Village Knowledge Centre | Union Bank of India

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Village Knowledge Centre

VILLAGE KNOWLEDGE CENTRE [VKC]

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What is VKC?

Village Knowledge Centres serve as information dissemination centre providing instant access to farmers to latest information/ knowledge available in the field of agriculture, starting from crop production to marketing. Every VKC is manned by a “VKC In-charge” who looks after the operations of the VKC.

It’s Importance:-

Development in a country as large and diverse as India poses special challenges. Our Bank has taken various initiatives to promote inclusive growth and to achieve sustainable development as our contribution towards nation building. VKC is one of the many pioneering initiatives taken by our Bank that aims at impacting rural livelihoods to build resourceful and progressive villages. 1st VKC of our Bank was set up in May, 2005. For this innovative initiative our Bank has been awarded the prestigious “Skoch Challenger Award” in March, 2007. Presently, we have more than 211 VKCs across the country.

Our VISION(VKC):-

Achieving inclusive growth by empowering rural community with information, knowledge, and access to better livelihood opportunities.

Our Mission (VKC):-

Improving Agriculture
- Imparting knowledge on new developments, improved methods of cultivation /technologies in the field of agriculture.
- Dissemination of weather data and agro climatic conditions, latest information on prices of agriculture produce to farmers.
- Imparting knowledge on diversification of Agriculture and developing Farm-based Enterprises.

Community Development

Formation of Self Help Groups and Farmers Clubs.
Disseminating information about various government sponsored schemes.
Coordinating with various Govt. departments for developmental activities.

Financial Inclusion

Financial counselling to the rural people for better management of their financial needs.

Informing farmers about various schemes/products of our Bank suiting to their specific needs.

Our Goal (VKC):-

Improving Agriculture

Impart knowledge on new developments, improved methods of cultivation /technologies in the field of agriculture and dissemination of weather data and agro climatic conditions, latest information on prices of agriculture produce to farmers.
Imparting knowledge on diversification of Agriculture and developing at least 2 Farm-based Enterprises in a village per year.
Bring in positive change in the livelihood of at least 300 farmers in a year in the command area of a VKC by increased income levels and higher standards of living.

Community Development

Form at least 5 Self Help Groups per village in the command area of VKC.
Provide constant support to the SHGs to ensure that at least 75% sustain beyond 6 months to become eligible for bank linkage.
Enable the group to graduate economically for taking up income generating activities and increasing their credit absorption capacity.
Form at least 1-2 Farmers Clubs per village in the command area of VKC.
Create awareness in the command area villages about various government sponsored schemes to take benefit of subsidy/grants.
Coordinating with Govt. departments to ensure flow of allocated funds under various developmental schemes to the villages.

Financial Inclusion

Ensure that every family in the command area villages has at least 1 active bank account.
Provide financial counselling and inform about various schemes /products of our Bank to at least 5 people in a day.

Special attention and counselling to the vulnerable people to come out of debt trap.

Details of VKCs

Click here to view the List of VKC's Opened

Role of VKC In-charge:-

Be informed about all the information provided in VKC Portal and how to access the same
Impart knowledge on new developments, improved methods of cultivation /technologies in the field of agriculture and
Dissemination of weather data and agro climatic conditions, latest information on prices of agriculture produce to farmers.
Imparting knowledge on diversification of Agriculture and developing at least 2 Farm-based Enterprises in a village per year
Bring in positive change in the livelihood of at least 300 farmers in a year in the command area of a VKC by increased income levels and higher standards of living.
Form at least 5 Self Help Groups per village in the command area of VKC
Provide constant support to the SHGs to ensure that at least 75% sustain beyond 6 months to become eligible for bank linkage
Enable the groups to graduate economically for taking up income generating activities and increasing their credit absorption capacity
Form at least 1-2 Farmers Clubs per village in the command area of VKC
Create awareness in the command area villages about various government sponsored schemes to take benefit of subsidy/grants
Coordinate with Govt. departments to ensure flow of funds to the villages allocated under various developmental schemes
Ensure that every family in the command area villages has at least one active bank account
Provide financial counselling and inform about various schemes /products of our Bank to at least 5 people in a day
Special attention and counselling for the vulnerable people who are heavily indebted to informal sources of finance and defaulter to Banks/FIs to come out of debt trap.

