EXECUTIVE SUMARY

This quarter led to the end of the 1st year of the main project. Although, the financial and physical progress of the
project has not been as per the plan, a significant work has been done in recruitment, training and capacity
building of staff, system setting; operationalization of field offices; procurement of infrastructure, and hiring of the
services of technical agencies. Setting up infrastructure and administrative systems at the field Offices, setting
up Grievance Redressal System, rolling out of HR manual and preparation of financial and administrative
manual, building strategic partnerships with COMPFED, ASA, PRADAN, SBI, SERP are some of the key
highlights of the 1st year.
Confidently, project would take benefit of these institutional and human infrastructures in the coming years.
During the last quarter, project sent half of its field staff to SERP, Andhra Pradesh for 18 days for village
immersion and exposure trip. Staff learnt about the nuances of institution building and required best practices for
the promotion of pro-poor community institutions. The staff of DPCUs and BPMs were also sent to Andhra
Pradesh for 2nd round of training on village organization. This was important as in most of the villages where
BRLP has enteredthe triggers for formation of village organization had started showing up. To strengthen the
village organization, further, six teams of senior CRPs along with Project resource professionals came from
Andhra Pradesh and provided handholding support to the BPIUs in promotion of model VOs, in each project
districts.
The project has so far promoted 2432 SHGs and 30 Village organizations (VOs). To increase the role of
community participation in the project-a policy document on Community Mobilizers (CMs) and internal CRPs
have been developed and finalized. 16513 (54%) SHG members out of total 30498 SHG members have been
identified as someone who could not sign. Out of these 7350 members have been trained to write/ink their name
/ signature. A new simplified, though comprehensive books of accounts for SHGs has been prepared. It was
crucial that all BRLP staff get training on the same before rolling it out in the field. All the field staff of BRLP
except from Purnia went through 7 days long training programme on new books of accounts, micro-planning
process and banking activities. Due to flood-training could not be organized in Purnia.
Mainstreaming of the groups promoted by JEEViKA, particularly, linking the groups with bank is one of the
important component under the project. Till now, 779 groups have opened their bank accounts and out of them
123 groups have been credit linked with a loan amount of Rs. 16.12 Lakhs. However, still there are 974 groups,
which are more than 3 months old but not have been able to open their bank account. The project is in
discussion with 3 of the RRBs to have MOUs with them to smoothen the account opening and linkage related
issues. The RRBs are more frequently present than any other bank in BRLP project districts. In addition to this
192 groups have been provided initial capitalization fund (ICF) amounting Rs. 17.89 Lakhs.
Under the livelihoods component, project scaled up the already piloted System for Rice Intensification (SRI) with
more than 5000 farmers in 173 villages of Gaya and Nalanda. The scaling up of SRI is being done with the help
of 81 Village Resource Persons (VRPs) trained and promoted by PRADAN. These VRPs are providing
handholding support to the SRI farmers, who are collectively following this methodology in 1359.95 acres. Along
with several other visitors, the Commissioner of Magadh Division and Senior Agriculture Consultant of Planning
Commission visited the SRI fields of BRLP. Another important methodological intervention being promoted by
BRLP is Participatory Varietal Selection & Promotion (PVSP) in summer Moong. Through this method, new seed
varieties are introduced in the farmers field in a participatory manner. This was piloted with 698 farmers in 18
villages of 3 blocks. Four nos. of composite varieties were identified namely K-851, HUM-1, PDM-139 and TM9937 to conduct trials. It was found that the best variety was TM-9937 about 66% farmers got yield more than 12
quintal per hectare, which is more than 4 times of local varieties (89% farmers of local variety got 2.1-2.8 quintal
per hectare).

There is no better livelihoods opportunity for the poor households other than getting a secured job. Regarding
this an agreement has been made with AeA for training and placement of 500 rural youths from Purnia district in
service sector. Similarly, discussion has been held with G4S to provide training and placement of project
beneficiaries in security service domain.
The devastating flood of Kosi River affected millions of people in 6 Districts of North Bihar, particularly. The
BRLPS responded to the needs of the hour and extended its support to the district administration in Madhepura,
Araria, Purnia and Saharsha District. BRLPS staff coordinated the rescue and relief operation and facilitated
formation of committees for managing different activities at Rehabilitation camps.

INTRODUCTION
The end of the 4th quarter marks the completion of 1st one year of the JEEViKA. During the first year of the project, it has
witnessed rapid expansion in terms of both its geographical coverage as well as manpower, particularly during the last two
quarters. Around 61 % of field staff joined the project towards the end of the second quarter, while 26 % during the last
quarter of the year-1. Around 6 % positions of the BPIU are still vacant.
The project intervention began in 12 new blocks in the month of February; however, it took more than 3 months in making
these units fully functional and operational. The newly joined staff had two weeks of field immersion, further two weeks class
room training subsequent to which training and exposure in Andhra Pradesh. Setting up offices, procurement of office
infrastructures and other facilities took its own time--altogether no less than 6 months. Therefore, the take away point from
this experience is that BPIU takes almost six months as incubation before they are ready to perform. Therefore,
preparations for the IInd phase of the main project should start well in advance so that by Oct, 09 the staff are on board and
BPIU is well equipped with systems in place.

PROJECT OUTREACH
Presently, the Project is being implemented in 285 villages from 132 Panchayat of 18 blocks. There are 168319 HHs in
these villages from which 74919 has been identified as target HHs, which constitutes 44% of the total. Out of these 285
villages 53 (19%) villages have been saturated i.e. more than 80 % of identified target HHs have been brought under the
fold of SHGs, and 25 of them have been handed over to CMs. About the size of the village, while the project started its
operation with smaller villages during the beginning of the year and moved towards the bigger villages. During the Q-1 the
average number of HHs in the entered villages were 287, which has gone up to 591 by the 4th Quarter. Also, the size of
villages in Khagaria and Muzaffarpur appears to be much bigger than particularly Gaya and Nalanda.

