It is time to review the Bank Mitra / Bank Sakhi policy

The Bank Mitra/Sakhi policy has been brought in 2017. Many state missions have created their own policies based on the model policy brought in by the central mission. The policy was a road map to the state missions. the policy comprehensively deals with the Bank Sakhi.

Bank Sakhi: Bank Sakhi facilitates the SHG women in bank transactions. She sits in the bank and facilitates the transactions, but she remains the employee of the concerned VO/CLF.

Background: This system of Bank Sakhi was brought in to involve the SHG women in the process of bank linkage of SHG women and to make the bank space comfortable to the SHG women.

Need for review of the bank Sakhi policy: It has been a while since the model policy on Bank Sakhi has brought in. The present policy has been brought in more than 5 years ago. Many items in this policy are outdated as of now especially financials. More over other functionaries have emerged such as Samuh Sakhi, BC Sakhi and Bhima Sakhi. There is a semblance of overlapping of the functions of these functionaries with the bank Sakhi. All these factors make a clear case for reviewing the present bank Sakhi policy.

Problems of Bank Sakhis

The Bank Sakhis are paid varyingly across the states. For example in the state of Haryana, the details are as follows

Fixed component

· Monthly resource fee of Bank Mitra will be as under fixed component- Rs. 2500/month.

Variable component

· Rs. 150 per SHG for disbursement of 1st dose of credit 1st dose linkages within 30 days of uploading on Bank Linkage Portal:

· Rs. 200 per SHG for disbursement of 2nd dose of credit linkages within 30 days of uploading on Bank Linkage Portal.

· Rs. 250 per SHG for disbursement of 3rd dose of credit linkages within 30 days of uploading on Bank Linkage Portal.

· Rs. 300 per SHG for disbursement of 4/subsequent doses of credit linkages within 30 days of uploading on Bank Linkage Portal.

· Rs. 250 per SHG for timely loan recovery and closure of loan a/c within permissible time for the SHGS credit linked under 1st and 2nd dose of credit linkage.

· Rs. 300 per SHG for timely loan recovery and closure of loan a/c within permissible time for the SHGs credit linked under 3rd and 4th/above dose of credit linkage.

In the state of Odisha the pay structure as follows:

Fixed component

· Daily allowance basis of Rs. 50 per day for every working day

Variable component

· Opening of a SB account individual Rs. 20/-

· Opening of SHG SB account Rs. 200/-

· Facilitating grading of SHGs for bank linkage Rs.50/-

It is clear that these payments are inadequate as she has to do a whole lot of work. One another major concern is bank Sakhi is not allowed to hold any other post while there is no such restriction on newly introduced BC Sakhi. A per the newly released guidelines of BC Sakhi policy and FAQ released by the ministry, BC Sakhi can be engaged in other responsibilities like Bhima Sakhi. This is a clear policy anomaly and this needs to be addressed immediately.

No doubt, the bank Sakhi model has served the SHG ecosystem well, but to further consolidate the gains, we need to revise the bank Sakhi policy with no more delay.