The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Their notes will bring cash for the poor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Their notes will bring cash for the poor

Ranjani Govind

MUSIC TO THE EARS:A big chunk of the ticket price for Ranjani and Gayatri's concert will go to support basic finance, education and healthcare.

BANGALORE: Independence Day celebrations by the Bangalore Chapter of Rang De will include a classical Freedom Concert by Ranjani and Gayatri on August 14 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 6.p.m.

Popular sisters

The popular sisters, specialising in the Carnatic genre, will sing for the theme “Freedom from Poverty” as Rang De is working towards addressing rural poverty by helping the economically weak get away from usury.

The siblings were initially trained by their mother Meenakshi Balasubramanian. They later came to doyen P.S. Narayanaswamy for advanced lessons.

They are A-Grade artistes of AIR and Doordarshan, both in vocal music and the violin, a rare feat given their young age.

Travelled widely and recipients of several awards, they have consecutively won the Outstanding Violinists Award for four years from the Music Academy in Chennai. Rang De was conceptualised in 2008 “to make poverty history in India, by reaching out to underserved communities through micro credit,” says Smita Ram, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Rang De.

“We have a network of committed field partners and social investors and offer microcredit that will have a positive impact on business, education, health and environment of the communities we work with. Often micro entrepreneurs we work with are exploited by moneylenders and charged a 100 per cent p.a. interest rate. Micro financing has helped address this issue to a large extent. However, many communities are unable to afford micro finance too and that's where Rang De's social capital plays an important role. Since we raise capital from individual social investors, the interest rates paid by the end user never exceeds 10 per cent flat p.a.”

National series

The Freedom Concert this year is the first in the national series, titled Rang, planned in major Indian cities in the coming months.

Ms. Ram also explains that Rang De presents a different genre in every concert, thus involving different target groups each time.

Short film

“During the concert, our short film explains the efforts that go towards the micro credit. Hundred rupees from each ticket are earmarked to fund basic finance, education and healthcare,” she says.

Reaching out

Since 2008, the portal www.rangde.org has been able to reach out to nearly 4,000 entrepreneurs across India.

Till July 2010, Rang De has disbursed Rs.1.4 crore in loans to about 3,600 members through its partner organisations.

For tickets, email sreekanth@rangde.org, call 97391-42852 or login to indianstage.in

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka