In the memory of our great leader Mahatma Gandhi, who worked towards social solidarity and empowering India’s people, the Punjab National Bank launches an initiative called the Gram Sampark Abhiyan.
One of the most remarkable visions of the leaders of our nation is to have a self-reliant nation; it is rightly called as the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. For the purpose of the propagation of the same, massive campaigns have taken place which was launched by the minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar. The campaign is believed to come to a head-on December 31, 2020, and it aims to cover 526 districts in 24 states. The campaign seeks to emphasize the ideals of the pillars of atmanirbhar.
Significant principles of Gram Sampark Abhiyan
- Digitalization: Making the facilities available digitally is a significant part of empowering citizens, and the services have to be provided to the general public through a digital medium which ensures transparency as well as more convenience to the public. Moving towards digitalization can help our nation to be digitally empowered. Digital payments also make it more convenient for the government to transfer the subsidies to the verified bank accounts of people.
- Credit: The next principle of Sampark Abhiyan is credit. For instance, we can see that farmers are one of the most vulnerable groups in the country who get affected when there is a change in seasons as well as during natural disasters. Due to the lack of availability of resources to invest in better input their quality of production cannot be improved. Therefore, the farmers must get sufficient credits to increase their productivity and efficiency, which enhances their quality of life. Not only farmers, but people also need credit to improve their living conditions as well as to invest in various things which can benefit them in the long run.
- Social security: Social security in simple terms means to ensure that people need to feel secure in their society. Financial stability is an essential factor to determine social security. Significant inputs have to be made to ensure labour market efficiency. The poorest sections of our society are often left out from the mainstream financial gains. Therefore it needs to be taken care of that they get ample opportunities to avail incomes for the betterment of their standards of living. The various problems of the poor like health hazards, disability, unemployment, etc. have to be addressed to ensure social security.
- Financial literacy: It is important to note that people are financially literate, which means that they are at least aware of the basic concepts of money. Managing money is an essential component of financial literacy. They must be educated and made aware of the judicious ways in which they can invest their money. The facilities available in the market, the offers curated for the people, loans and other credit tools that they can use. Since the financial capabilities of people widely differ, there have to be different options that would ensure adequate opportunities for different factions of people in society. If people are not financially educated, they can be deceived by big investors who would take advantage of their financial illiteracy.
Therefore, it can be concluded that Gram Sampark Abhiyan is an initiative by the PNB, which would ensure a more self-reliant economy and thus help the people in India to improve their quality of life.
