Yogi Adityanath, CM of Uttar Pradesh has asked the rural development and Panchayati raj departments to go forward with the training of 58,000 women banking correspondents (BC) or Sakhis before they start their job.

The order came as the government of UP concluded the first-of-its-kind technology-driven process for choosing 58,000 women in the state to function as Sakhi. CM also said that “once the BC Sakhis start working, it will help the villagers to a much greater extent in banking-related needs and BC Sakhis will function from their village’s panchayat bhavan.”

Manoj Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary for rural development, and Panchayati raj department informed the CM about the wrapping up of the selection process. The Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF) will now train these Sakhis before they start working. The state government had received 2.17 lakh applications for the initiation of 58,000 BC Sakhis.

The mobile app-based recruitment process was carried out amidst the Covid-19 pandemic as a statewide exercise. The department of rural development had initiated the selection process in June. In the last three weeks, it has interviewed the shortlisted applicants on their smartphones through the BC Sakhi mobile app. BC Sakhis, using technology, will take banking to the doorsteps of families in their separate villages.

The government proposes channeling government services (Subsidies, entitlement. Pension among others) and direct benefit transfer (DBT) payouts via the BC Sakhis in the villages, besides taking up a range of banking operations and encourage the villagers to carry out digital transactions. The UP government had inaugurated a mobile app for the whole recruitment process beginning from application to interview and final selection. A banking correspondent Sakhi would get Rs 4,000 per month as a retainer and a one-time Rs 75,000 easy installment loan for tech hardware and installation.

The author is a member of Amity centre of Happiness