Work as a relationship manager between the Bank and the farmers.

Success Stories (VKC):-

Case Study on the developmental activities undertaken by Village Knowledge Center- Negamam in Koundegoundanpalaym Village
Koundegoundanpalayam (K.G.Palayam) under VKC Negamam (RO COIMBATORE) was one among the lakhs of villages in India which was suffering from many ailments like poverty, illiteracy, unhealthy living conditions and the related social problems. In recent times, there has been a remarkable change in the living standard of the people living in this village and credit to this change goes to our VKC Negamam, RO Coimbatore.

About the village: - A small village situated in the Coimbatore region, of our bank has a population of about 2770 as per 2001 census. The main activity and source of livelihood for the village is agriculture. Apart form the other conventional crops which are grown here Coconut produced here is the best of quality and the yield of the same is also high in the area.

Development Activities Undertaken: :-

a. Formation of Farmer’s Club- this is the first activity which the bank undertook as the stepping stone for carrying out all other activities. This association was made with a dual purpose of roping in villagers in each of the development work carried out and to closely analyze what are the areas that needs immediate action. In a month two meetings are conducted which discusses the various problems at hand and takes it up with appropriate authorities. The farmer’s club services are utilized for development work in nearby

b. 100% Banking Habitat Village-

The entire village is financially included with all the families having bank accounts and regularly saving part of their income as and when possible. Bank is getting good accounts and also large numbers of farmers are now able to avail loan for farming practices.

Knowledge and Training Camps -

i. Farmer club is provided with daily sheet calendar and telephone directory of important government departments and other service outlets.
ii. A conference was conducted on natural fertilizer and manure and their importance in agriculture productivity.
iii. A seminar was conducted in co-ordination with agriculture university and horticulture department attended by NABARD officials whereby an information souvenir was also released for the benefit of local farmers.
iv. Representatives are send to NABARD sponsored camps for getting latest training on new agriculture developments and practices.
v. A free cattle camp was organized with co-operation from Negamam Veterinary Hospital.
vi. A seminar was conducted to cultivate Coco as an inter crop with Coconut to help farmers generate additional income. In this seminar representative from Cadbury India Ltd. distributed free Coco samplings and fertilizers.

d. Infrastructure Development-

i. The roads of the villages are repaired and made easily accessible in co-ordination with government departments.
ii. To recharge the underground water level rain water harvesting and preserving ponds are constructed in the farmer’s land and government subsidy is also made available.

e. Health Awareness- Blood donation and free eye camps are conducted annually with help of nearby hospitals. with help of nearby hospitals.

f. Education- For the past two years on Children’s Day meritorious students and honoured with prizes and certificates. An old students association is also formed at the school.

g. Major Achievement- Our bank and the farmer’s club won the state level prize from NABARD for the Best Sponsor Bank and the Best Farmer’s Club.

Our Journey so far (VKC):-

1st VKC of our Bank was set up in May, 2005. For this innovative initiative our Bank has been awarded the prestigious “Skoch Challenger Award” in March, 2007. Presently, we have more than 200 VKCs across the country. For all round socio economic development of villages, 101 villages across the country have been adopted through selected VKCs under "Union Adarsh Gram" project.

Kisan Call Center is a service provided free of cost by the Dept. Of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India to address the issues raised by farmers in local languages. For addressing any issue that VKC In-charge is not in a position to solve, Kisan Call Center (1800-180-1551) can be contacted for instant solution of the problem.

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VILLAGE KNOWLEDGE CENTRE [VKC]

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