S.N.

NameDistricts

No. of
Blocks

No. of
Panchayats

No. of Villages
entered

Total No. of HHs

Av. No. of
HHs/Village

Total No. of Target HHs

(identified)

% Targeting

1.

M.pur

27

57

66322

38%

M. bani

31

34

33553

1164
987

25065

2.

16081

48%

22751

734

6358

28%

12099

257

6518

53%

3.
4.
5.

Purnia
Nalanda
Gaya

6 Khagaria
Till 4th QTR
( July- Sep,08)
Till 3rd QTR
( April- June,08)
Till 2nd QTR
(Jan-Mar,08)
Till 1st QTR
(Oct-Dec,07)

3
3

21
19

31
47

26

104

19343

186

12768

66%

12

14251

1188

8129

58%

18

132

285

168319

591

74919

44%

18

132

269

111382

414

53349

47%

79

138

60619

439

34259

56%

24

53

15224

287

4421

29%

PROMOTION OF SELF HELP GROUPS

Self Help Group is the primary community institutions, which the project is promoting. So far around 2432 groups have been
promoted with the highest number of groups i.e. 530 in Gaya, followed by Nalanda with 470 groups. In terms of formation of
groups Q-2 of the year 2008 has been very crucial, when more than half of the total groups were formed. This is the period
when not only newly recruited AC and CC joined the Project after the training on SHG but in the month of June,08 the
external CRPs from Andhra Pradesh and Internal CRPs from BRLP project area worked intensively towards this.

Until 30th Sept, 07 (Pilot Phase)

Q-4, 07

Q-1, 08

Q-2, 08

Q-3, 08

Up to Q-4,08

236

132

145

1381

538

2432

As it is evident from the table, a large number of the groups have been
formed during the Q-3 in the year 2008. Therefore, these groups are
less than 6 months old. There are only 513 groups, which are more
than six months old. Based on the socioeconomic condition, out of
2432 groups promoted, 1797 are homogenous in nature and 633 are
heterogeneous. Out of 283 groups graded so far 191 (67%) groups
turned out to be of A category.

Name of Districts

March-08

June-08

Sept-08

No.

No.

No.

Gaya

144

26

393

21

518

21

Nalanda

106

19

324

15

470

19

Muzaffarpur

76

14

220

12

369

15

Madhubani

100

18

274

17

391

16

Purnia

119

22

403

22

435

17

244

13

249

10

Khagaria

SHGs MEMBERS-A SOCIAL PROFILE:

Out of 30498 SHG members, around 63% belong to

scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and extremely backward castes (EBC), which constitute socially and
economically marginalized sections of the society. If one includes the memberships of backward castes (BC) the figure
becomes 93%. The rest 7% belong to minority and general category. While SC and BC are spread across all the locations,
EBCs are largely from Nalanda and Madhubani. Muslim members have significant share in Muzaffarpur and Purnia.
S.
N.
1.

MEMBERS
PROFILE (%)
SC

2.

Purnia

Muz

2820

2800

ST

533

00

3.

BC

1845

705

4.

EBC

12

805

5.

Minority & General

535

650

6.

Total

5745

4960

Total

Nalanda

Mbani

Gaya

Kgaria

2199

1909

4048

1210

14986

49

01

00

00

00

534

1.7

1879

1368

2016

1267

9080

30

1099

1247

242

363

3768

12.3

162

450

206

127

2130

5340

4974

6512

2967

30498

100

VILLAGE ORGANISATION

The village organization is the first level federation of the SHGs. Once in a village / hamlet more than 8 SHGs are formed ,
the process of formation of next level institution starts. 8 -12 SHGs of a
village form Village Organisation (VO) in which 2-3 representatives of
each SHG form the Executive Committee of the VO, and all the
members of SHGs become part of the General Body . As in the last
Quarter , the focus of JEEViKA has been the formation of good quality
SHGs in large number , the VO formation could not get a momentum .
We formed 9 additional VOs during the last quarter. VO helps in
collectively manage community services, bulk purchasing and decision
making. During the various meetings and trainings the SHG members
are introduced about the importance, objectives and roles and
responsibilities of the VOs. Out of 34 VOs formed, 24 have opened
their Bank accounts and have mobilized around Rs. 59,020 as
membership fee and share capital.
PARTICULARS

GAYA

NALANDA

MUZAFF.

MBANI

PURNIA

No. of VOs Formed

11

34

No. of SHG part of

Village organization

54

73

114

51

78

370

No of VOs having Bank

Account
Total individual
members of VO

24

672

874

1390

481

1052

4469

13870

10750

10320

6220

17860

59020

Total Share Capital &

membership mobilized

KHAGARIA BIHAR

Training to newly recruited DPCU officials, BPMs, AC and CC:

Newly recruited District level staffs, Area Coordinators and Community Coordinators were immersed in the
villages for 15 days that was followed by an intensive training about the project and Institution building aspects.
The main objective of the Village immersion was to acquaint the newly recruited staff with the village life and
make them understand the socio-economic condition of rural poor households, better.
The new recruits were imparted training by the Training Cell Personnels at Patna in two batches. The specific
objectives of the training were:
1. To enhance the knowledge about the SHG formation and its role in reduction of poverty.
2. To learn about the process of institution Building and its best practices.
3. To equip them with the training and implementation methodologies so that they can replicate the same training
with the SHGs and VOs in effective manner.
Village Immersion of Area Coordinators and Community Coordinators in Andhra Pradesh
All existing 49 Area Coordinators and 226 Community Coordinators have undergone the Village immersion and
intensive training on the process of Institution Building conducted by the Training Cells in Batches. After training
they were placed in their respective work stations where they have used their training knowledge and formed
some of the SHGs. Thereafter, after having a first hand experience in the social mobilization and group formation
through the above process of village immersion and intensive training, 85 Area Coordinators & Community
Coordinators were sent to SERP, Andhra Pradesh for Exposure visit for 18 days from 13th August 08 to 31st
August 08.

