bank, their services & products.
- To inform about No Frill Account & how it can be opened.
- To provide information about benefits of having a bank account.
- To provide information about micro insurance & available schemes.
- To provide information about Loan products.
- To make them understand about functioning of KCC.
- To inform about loan facilities for farmer having land, Landless farmers (by
forming JLGs) & Non Farm Sector.
- To explain schemes for self employment (Sawarojgar Credit Card)
- To explain them about personal loan product. (General Credit Card)
- To inform about other schemes and understand problems faced by them.
- To motivate them to use Solar Energy for Lighting purpose and take benefit of
Solar Home Lighting System Financing.
- To provide a friendly & informal atmosphere to solve villagers doubts &
understand their problems.
- To inform them about Debt Swap Scheme and how they can take benefits out of
that scheme.

Summary
We have conducted 5 Village Level meets; these meets were conducted in villages
which are adopted by NABARD under Village Development Project. These villages are
Ichuali, Atarasa, Ghurkhet, Dua and Jamalnagar.
In Ichuali village the meet had been organized in Jila Panchayat Bhawan,
villagers have participated with lot of excitement and enthusiasm. There were both
men and women from village. Farmers Club had taken active participation in
organizing and mobilization. Mr. Tiwari, chief coordinator of Farmers Club had taken
active participation and insured the same from rest of the members and villagers.
Our expert have covered different topics of banking starting from zero balance
account, micro insurance, over draft facility with zero balance account, Kisan Credit
Card, how it can be used and benefits of regular payment.
In Village Level Meet, Joint Liability Group scheme had been explained; so
that landless and small farmers can also take facility of agricultural loan. All other
above mentioned topics had been covered. At the end of Village Level Meet, farmers
had shown special interest in schemes for financing of agricultural equipments. They
also shared the problems they are observing while dealing with equipment provider.
Landless & small farmers have also taken interest in concept of JLG and cleared their
doubts about base for financing, social collateral and requirement of banks for it.
They also asked about the difference between Self Help Group and Joint Liability
Group.
Our second village level meet was organized at Atarasa, it was organized with
in village in compound of temple. Villagers have asked questions about different
schemes of bank and also tried to understand how interest is applied on kisan card
and also what are the benefits of regular payment. Few of the villagers were
interested in understanding the term CBS, and what are the benefits of it. Our expert
have explained these terms to villagers and CBS will facilitate banking for them. Also
how banks are implementing Business Correspondent and Business Facilitator model
for providing banking services at door step of villagers.
After Atarasa, our next Village Level Meet was organized in Ghurket, all the
basic concepts related to banking had been explained along with their benefits. In
Ghurket people were also interested in understanding how repayment of loan on
time help any individual and also asked their doubts about policy of bank of
refinancing defaulters who got their loans waived off.
Fourth village level meet, was organized in Dua, here farmers are effected by
problem of Neel Guy, they have shown interest in understanding Agriculture
Insurance and how it is beneficial. They have been involved in farming of flowers and
also want to start post harvest processing of their produce. Schemes like Swarojgar
Credit Card have been explained to them. They have been informed about PMEGP
scheme and how they can establish unit with the help of these schemes.
Our last Village level meet was in Jamalnagar, it was organized in front of
Janaludeen a local resident of village and also served as pradhan. People from
different age groups have attended this session and asked lot of questions related to
KCC, SHG, GCC, microinsurance and JLG. They were very interested in purchasing
Solar home Lighting System with help of bank loan and eligibility criteria for this
scheme.

Benefits of Village Level Meet

- Large number of villagers have participated and learned about banking products
& services.
- Bank’s products such as – No frill account with overdraft facility, Kisan Credit
Card, General Credit Card, Schemes for landless farmers – Joint Liability Group,
Durghatna Beema Yojana & loan scheme for solar energy lighting system have
been explained.
- Lot of Public response and interest got generated.
- Villagers got platform to interact with bank officials in informal atmosphere and
got all their doubts cleared.
2. School Quiz:
School / colleges are the best place to spread awareness. Having a session with
students helps in two ways; it educate students about banking & their importance
and at the same time it also spread information to their parents.

These school quizzes were mostly arranged for students of 11 th and 12th; only in few
locations it has been arranged with other classes. We have observed a very
interesting fact about banking knowledge of students; that students in rural area
know more about banking then in urban area. All students in rural area have
accounts in Bank as they receive scholarship from government. On the contrary only
25 % students from urban area have accounts.

Objectives of School Quiz

- To make them understand importance of Banks in everybody’s life.
- To educate & inform about Bank, their services & products.
- To inform about No Frill Account & how it can be opened.
- To provide information about benefits of having a bank account.
- To provide information about products available for students who want to
pursue higher education.
- To educate them and also to motivate those to know more about financial
aspects of life with the help of quiz program.

Agenda
- To provide information on Banks and their functions.
- To provide information bank accounts and also about education loan schemes.
- To conduct quiz program.
- Prize distribution to participants, who have answered the questions.
- Certificate distribution to all the participants.
Summary
First session on “Banking Basics & School Quiz” was organized in “Maa Door Devi
Inter College, Bhagwantpur; this school is around 25 km. away from Unnao. There
were 90 students in this school, combining class XI & XII. Principal & few teachers of
the school also participated in session with keen interest. Session was taken by our
resource person Mr. Dharmendra Pandey, after introduction of Financial Literacy
Program; he briefed students about NABARD, its history, role and functions. Then
students were asked whether they have a bank account or not, and it was observed
that each and every student have a bank account and also have done basic
transactions of deposit and / or withdrawal with bank. After this he explained
definition of Bank and its functions, then going to the next important topic he
explained about importance of having a Bank account, type of bank account, how
they can open an account with bank, complete process and documentation.
Students were briefed about Zero Balance Account / No Frill Account. He also
briefed about topics like ATM, Internet Banking & Mobile Banking facilities. After
explaining different roles, functions and services provided by Banks, Type of Banks
were discussed and students were informed about Reserve Bank of India,
Develpoment Banks – NABARD, IFCI, SIDBI & NHB, etc., Commercial Banks - Public
Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks and Foreign Banks, Cooperative Banks and
Regional Rural Banks. They were also briefed about fixed deposit, recurring deposit
and other related topics. After completing session on Banking and its basics, quiz
based on the same had been conducted. We have asked 40 questions and 30 prices
were distributed to those students who have answered correctly.

Our second school was Government Girls Inter College, Nawabganj; there students
were very interested in understanding different aspects related to banks and
banking. They were very disciplined and participated with enthusiasm. Not only 250
students present in that hall but other students from lower classes heard the
complete session with interest. Their principal suggested to provide these sessions
to other classes and also to conduct these sessions on regular basis.
After GGIC, we had conducted these sessions in Chatarpal Inter College,
Taura and GIC, Chamrauli; there students were mostly from farming background and
were interested in understanding about Kisan Credit Card, interest rate and how it
should be used. They asked to promote Joint Liability Group / Self Help Group of
students and attach them to banking. They want to come together by means of JLG /
SHG and help themselves in future career.

RKD Inter College, Kakori was one school which shown interest in fixed deposit
schemes, they are interested in saving their money and investing. In this particular
school, Mr. Chandel, an candidate of MLC election also attended this session and
praised the initiative.

SAV Inter College, Achalganj was one of the best school were we have observed that
students were disciplined and also have knowledge of current affairs. Here, Mr.
Akhilesh Srivastava explained importance of banks in any individuals life. He also
explained them about loan products available for higher education and how they can
take benefits out of it.
Our next school quiz was at GBG Inter College, after delivery of complete
session School administration had shown interest in using facilities of bank for
collection of fees and distribution of salary of teachers. Students had shown special
interest in higher education loan. In Higher Secondary School, Thana; principal asked
each and every student to note down details about banks and then provide this
information to junior classes and their families. There teachers had shown keen
interest in understanding Financial instruments such as equity and ULIPS.

