Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam   

Nagapattinam Collector awarded

WINNING IDEA! Collector M. Jayaraman receiving an award from Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in Chennai on Tuesday

NAGAPATTINAM: Devolution of powers to local bodies can succeed only if there is sufficient financial empowerment for them. An implementation of this concept won District Collector M. Jayaraman an award from Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday at Chennai.

Mr. Jayaraman asked the administration to constitute Panchayat Level Federations (PLF) to act as Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) and disburse funds to SHGs. The PLFs would comprise 20 or so SHGs from within the panchayat under this scheme.

All loans to the group of SHGs would be handled by these PLFs, thus strengthening the self-help movement at a panchayat level. Initially, five panchayats were to be selected and awarded funds according to the Collector’s plan.

Based on this initiative, Indian Overseas Bank came up with loans of Rs. 10-lakh for two PLFs registered under the Socieities Act on November 6. A Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank (PACB) gave a loan of Rs. 20-lakh to another PLF later this month.

Plans are also afoot to provide funds through other banks to three more PLFs which have been good performers in terms of people’s participation, strength of the SHGs, awareness among the people etc.

“We are also thinking of extending this to all 434 panchayats. In the meantime, we will build upon this idea by creating Block Level Federations to cover blocks, and thus create a strong structure with immediate participation from the people of the villages,” Mr. Jayaraman said.

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