MARK OF QUALITY: P. Sengupta, Deputy Director-General, Bureau of Indian Standards (Southern Region) (right), presenting the ISO 9001:2000 certificate to Jyotsna Diesh, Postal Secretary, on Friday. Radhika Doraiswamy, Chief Postmaster-General, Tamil Nadu, is also in the picture. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has so far sanctioned Rs. 350 crore to Tamil Nadu for various projects under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) during the current year.

Under the RIDF, the Bank has proposed to give Rs. 554 crore this year, according to the NABARD.

As part of the Fund, States were being given financial assistance to implement projects under different components including irrigation and rural roads and bridges, K.G. Karmarkar, Managing Director of the bank, said after participating in the launch of the NABARD-SHG (self-help groups)-PO (post offices) linkage scheme for disbursal of micro-credit.

For providing short-term crop loans, Tamil Nadu would totally get Rs. 500 crore this year, of which Rs. 200 crore had been sanctioned. Similarly, Rs. 40 crore had been given to weavers' societies in the State through the apex body, Tamil Nadu HandloomWeavers' Cooperative Society (Co-optex). A sum of Rs. 50 crore more would be sanctioned.

Explaining the concept of the newly launched scheme, Dr. Karmarkar said post offices would open savings accounts in the name of SHGs and allow transactions to authorised members. NABARD decided to place bulk loan of Rs. 34 lakh with the Postal department for retail lending. The amount would be released by the former in instalments based on the ground-level credit requirements. Loans would be sanctioned to SHGs at an interest rate of nine per cent. At the time of repayment, the Postal department would retain a service fee at the rate of 3 per cent of the interest charged under the loan issued and pass on the balance to the NABARD. The repayment of principal amount received from the SHGs would be credited back to the Revolving Fund Account maintained by the Postal department so that the resources could be reutilised for further lending. For the time being, credit risk would be borne by the NABARD. Initially, the scheme would be implemented in Sivaganga and Pudukottai districts. Ninety five post masters in Pudukottai and 116 post masters in Sivaganga have been trained by the officials from NABARD.

To mark the launch of the scheme, pass books were given to representatives of one SHG of Melnilaivayal village in Pudukottai district and two SHGs of K. Azhagapuri and Kalapur villages, both near Karaikudi, in Sivaganga district. Postal Secretary Jyotsna Diesh, launching the scheme, said the micro credit scheme would help enhance the role of branch postmasters in rural areas when their existing functions were undergoing drastic changes thanks to technological innovations and reduction in mail volume.

P. Sengupta, Deputy Director-General of Bureau of Indian Standards (southern region) presented to her a certificate of ISO 9001:2000 issued for the Chennai office of the department's foreign post wing. He commended the Foreign Post wing and said the system, now established by the wing, could be strengthened and built upon further.

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