Evaluation of implementation of the schemes of National and State Finance Development Corporations – Availability, Accessibility & Utilization of credit facilities to Scheduled Castes in the states of Bihar, West Bengal & Orissa

A number of activities are being carried out by the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) and through its state channelising agencies for financing income-generating activities among the SC population, particularly those living below the poverty line limits, i.e. Rs. 40,000/- per annum for rural areas and Rs. 55,000/- per annum for urban areas. The aim is to raise their income generating activities for sustaining their developmental process. The primary objective of the NSFDC is for financing, facilitating and mobilizing funds from other sources and promoting the economic development and welfare of the SC population in India, particularly living below the poverty line The major thrust is to provide sustainability to the income generating activities for the SC population, through resource backup, programme support and policy feed back.

Objective

• Evaluation of the implementation of the schemes of NSFDC and its state counterparts with regard to the availability, accessibility and utilization of credit facilities to SCs in the targeted states of Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa
• Examination of the relevance/viability of the implementation of the schemes of such finance and development corporations with regard to the scope for self employment, enterprise creation and entrepreneurship development
• Examination of the barriers of communication, cultural, social, physical and financial, if any, with regard to the availability, accessibility and utilisation of credit facilities from such finance and development corporations to SCs in the targeted states of Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa
• Evaluation of the utilization of available credit from such development and finance corporations by the recipients SC population for building their capacity and capability for generating alternative sources of income, entrepreneurship development and enterprise creation

Methodology

The methodology was based on interview and questionnaires of the beneficiaries from 1 st April 2000 to 31 st March 2003 covered under the Scheme, the authorised functionaries of NSFDC and its channelising agencies in the states of Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa, and the Chairmen of Zilla Parishadas and Panchayati Raj institutions in the sample districts of the targeted states.

Universe of the study

Thirty seven sample districts from three-targeted states (Bihar: 15, West Bengal: 12, Orissa: 10 ) were covered under the evaluation study.

A total of 1,200 beneficiaries, @ 316 from the sample districts from Orissa, 492 from the sample districts of Bihar and 392 from the sample districts of West Bengal covered in the study.

Project Summary