In Andhra Pradesh they were divided into smaller groups and were placed in the SERP operational areas where
they interacted with the SHGs and Village Organizations. Main objective of the village immersion was to make
the new incumbents learn about the process of institution Building and its best practices. There they were sent to
Orvakal (a District where the oldest federation was formed) and were provided with the chance to interact with
the best Community Based Institutions and their staffs. Exposure visit for next Batch of 285 AC & CC is due in
the month of November 2008.
Training cum village Immersion of DPCU officials and BPMs on Village Organisation.
All DPCU and BPIU staffs are involved in forming quality SHG and nurturing them through trainings and
Exposure visits. To initiate the process of village organization all the DPCU officials including DPC, DTC, DTO
and the Block Project Mangers, altogether 23 staff, were sent to SERP from 13th Aug 08 to 29th Aug 08 to
undergo the training on the process of Village Organization formation and their nurturing. The main objectives of
the training cum village immersion were to equip the District Training Cell and Block level team with the
methodologies on the under mentioned areas, so that they can replicate the same training with the ACs/CCs and
the SHGs and VOs in effective and efficient manner.
1. Importance and process of Village Organization formation.
2. Understanding process of Conducting VO Meeting.
3. Importance of subcommittee formation and their roles and responsibilities.
4. Process of conducting appraisal by Village Organisation and importance of Book Keeping.
The entire training programme of 15 days incorporated field visits and interaction with the Village Organizations
and Mandal Samakhya of SERP.
External CRP Visit
6 teams of external CRPs from Andhra Pradesh visited JEEViKA to provide support to the field teams in establishing
the best practices in the Village Organizations. Each team was placed in the pilot blocks for 30 days and with the
Block team they were instrumental in nurturing the Village Organisation. The CRPs were involved in imparting training
related to VO concept and forming the Sub-Committees and making them aware about the roles and responsibilities
of the same.

CM Policy
Community Mobilizers (CM), preferably women, acts as facilitator for the self help groups. Their main responsibility is
to facilitate meetings of the associated SHGs and writing their books of records. These Community Mobilizes are from
the community itself, identified by the community and works for the community. To achieve scale in the project,
capacity building of Community Mobilizers becomes very important. Till Sep 08 the district wise CMs status is
enumerated below:

PARTICULARS
Number of Book
Keepers/CM identified
Number of Book
Keepers/CM trained
Trained book
keepers/CM providing
services to SHGs
No. of SHGs in which
BOA are updated by
CMs.
SHGs/CM

GAYA

NALANDA

MUZAFF.

MBANI

PURNIA

KHAGARIA

TOTAL

66

40

54

33

59

13

265

18

20

15

15

30

00

98

16

20

15

15

30

01

97

247

200

268

254

264

07

1240

15.4

10

17.86

17

8.8

12.78

A separate policy guideline for the Community Mobilizers has been framed depicting the selection processes, roles
and responsibilities, training and payment of honorarium. As mentioned above, CM participate in all the weekly
meeting of the assigned SHGs and facilitate the meeting process with the timely updation of all books of
accounts and both the activities are vital for graduating the SHGs towards strong institution. Hence, the
honorarium of CM is linked with the number of weekly meetings attended and weekly updation of all books of
record.

Deployment of PRPs from SERP

As per the contract Agreement with SERP one-one Professional Resource Persons (PRPs) have been
deployed in each DPCU. These PRPs are having long field experience of formation and nurturing the Village
organisations and Mandal Samakhya in SERP, Andhra Pradesh. They will be working with the Field teams in the
pilot blocks of JEEViKA for one year and support in creating strong Resource Villages with strong Village
Organisations. These resource villages will become the training ground for other community Institutions created
in other blocks. Quarter wise PRPs Key Performance Indicators for one year have also been developed for
tracking the progress.
Process initiated for taking up of the WDC SHGs
As WDC is also operational in some of the 18 blocks where BRLPS has started their operations, need was felt to
have a strategic alliance between the BRLPS and WDC to overcome the issues of overlapping and duplication of
effort in the same area. The MOU with the WDC has been signed and WDC has agreed to handover all the older
SHG promoted by their partners to the BRLPS. As per the strategy, meeting was conducted with the concerned
NGO partner of WDC, WDC officials and BRLPS in Gaya, Khagaria and Nalanda. In the meeting, NGO head
along with the field level workers were also present and they are committed to support JEEViKA in working with
the SHGs formed by them. The meeting was also followed by the field visit in which JEEViKAs field level
Community Coordinators and Area Coordinators were introduced with the group of SHGs.
Development of Flip Charts on Social Mobilization and training to SHGs
To impart the training to the SHGs and seek participation of the community, two sets of Flipcharts were
developed. These flipcharts were developed and finalized after conducting field test with the community. Some
of the basic principles followed in the design of flipcharts are to give choices to the Community Coordinators /
Area Coordinators for imparting training in the community.

MICRO FINANCE
FINANCIAL MAINSTREAMING OF SHG
The fourth quarter has witnessed intensive staff trainings, where a significant amount of time were devoted in
capacity building of the staff. In addition, rigorous follow-ups were made with Bank officials and staff to coordinate the process of Bank Account opening and Bank Linkage process. An entire month was solely devoted
to Bank A/c opening of SHGs and Micro Plan preparation. As a result of this concerted effort more than 400
Bank Accounts have been opened during the last quarter.
Banking Activity (SHG):
No. of

Month

SHG

No. of SHGs
having
Bank a/c

Bank Linkage

No. of
groups
received CIF

CIF

Up to June

1841

352

75

78

22

145

1237900

Up to July

2210

490

68

94

19

158

1457000

Up to August

2363

647

58

111

17

178

1802400

Up to September

2432

779

41

123

15

191

2002200

No. of SHG

No. of SHGs
having Bank
A/C

Bank Linkage

No. of SHG
having
received CIF

Purnia

435

132

30

64

48

31

Khagaria

249

36

14

00

00

00

Muzaffarpur

369

187

50

16

08

56

Gaya

518

241

46

34

14

36

Nalanda

470

110

23

05

33

Madhubani

391

73

18

05

35

TOTAL

2432

779

District-wise Progress in banking activity:

District

123

191

Challenges in Dealing with Banks :

Banks are still not very forth coming in opening of bank accounts and linking of groups. Different banks and their
respective branches have different understanding and excuses for not opening SHG Bank Account. More over
these issues come in installments and varies quite widely across the banks. The challenges that were faced in
doing business with banks are mapped below:

PROBLEM MAPPING OF OPENING OF BANK ACCOUNTS

Branch Manager

Identity Proof

SHG-ISSUES

Bank Linkage

Others

Branch Manager unaware about

SHGs-- Acute shortage of Bank
stationery-unavailability of forms
becomes a good excuse.

Voters Identity Card

& Residential proof
is to be endorsed by
BDO

Denial of linkage
due to presence of
defaulters in group.

The Branch Manager wishes to

Open SHGs account only when
Bank has its MOU with BRLPS

Require residential
certificate of all the
members

Representatives of
the SHG are required
to be literate persons
or at least they
should know to sign.
Group should be in
existence for six
months for Bank A/c
opening process

Groups
performance
made criterion
for
opening
account of SHG
Non inclusion
due to service
area approach

Single officer branch is a major

cause for not opening Bank A/c
of SHG.

Discrepancies
in
Voter Card common
issue (Name spelling
mistake etc)

All members of SHG

are called for Bank
A/c opening

Stamp duty of Rs
300.00 and 100.00
as documentation
charges was taken
for Linkage.
Sometimes more
than
40-50
signatures
are
required to get a
bank linkage.

To sort out the problem faced in carrying out banking activity a presentation of the problems were laid before the
State Level Bankers Committees (SLBC) meeting and rigorous follow-ups were done with Bank Official at
regional level as well as at the Branch level. In addition our staff have been given training on Know Your
Customer (KYC) guidelines which requires to be followed for opening of bank account.
Books of Record of SHG
The books of accounts of SHGs which were prepared in the previous quarter have been printed now, and are
ready to be rolled out by the end of September. A detailed roll out strategy had been framed, which entails
rigorous training to the staff of BRLPS. In turn these trained staff will provide training to Community Mobilizer and
Book Keepers. A detailed plan has been worked out with them.
Capacity Building of Staff on SHG Books of Record and Micro Planning
Books of account training has been organized for
the staff in three phases:

a. Capacity Building of D.P.C.U staff: Four

day training was organized at Patna in which

40 staff and 6 professional resource persons
from SERP were given training on Basic
accountancy,
Cash-Book
maintenance,
General Ledgers and Receipt and Payment
accounts. Three case studies were
prepared to facilitate practical sessions
during the training. On the fourth day

training was provided exclusively on Micro Planning Process. The training on Books of Accounts of SHG
was imparted by External Resource persons who were also involved in providing technical support in
preparation of Books of accounts.

b. Training of BPIU Staff: Two days training was organized at district level for the Area Coordinators and

Community Coordinators. This training was imparted by the training cell of each district. This training was
organized with the view to acquaint the staff with new books of accounts of SHGs and also to enhance the
capacity of training cell on the subject matter.

c. Training of staff on the Books of Account and Micro Planning Process:

Seven days long training was organized for all the staff at district and block level. Training has been
organized in six batches, each constituting of 40- 45 participants. The training has been imparted by a group
of external resource persons on Books of Account and the training on Micro Planning was provided by
internal resource persons. Till now, training has been provided to all the staff of Gaya (70 participants),
Nalanda (43 participants), Khagaria (30 participants), Muzaffarpur (43 participants), Madhubani (45
participants) and only 7 staff of Purnia district.
In the seven days training, Len-Den Prapatra, General Ledger, Saving and Loan Ledger and Receipt and
Payment A/c preparation was taught to the staff . Further to make them well versed in recording aspect, 4
case studies were prepared and practical sessions were pressed in simultaneously. Besides, a detailed
rolling out process was discussed with the staff to smoothen the process of rolling out of new Books of
accounts of the SHG.
Together with the training on Books of Accounts, training on Micro Planning was taken up, in which the
entire planning process was discussed citing examples from field. The process of need identification,
investment plan and the processes involved in reaching to a solution at group level were also taken up
through simulation exercises. Through these training inputs we are expecting a significant progress, where
in all the staff will be in position to take up Micro Planning exercise of the groups and significant
disbursement of CIF will take place wherever there is credit need in the groups.

FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS
S.
N.
1.
2.
3.
4.
6.

Purnia

Muzaff.

Nalanda

M bani

Gaya

Kgaria

C. Saving
(Rs. Lakhs)
Groups involved in
Inter-Loaning

1640601

825762

801230

1640601

114374

424619

370

317

423

347

466

216

2139

Members took loan

3163

1405

1985

3899

2349

1436

14237

2981288

870797

1091263

1644765

2357089

437945

9383147

84

93

93

87

85

94

Financial Heads

C. amount inter-loaned
(Rs Lakhs)
On time Re-payment
Rate (OTR)

Total
5447187

10

BANKING TRANSACTIONS:
CIF DETAILS
Amount (Rs. Lakhs)
Disbursed ICF
No. of Groups received
ICF
Av. ICF/Gr.
SHG members received
ICF
AV. CIF/Member(Rs.
thousand)
No. of Groups submitted
UC
UC submitted (Rs. lakhs)

GAYA

NALANDA

MUZAFF.

