A money-lender free village in Kerala

Villagers in Melur panchayat in Thrissur district of Kerala, would soon render a group of  money-lenders,  known locally as the 'blade-mafia', jobless, thanks to a pioneering scheme launched by the South Indian Bank (SIB).

The pilot project of the SIB, a private sector bank , aims at making Melur a "money lender free village".

One day perhaps the scheme could offer a way out of the agrarian crisis being faced in several states across the country, as under it, the SIB would offer liberal credits to villagers and offer them service at their door steps.

A self help group of 1,800 women from 10 smaller SHGs, would act as an arm of the SIB in facilitating the credit.

Melur, like several other villages, is going through agrarian crisis and has borne its share of suicides by distressed farmers, According to village panchayat president P P Babu, the returns from crops have fallen while the interest over the principals are piling.

According to SIB chairman and CEO A V Joseph, a survey had shown that 4,800 families of Melur's 24,000 population had landed themselves in a debt trap with a major part of their earnings going towards repaying their loans taken from the 'blade-mafia'.

It also found that nearly Rs 1.15 crore (Rs 11.5 million) were outstanding loans against 30 per cent of the credits while some Rs 1.10 crore (Rs 11 million) stood against 50 per cent of them.

Exuding hope that the  scheme would change the lives of people of Melur, Joseph told Business Standard that SIB would provide liberal loans at 11.5 per cent interest to the villagers with the SHGs acting as catalysts. The  'blade-mafia' charges 120 per cent.

The SBI has even signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kerala Agricultural University for integrated agricultural development to facilitate this project. The university would extend guidance to the villagers to set up units in ornamental fishes, dairy, landscaping and medicinal plants.

Babu said the village panchayat would arrange leased land for the land-less agricultural labourers to set up units to benefit from the SIB loans.

The bank has also roped in an NGO, Organisation for Women Empowerment & Rural Development (OWERD) for this project. The NGO would advise villagers on getting subsidies and also monitor the bank credit and, more importantly, raise confidence of villagers against threats from the 'blade mafia'.

OWERD is entrusted with counselling to prevent suicide and stress and to look after the healthcare and education of the children in the village.