Benefits of School Quiz

- Large number of students from different classes had learned about banking
products & services.
- This initiative was helpful in providing them exposure to the changing world of
banking.
- Students participated with lot of enthusiasm and learned about banking and
schemes available for students.
- They also got glimpse of insurance and importance of credit.
3. Nukkad Natak:
Nukkad Natak / Katputli Natak are one of the best ways to deliver information in
rural areas. From ancient days Nataks have been performed to showcase ideas,
messages or any other information. Even till date there are different organizations
that use this mode of advertising.
We have well rehearsed Nukkad Natak team, all team members are
professional artists and do different type of Nukkad Natak shows. They all have
experience of more than 15 years of performing Nukkad Natak.
Agenda
- To get attention of maximum number of villagers.
- To conduct Nukkad Natak in the selected area.
- To brief villagers about different loan products.
- To inform about benefits of solar energy & loan scheme available for purchase of
system.

Objectives
- To provide information about banks, bank account, their products & services.
- To use a medium, which is more effective in rural areas and appeal lot of
villagers.
- To showcase the problems of villagers and also how that can be solved with the
help of banks.
- To inform about No Frill Account & how it can be opened.
- To provide information about benefits of having a bank account.
- To provide information about micro insurance & available schemes.
- To provide information about KIsan Credit Card and its benefits.
- To make them aware about Joint Liability Group, its benefits, eligibility and how
social collateral / joint collateral system functions.
- To inform about loan facilities for Non Farm Sector.
- To clear myths about functioning of banks and spread awareness about facilities
banks are providing to their customers.
Summary
Under Financial Literacy Program we have conducted 10 Nukkad Nataks in Unnao.
Most of the Nukkad Nataks were conducted in Village Development Project
Locations and rural markets, with an aim to spread awareness to large number of
audience. They are one of the best means of engaging large number of audience and
deliver the message in interesting manner.
In our Nukkad Nataks we have tried to cover all important aspects of Banking
and its products in a very interesting manner. Script of this Nukkad Natak was
written by Mr. A K Kapoor, District Development Manager, NABARD-Sitapur.

Nukkad Natak starts with briefing about Banks and their role, Zero Balance Account,
and how it can be opened. It also informs about eligibility criteria and required
documents. Then we provide information about other benefits like micro insurance
and overdraft facility available on zero balance account. Along with that nominations
in case of insurance is emphasized and how it works.

Natak then inform about other related services like remittance and safety of money
along with interest. Next part of play deals with Kisan Credit Card and how they can
avail facility of Kisan Card from their nearest branch. How they should use loan from
Kisan Credit Card and by following repayment schedule how they can also get rebate
of 1% in interest.
Last scene of play explains problems of Landless and small farmers, then
explains concept of Joint Liability Group, how it can be formed, what social collateral
is and how it works. It also explains about eligibility and simplicity of scheme.

Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava, DDM NABARD had also provided additional information to
people in different Locations. He had emphasized on Joint Liability Group and solved
query of people related to the concept of JLG. He motivated people to open account
with bank and also solved their myths about working of branch managers.
Benefits of Nukkad Natak
- The information had been delivered in very effective manner.
- The response generated was very good.
- Villagers had come forward to clear their doubts, as the Natak performed helped
us in making a strong connect with people.
Conclusion
Financial Literacy acts as a medium to achieve Financial Inclusion. Higher degree of Financial
Inclusion can be achieved with the help of new and innovative strategies of financial
education. Those who are excluded from formal banking system need to be educated about
banking & should be included in relationship with banks.
In Unnao people had shown their concern about problem of Neel Cow. They want to
understand how they can cover losses done by Neel Cow. They have shown interest in
agriculture insurance. Joint Liability Group had attracted lot of people but still they have lot
of doubts about how it works, about social collateral and also how loan amount is decided.
We can say that there is a requirement of regular interventions and innovative tools to
make them understand different banking products and services.