M, BANI

PURNIA

KHAGARIA

TOTAL

2.44

3.19

7.66

3.74

2.98

20.02

36

33

56

35

31

NA

191

6.78

9.67

13.68

10.38

9.61

9.32

92

66

170

187

73

NA

588

2.65

4.83

4.51

2.00

4.08

NA

3.33

29

26

48

20

35

NA

158

1.9

2.02

3.24

1.34

2.9

NA

10.98

Community investment fund is the amount of project money disbursed through micro-planning process. So far 145 groups
have gone through micro-planning process and have
received Rs. 12 lakhs as initial capitalization funds.
Around 600 members of these 145 groups have been
able to take benefit of this fund at the first instance.
Nonetheless, the members who took ICF at the first
instance have started paying back. The returned
amount is being ploughed back to other members of the
group, as well, both directly through SHGs and through
VOs.
The groups whose credit absorption capacity is more
than what they have received as CIF and internal saving
can be linked with Banks. Till now 78 groups have been
credit linked with Bank. The table below shows the
progress till June, 08.

S. N. BANK LINKAGES
1. Number of SHGs
formed
2. SHGs having Bank
A/C
3. SHGs Credit
Linked with Banks
4. Amount (Rs.
Lakhs) Loaned by
Banks
5. Av. Lending /group

PURNIA

MUZ

NALANDA

MBANI

GAYA

KHAGARIA TOTAL

435

369

470

391

518

248

2432

132

187

110

73

241

36

779

64

16

4.0

34

123

6.97

2.74

1.35

0.75

4.29

16.1

10.89

17.82

27

18.75

12.62

13.09

Though, the senior management of most of the banks has shown their willingness to give thrust to the SHG movement and
provide all kind of support; however, at the branch level it is not getting translated into action. Prima facie, this appears a

11

case of lack of sensitization of bankers to the issues of SHGs. Some of the issues mentioned below are the obstacles that
are coming in the way to which we have to make an attempt to find a solution.

Bankers are finding difficulty to open the account of the SHGs on the following pretext:
1.
2.
3.

Identity proof Most of the banks are reluctant to accept the endorsement of the Mukhiya as certificate of
identification.
Minimum Balance- Banks with core banking facility are asking for minimum opening balance of Rs.1000.
Age of the groups-- Banks is reluctant to open account of those groups which are less than six month old.

Bank Linkage process is witnessing following issues :

1.
2.

Reluctance of the bank to lend a group where any of the SHG member family is having outstanding loans to their
name.
Many bank branches having minimum man power prevents them to take up visits to groups and taking initiative on
their part.

12

LIVELIHOODS
Scaling up of SRI (System for Rice Intensification):
System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is one of the key livelihoods interventions, which was planned to scale up
with 2000 farmers. This was planned after the excellent performance of SRI during the pilot phase. During the
pilot, the average paddy yield with SRI methodology
was 10 tones per hectare against the 3.3 tones per
hectare of traditional practice.
During the last phase of season in 173 villages, SRI
was initiated with 5795 farmers comprising both SHG
and non-SHG farmers of Gaya and Nalanda districts.
The non SHG farmers are mainly from our target
communities and are from BRLP project blocks only
but have not been brought under the fold of SHG. In
Gaya, SRI has been practiced in 5 clusters of all 4
project blocks, while in Nalanda, it is in 4 clusters.
This scaling up of SRI would not have been possible
without the involvement of Village Resource Persons
(VRP). This follows the principle of farmer to farmer extension model and is one of the low cost methodology
through which technology is made available to the small & marginal land holders. Around 81 Rural Youths were
identified and were given 4 rounds of training on SRI methodology. Many of them belong to the families who did
SRI in their field during the pilot phase.
Different communication technologies like
audio-visuals, Flex, Fur and sharing of
experienced SRI farmers were used
extensively during the awareness campaigns.
The payment structure of VRP for providing
extension services was positively biased
towards farmers belonging to scheduled caste
and scheduled tribes and particularly towards
those who were taking land on lease or doing
share cropping e.g. Rs. 35/ Month/HHs for
SC/ST doing SRI on lease land/ share
cropping while Rs. 20 and 25 for general and
backward caste, respectively. Each VRP was
given the responsibilities to provide services
to 30 to 120 farmers based on their skills and
abilities. Extension officers of the govt. dept. and scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendra further strengthen the
awareness process by visiting SRI villages during the campaigns.

13

Current Status of SRI

Districts

No. of
VRP

No. of
Village

Total SRI
Farmers

SHG Farmers
(Area-Acres)

N-SHG
Farmers
(Area-Acres)

Total Acres
of SRI
Paddy

Net Acres of
SRI Paddy

GAYA

57

143

4441

1827 (485.23)

2614 (740.38)

1225.61

1225.61

NALANDA

24

30

1354

869 (171.92)

485 (31.238)

203.16

134.35

TOTAL

81

173

5795

2696 (47%)
(657.1) (48%)

3099 (771.62)

1428.76

1359.95

The average acreage of SRI per household is around 0.28 acres in Gaya, whereas in Nalanda it is 0.17 acres.
Due to flood water in Nalanda, around 285 farmers fields got inundated in water. However, efforts were made to
replenish the same through mobile nursery. A central nursery was prepared in relatively upland of Gaya, and it
was transported to Nalanda for transplantation. Presently, the average tillers in Nalanda & Gaya are around 4050, however the maximum tillers observed, so far, are 70-80 and minimum tillers observed are 25-30.

