SRCC faculty, students help underprivileged manage finances

Students and teachers from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) are helping underprivileged people in Delhi and nearby villages to save and invest their money in

Students and teachers from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) are helping underprivileged people in Delhi and nearby villages to save and invest their money in best possible ways.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley launched the financial literacy cell of SRCC on Monday.

To raise financial literacy among the poor, SRCC students and teachers have been visiting slums and villages where they perform nukkad natak (street play) and encourage people to use various government schemes.

The college has also established the ‘Vittshala’, its financial literacy cell. “It’s a centre for community engagement (CCE) that aims to equip communities to manage financial resources effectively through community engagement, workshops, seminars, and discussions,” said Anil kumar, convener of the cell.

Kumar said the cell will focus on teaching the basics of financial planning, channelisation of savings, investments, banking and insurance services, opening and operating of bank accounts. “We will also tell them about various government schemes so that they can benefit from it,” he said.

There are four projects under the cell which will work in areas such as Basodi village in Sonipat district of Haryana, Razapur slum near Rohini and Shakti Nagar Ext-T slum near North Campus. “Two of our projects will focus on street vendors and rickshaw pullers,” he said.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley launched the cell on Monday from his office in the North Block and emphasised the importance of financial inclusion in India. “Jaitley spoke about the Mudra Yojana, which would enable small entrepreneurs to get access to credit and the government’s target to disburse loans worth R 1,80,000 crore this year under the scheme,” said an official present at the event.

DU vice chancellor Yogesh Tyagi was also present at the event and talked about the need for maintaining transparency and efficiency of management in the programme.

“We have constituted a group of 15 motivated teachers from the college and engaged 60 student interns to carry forward our mission since we felt that the efforts of the government to ensure access to financial services must be supplemented by the college community,” Kumar said.

The students have been trained by senior officials from State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India and Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd.