Further Simplification of Lending Procedures for SC

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India organised a meeting of the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) of its Apex Corporations i.e. National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC), National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) and National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation to review the performance of SCAs and to discuss action plan for the current year.

The meeting was chaired by Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment. During the meeting the minister launched two new schemes of NSFDC i.e. "Reimbursement of Membership and Annual fee to SCAs for Membership of Credit Information Companies (CICs) for the SCAs" which will help them to create credit History of the SC beneficiaries and another scheme "National Award for Performance Excellence (NAPE)" which will motivate the SCAs to perform better and will also create healthy competition.

Appreciations:

The Minister appreciated the efforts made by NBCFDC for associating with North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFI) which will help in extending financial assistance to the beneficiaries in the far off areas of the Northern Eastern States.

Suggestions:

Referring the Commercial Motor Driving Training Programme for women, initiated by NSKFDC, the Minister advised the SCAs to conduct similar programmes in major cities in their States.

The Minister emphasised the need for simplifying the lending procedures so that the funds could be disbursed to the beneficiaries in the shortest possible time.

He also asked SCAs to standardise their operations, adopt best practices, re-orient their strategies, adopt efficient mechanism for transfer of funds through online system so that we parking of funds could be avoided and ensure prompt delivery of services to the target group for their socio-economic development.

The Minister said that Government of India is very keen to move towards a cashless society through the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan Account, Aadhaar Number & Mobile Number). Therefore, the SCAs should help the beneficiaries in getting enrolled for the Aadhaar Numbers at the nearest Aadhaar Enrolment Centers or e-Aadhaar enrolment.

The SCAs should computerise their accounts and ensure direct transfer of loans in the Aadhaar seeded bank accounts of the beneficiaries and also maintain and upload the database on their websites linked with the Apex Corporations.

The need for wide publicity of the schemes of the Ministry was emphasised so that the target group could be made aware of the schemes and get motivated to avail the benefits of the schemes for their socio-economic upliftent.

Further, the Minister emphasised that the SCAs should come forward with innovative Skill Development Training Programmes so that the objective of Skill India Mission could be achieved by providing training to maximum number of members of the target groups of Apex Corporations for enhancement of their capabilities for better job or self-employment so that they can also join hands in the development of nation.

The Minister also stressed the need for all out efforts for immediate rehabilitation of the identified Manual Scavengers in job or self-employment, as it is national priority to eradicate manual scavenging and rehabilitation of identified manual scavengers.

Funds disbursed:

While reviewing the performance of the corporations, it was observed that National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) disbursed Rs. 270.27 crore to 70,885 beneficiaries in the year 2014-15 and disbursed Rs. 378.94 crore to 71,915 beneficiaries in the year 2015-16. Under the Skill development training programme, NSFDC provided training to 13,258 SC youth in 2014-15 and to 14,805 SC youth in 2015-16.

The National Safai Karmachari Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) disbursed Rs. 134.05 crore to 19,434 beneficiaries in the year 2014-15 and disbursed Rs. 156.91 crore to 19334 beneficiaries in the year 2015-16.

National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) disbursed Rs. 286.80 crore to 1,66,693 beneficiaries in 2014-15 and Rs. 315.012 crore to 1,80,158 beneficiaries in 2015-16. Under Skill Development Training Programme, NBCFDC provided training to 15,146 youth in 2015-16 as against 11,410 youth in 2014-15.

Training provided:

Under the Skill development training programme, NSKFDC provided training to 8,750 youth in 2014-15 and to 9,600 youth in 2015-16. NSKFDC have released onetime cash assistance of Rs. 40,000 each to 10,728 identified manual scavengers and also sanctioned 537 proposals of comprehensive rehabilitation and 2417 proposals of skill development training upto 31st May 2016