Visitors to SRI demonstration Sites / Plots

Considering the pilot success of SRI, many visitors including farmers from
different areas visited SRI fields and interacted with the farmers. The
Commissioner of Magadh Division, Senior Agriculture Consultant of
Planning Commission, Project Director of ATMA, Project Coordinator of
KVK, District Agriculture Officer, Plant Protection
Officer, Field Officers of concerned districts have
Visited the SRI fields. Non Government
Organizations and Private Companies such as ASA
and BASIX brought their farmers from Munger and
Gaya for exposure visit to the SRI fields in Gaya.

Impact of PVSP Piloting

Participatory Varietals Selection & Promotion (PVSP)
was piloted with 698
farmers belonging to SHG and non-SHG members in 18 villages of 3 blocks namely Bochaha, Dhamdaha and
Harnaut of Muzaffarpur, Purnea and Nalanda districts respectively. The objective was to introduce & validate the
methodology for selection of seed in a participatory approach. This selection is entirely based on the farmers
preference to experiment with a basket of choices before zeroing down to any particular variety. Three Village
Resource Persons (VRPs) from Munger (where PVSP has been done for last 2 years) and 3 VRPs from Harnaut,
Bochaha & Dhamdaha were identified & trained to implement the pilot and undertake the trials.
Moong (Green Gram) was selected for the pilot, as majority of the farmers practice Moong during the summer
season. Finally 646 farmers participated in the PVSP mother and
baby trial. Around 757 trials were conducted in 90 hectares of land
with 646 farmers. Four nos. of composite varieties were identified
namely K-851, HUM-1, PDM-139 and TM-9937 to conduct the trials.
It was found that the most productive variety in the local context was
TM-9937 in which about 66% farmers got yield more than 12 quintal
/Ha which is more than 4 times of local varieties (89% of farmers got
2.1-2.8 quintal per hectare under the local variety). The next best
variety was HUM-1 in which 50% farmers got yield more than 6.5
8 quintal per hectare. But varieties like PDM-139 & K-851 are sown

14

slightly late & both were heavily prone to Yellow Vein Mosaic Virus (YVMV). The maximum yield these two
varieties were around 5-7 quintal/Ha. Therefore the two varieties namely TM-9937 & HUM-1 have been
preferred by majority of the farmers. It is also discussed among the farmers to promote these two varieties in the
coming years.

Capacity Building Programme on Livelihoods

A three days training programme was organized on Livelihoods Promotion & Market Development for the Block /
Cluster level staffs with the help of MART. Two staffs from each district, who were taking interest in livelihoods
interventions, were identified and sent to the Indian Institute of Training & Development (IITD), Kolkata for the
training. The components of training comprises livelihoods promotion, local economy, marketing, rural market
structure, marketing avenues for rural products, marketing plan, business plan, micro and macro livelihoods
planning & strategies.
After the training programme, one month action plan was prepared by all the six teams for carrying out the
livelihoods activities in their respective districts. Some of major economic activities identified are goatery, piggery,
milch cattle purchase & milk selling, incense sticks, grocery shops, stationery hawker, vegetable vending, etc.
In addition to this one day training cum orientation programme was organised on SRI in which 65 staff
participated from Gaya & Nalanda.

15

NON FARM SECTOR

Partnership with Asian Heritage Foundation
Asian Heritage Foundation was founded by Shri Rajeev Sethi
who is a leading artisan designer, and noted internationally for
his contribution to preserving and celebrating South Asias
rich cultural heritage. Asian Heritage Foundation has -over
the years- worked in close cooperation with policy level
bodies such as the Planning Commissions Task Force on
Creative and Cultural Industries, Local Self Governments
such as the Panchayati Raj , Khadi and Village Industries and
a number of trading Organizations, Non-governmental
Organizations and Civil Society Organizations.
AHF had organized the Product Development Workshop with
the artisans in the Month of June 08 at Madhubani. As a
result, AHF has received an order for development of 1000 pieces of Modular wall paper painted in the form of
Mithila Art. Therefore, 9 artisans have been selected as master trainers from 6 SHGs of one Village organization
of Ranti village in Rajnagar Block for the production of
1000 pieces of Mithila art based modular wall paper. Ranti
Village Organisation took the initiative and liason with the
line department and PRIs to acquire community hall at
Ranti to be used as production center. Under the
supervisions of Village Organisation, these artisans have
finished the production of the 1000 pieces.
To develop understanding about process of formation of
Producers Group among the artisans, 5 days training
programme have been planned at Patna from 7th
November to 12th November 08. Some of the participants
will go for an exposure visit to see the artisans cluster developed by various agencies in different parts of India.
Expression of Interest has also been published in the leading newspaper to work on Incense Sticks, Sujni,
Khatwa and Banana Fiber.

Livelihoods--Job Sector Initiative

In this domain, following progress has been registered.
An agreement has been made with Aid et Action (AeA) for training and placement of 500 youths from Purnia
district in service sector. AeA has started initial work
and has almost completed the study on employment
potential as per the agreement. The work has been
little delayed against the schedule due to flood.

It has been planned to have a partnership with G4S

for training and placement of project beneficiaries in
security service domain. G4S is a renowned security
service agreement with its head quarter in UK

16

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
1. Flood Relief Support Work

