: IAS Officer Doubles District Literacy to 100%, Drastically Reduces Bank Frauds #IndiaNEWS #Civil Servants Sarita Devi* (name changed) (38), a resident of Mandla in Madhya Pradesh for many years now,

IAS Officer Doubles District Literacy to 100%, Drastically Reduces Bank Frauds #IndiaNEWS #Civil Servants
Sarita Devi* (name changed) (38), a resident of Mandla in Madhya Pradesh for many years now, has been saving money every month. The daily wager planned to ensure that every rupee she saves went into her bank account, all to buy her daughter a cycle. This money, she says, would’ve helped her get to school in time every day.

She was filled with pride at having opened an account into which she diligently deposits money.

But a few months ago when she went to the bank to check on how much money she had collected she was in for a shock when she realised that her account had been wiped clean. All that remained was a few hundred rupees.

She was made to realise that due to her illiteracy, like many others, she too had fallen for a scam. The middlemen who assured help in setting up the account and handling it had siphoned off the money. She was not alone in this moment of woe – many others in the village had gone through the same.

It was to change this and much more that District Collector Harshika Singh launched a programme to ensure 100 per cent functional literacy in the district.

IAS officer Harshika Singh

Speaking to The Better India, Harshika says, “These people work very hard to make ends meet. It is unfair that they are robbed of their money only because they are not literate. To right this wrong we introduced the adult literacy programmes. ???

Freedom from illiteracy

Class in progress.

A tribal district, which falls on the border of Chhattisgarh, Mandala is also a Naxal-affected district. “Unfortunately, a lot of funds from various government schemes that were meant for the betterment of these tribal communities, especially women, were getting siphoned off due to various bank forgeries. Many times because they were asked to put their thumb impression, they did not necessarily know what they were saying yes to,??? she says.

This led to a lot of money getting lost, sometimes without any trace. Learning about this scam hit Harshika and that was when, along with her team, the idea of making the district inhabitants ‘functionally literate’ (able to write their name, count and read and write in Hindi) came about. “It became important for us to teach them the basics. Besides being able to sign their names the programme also educated them on handling money,??? she says.

Explaining this further, she says, “If someone was making a withdrawal of Rs 1,000, we started telling them about the various note denominations that they might be given by the teller at the bank. ???

“A 2011 survey revealed that the female literacy percentage in the district was at 56 per cent and the overall district literacy was at 68 per cent,??? she says.