The devastating floods of Kosi River affected millions of people in 6 Districts of North Bihar. The CEO, BRLPS
was placed as Special District Magistrate in Madhepura for two weeks. Using that as an opportunity, the BRLPS
quickly responded to the affected families. The Staff of BRLPS extended their support to the district
administration in Madhepura, Araria, Purnia and Saharsha Districts.
a. Coordination work: With District administration BRLPS staff coordinated the rescue and relief work. The
team Facilitated formation of Committees for managing different activities at Rehabilitation camps. An
external assistance cell was set up at Madhepura to co-ordinate the activities of NGOs / external agencies
and also coordinated the relief material from the various agencies , companies & NGOs.
b. Website developed for separated families: A website with the help of SAFAL Solutions has been
developed to assist the SAMBAL Project of the Social Development, Govt of Bihar Project . The website
detail may be seen on www.vikasdwar.com/floodsmissing
c. Flood Affected Area : Purnia, the one of the 6 project districts of BRLP which is affected from Floods. All
three operating blocks of Purnia affected by this devastating floods. The total affected SHG is 200.
Following flood relief activity has been undertaken for affected SHG members of Purnia:
1. First Aid kit: All three BPIU teams have been given medicines, halogen tablets, and bleaching powder
to provide emergency health support to the affected needy members. Small training was organised on
uses of first aid medicines.
2. Water and Sanitation training and support : Community being made aware on uses of
Bleaching Powders, Halogen tablets and ORS . Around 5000 hand pumps has been made purified
(drinkable) water through use of the bleaching powder. Through Community participation it has been
ensured that more then 10000 halogen tablets were used properly and community also got benefited to
get ORS access by the SHGs members within their Villages.
Liasioning with UNICEF and District Health Society:
liasioning with the Unicef and DHS we got 13000 halogen tablets, 20 Bags Bleaching powder and 7000
ORS bags and IEC to utilise the material properly.
After educating the community and SHGs, BRLPS team distributed the material and ensured utilisation
of the material.
3. Flood Relief materials: The BRLPS had received flood relief materials from various agencies and
distributed it among the flood affected SHG members.
4. Emergency and rescue support given to the affected SHG members: Our field team has shown
sensitivity to help the community during emergency and rescue work done at village level. The team
provided moral support to keep patience during this critical period.

17

2.
Signature Campaign
To increase in number of making own signature instead of using thumb impression for all SHG members
became the focused activity during the quarter.
District

No . member who could make their own

signature by Last Quarter

Achieved Till the date

1056

1841

Khagaria

51

364

Muzaffarpur

558

1070

Gaya

580

1620

Nalanda

300

1062

Madhubani

94

1393

2639

7350

Purnia

Total

Health Risk Fund

3.
The concept of Health Risk Fund introduced with Village Organization level in Bochaha, Dhamdaha, Harnaut
and Bodh Gaya BPIU. The project has decided to pilot it in three BPIUs. The Concept behind this fund is that
each woman in the SHG will have Monthly saving separately in the name of Health Risk Mitigation Fund and this
savings will be submitted at VO level in monthly basis and the project will contribute the fund against the savings
made by SHGs at VO level. The amount of savings per members for health risk mitigation fund will be decided
by SHGs. This saving amount can be Rs. 5/- to Rs. 10/- per month per member.
Entitlements
A. Job Card : Job card campaign camp was organised with coordination of Block line department at Bishanpur
Panchayat of Dhamdaha BPIU. The concerned NREGS Block Program Officer and Panchayat samiti members
from the Government side and BPIU staff jointly organised the two days camp. The total number of turned out
members were 375 and they have been given job cards through this camp.
Different BPIU have also taken initiatives for mobilizing the SHG members for getting job cards.
Sl No.

Districts

No. SHG member received job cards

Have bank A/C

1.

Purnia (Dhamdaha)

375

98

2.

Gaya (Bodh Gaya)

200

50

3.

Madhubani (Rajnagar)

173

82

Total

748

230

18

Social initiatives & Achievements:

1. Community Bhawan of Jindapur Village have been handed over to the Sarvodaya Village Organsation,
Jindapur by BDO Bodhgaya.
2. The Annapurna VO of shekhwara in Bodh Gaya BPIU has given application for old age pension and widow
pension.
3. Sanitary latrine installation in Purnia district.
4. Hand pump purification work has been initiated by the project staff in Madhubani district in our project
villages.
1. Non negotiable Norms and VO level action plan:
Number of SHG have Decided their non negotiable Norms:
District

No. of SHGs have

Non- negotiable
Norms

No. of VOs developed Action Plan on any social issues and got it
implemented.
VO Formed
VO have Action Plan

Purnia

93

Khagaria

33

Muzaffarpur

369

11

Gaya

40

Nalanda

220

Madhubani

58

Total

813

34

15

These are following issues on which these non negotiable norms have made by the SHG/VO:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

All children of SHG members to be sent to the

school/Baalwadi centre.
All SHG members will learn to make their own
signature.
All SHG members will always keep their house and
courtyard neat and clean.
All SHG members will ensure to send their children
after taking them bath.
Pregnant women will take complete immunization
and regular Ante natal check up.
All children of age group of one year will be given
immunization.
Social Committee will monitor the regularity of
children in the school.
All common issues of the SHGs will be dealt by VO only.

19

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

During the last quarter, HRD team focused primarily on recruitment & rolling out the HRD manual. In addition
substantial progress has also been made in staff capacity building and district mentoring initiatives.
A.

Recruitment
On recruitment front, the HRD team has made the following progress.

SPMU

Positions Targeted during the

quarter
16

Positions filled up during the

quarter
4

DPCU

23

26

BPIU

133

97

172

107

73
62

S. N.

Level

Total

% Achievement
25

During the quarter, two rounds of recruitment processes were conducted, through which 62% of the total
targeted vacancies have been filled up. Six additional posts of secretarial support positions at SPMU have been
created and approved by the EC taking into account the expansion of project work from 5 blocks to 18 blocks.
Furthermore, to strengthen DPCU, 6 positions of Accountant cum Office Assistant at DPCU level have also been
created. Out of remaining 65 vacant positions, advertisement has been floated for 9 positions at SPMU, 6
positions at DPCU and 6 positions at BPIU. The project plans to complete all the recruitments by the next
quarter.
During the last quarter 33 staffs have left the society. Out of this 31 individuals have left or have been terminated
from BPIUs, mainly CCs and ACs; whereas SPMU and DPCU has registered very low attrition rate i.e. 1 at each
level.
The vacant positions are largely from reserved category. The experiences suggest that getting the right person
from the reserve category for the management positions are very hard to find. So far the Society has completed
three rounds of recruitment for each of the positions, yet these positions are vacant. The society is seriously
thinking to bring in some required changes in the recruitment policy, wherever it is required. This becomes more
the important, considering the fact that recruitment process needs to be started at least six months before the
launch of the 2nd phase. A preliminary discussion has been held over this particular issue, and preparation for
the same would start from December 2008 onwards. It is expected that the coming quarter would come out with
the following.

The Recruitment Policy incorporating learnings of the 1st phase experiences.

Identification and selection of agency for conducting recruitment.

Rolling out plan for conducting recruitment for various positions for existing positions and for 2nd phase of
the project.

20

B.

Rolling Out of HRD manual

Towards making the provisions of HRD manual operational, following progress has been made.

Committees at State and District level have been constituted for redressal of grievances of project
staffs. One such committee in each of the project districts and at SPMU has been formed. The
composition of these committees includes a female representative as well as representation from
ST/SC community. A sensitization training for the all committee members will be done in the coming
quarter.

For coverage of staff with Insurance benefit, an advertisement has been published seeking
expression of interest (EOI) from interested service provider agencies. It is expected that the process
will be completed in the coming quarter.

After introduction of the HRD manual and conducting HRD sensitization workshop in the last quarter,
certain feedbacks have been received. Based on it required addendum has been proposed and
discussed. The addendum is related to expanding mobility support to the field staff, clarifying local
conveyance entitlements and addition in transfer policy.

C.

Staff Capacity Building

Under this, major achievements have been registered under staff capacity building domain. They are as
follows.

CEO along with SPM-M&E, PM-HRD and PM-SD participated in Governance and Accountability
Action Plan Workshop (GAAP) at New Delhi organized by the World Bank.

As per agreement with SERP, project staffs from DPCU and BPIU level participated in 20 days
training cum exposure visit at SERP, Andhra Pradesh to learn the development dynamics and
processes of forming as well strengthening Village Organisation.

1 DPC, 1 DTC, 3 BPMs, 7 Area coordinators along with 1 PM and 1 SPM participated in a 3 days
training on small entrepreneurship development conducted by MART in Kolkata.

A twelve (12) days village immersion program for newly recruited AC and CCs conducted followed by
an Intensive Induction Training Program of nine days at SIHFW, Patna.

21

Operationalization of field offices:

1) Furnishing and interior decoration of new office space of SPMU at 2nd floor.
2) Establishment of 18 BPIUs and equipped all with basic infrastructure HEADS

Requirements

Gaya

Nalanda

Muz

Mdh

Purnia

KHG

Office Set up

18

Furniture &
Fixtures

18

Available

Available

Available

Available

Available

Available

Telephone
Internet

18

Computer

36

Gen set

18

Operators

18

Available

Available

Available

Available

Available

Available

Office Boy

18

Setting Up administrative systems at the field Offices

Office-Orders and instructions have been issued for the regulation of various financial and administrative
functions of the office. E.g. Handing over charges, initiation for separation of office of DPCU for separate
accounting, manpower etc. A monitoring format has been designed for tracking administrative procedure.
The administrative reporting cycle from 26th of the previous month to the 25th of the current month has been
changed to 1st day to the last day of the month. A training has been imparted to the field staff for the filing system
and office management. Separate EPF account number for each individual staff has been also issued.

22

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Baseline Study
The Agricultural Finance Corporation Ltd. (AFC), New Delhi is conducting the Baseline Survey for the BRLPS.
The baseline would establish bench-mark on the pre-project situation so that the progress could be tracked
towards the middle and end of the project. The survey work in both project blocks and the control blocks have
been completed. They have submitted the final report for all the project districts except Muzaffarpur. The report
has been also shared with district teams and a brief summary of the findings would be prepared to share with the
other stakeholders.

MIS Development

Safal Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Secunderabad has been hired by BRLPS to design and develop the MIS for the project.

The design of both first and second set of features of rural livelihoods software/application (RLMIS) has been
completed. MIS system is installed in all 18 blocks. Training to key staffs in all six districts have been completed.
Data Entry Operator in all the districts have also joined and they have been given training on MIS. In most of the
blocks computer infrastructure, power back up support and other required infrastructure is also made available at
the BPIU and DPCU. A TOR for the IInd phase MIS support is ready and it would be shared with the world bank
during their upcoming mission.
PROCESS MONITORING
An advertisement was given to invite expression of interest from different local and national agencies to conduct
process monitoring. 27agencies have applied for the assignment and six short-listed agencies were sent RFP,
out of which 4 of them turned up for technical presentation. procurement process will be over by the end of this
month.

23

COMMUNICATION
COM- Volume 1: SHG
The whole COM is divided into 4 volumes. The first volume of the COM deals
with various processes of village entry, SHG formation and other associated
processes. The designing, laying out and finally the print ready formats were
developed in-house. The procurement process for the printing has been
completed and it is sent to the printers. By October end it will be circulated to
all field staff.

Flip Charts for Social Mobilization & SHG Meeting Processes

The flip charts which are proposed to be used in the institution and capacity building processes in the community
have been developed. The flip charts have
been divided into two categories viz., Social
Mobilization and SHG Meeting Process. The
designing and laying out was completed inhouse. The first 500 copies of flip charts have
been received from the printers have already
been dispatched to all districts.

Printing of SHG Books of Records

The microfinance team has designed new books of
accounts. There are altogether 4 kinds of SHG Books
of Records- Transaction Register, Minutes Register,
Individual Pass Book and Saving & Loan Register. The
designing and lay out was completed. The first 2000
copies have been received from the printer and send to the districts for rolling out of the same.

24