Bank Branches to start in Villages in Koraput

The district administration of Koraput, Odisha in association with nationalized banks to open 46 Ultra Small Branches (USB) of banks in villages with over 2000 population.

These branches will provide banking services in the village having more than 2000 population in the district of Koraput in Odisha.

After these branches set up, the village can do their money transaction with the nationalized bank USB branches and also get their wages payment for MGNREGS.

Out of 46 proposed branches for the villages in the district, Utkal Grameen Bank will open 33 branches, State Bank of India (6), Andhra Bank (4) and UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank will open each branch, according to media reports.

The district administration will provide space in existing government buildings to set up the banking branches and spent Rs 1.46 lakh from Integrated Action Plan fund on each USB bank branches proposed in the district villages.

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Villagers’ better Than Urbanites

Some times, I really wonder, of what use is all the education, all the knowledge that we accumulate? Education should make us, humans, it should fill in values in us, human values, but now the scenario is opposite. The more educated the person is the more selfish his thinking is, the more sick his mind is becoming. We don’t bother about the person living next door, we don’t bother to help somebody on the street, we don’t react when the whole system is corrupt, we don’t bother to just react, in any way to any of these things.

Fear to react; fear to help the other person in need, fear, fear and fear. This has become omnipresent now. Instead of love and compassion for the fellow being, we have developed suspicious mind towards others. And we are not to be blamed for this because, the situation has become so. Whether it is night time or day time, we fear to keep our doors open; sometimes we are forced to suspect those whom we think we they are our own.

Where are all the humans gone, where is all the humanness gone? I think though not educated like us though, though they don’t have worldly knowledge like us villagers are better than urbanites in many matters. In villages if anything happens to any one the whole village is there for him, to help him and to support him. Anything happens in any ones house, let it be good or bad, the whole village is there for them.

If politicians don’t keep up their promises, they don’t allow them to step into their village, they show enough guts, to ask them for what they are accountable. They sit together, decide together, what to do to, vote for whom and if not. Unity and humanness, compassion for the fellow beings understanding and standing together for others, if these are the qualities that a lay man, uneducated man has. We better remain uneducated, and have some humanness left in us, instead of being educated and inhuman.

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Indian Villages - Our Strength or Our Weakness?

It is in the villages that we can see real India. It is because of the people in the villages, that our nativity and culture is still alive. People living in cities, though coming from various cultural backgrounds. Get easily carried away by the city culture and lose their nativity all in the name of development and modern thought and modern way of living. If there is still some culture left, and some nativity left, it is in the villages only.

People in the villages, give respect to the cultural and religious values. They are, open frank and straight forward people, and no way compared to the diplomacy of the cities and their people. Honey dripping words outside and contaminated thoughts and feelings inside. If looked at it this way, our villages are the torch bearers of our cultural and religious heritage that we are so proud of. And if these are still some cultural heritage and nativity left it is because of them.

The other way round, if look at the villages, from the point of view of development, even till date there are many villages in India, deprived of the minimum facilities like, water, sanitation etc. Villagers are facing many crises, especially the life of farmers has very miserable, as it is evident from the number of farmers committing suicide, every year. Even weavers, are facing so many problems, problems marketing the garments, and problems in getting the right price for the garments.

There are hardly any village even today, where water is available, current is available and medical facilities are available. Villagers are deprived of all the comforts of the modern world, and live far away from leading a comfortable life. They strive hard to fulfill the bare necessities. So, if we look from the point of view of cultural and religious heritage, villages are our strength, and when we look at them from the point of view of development in all the areas, or at least in the minimum areas, they are our weakness.

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Advertising Helps Product Sale in Rural Market

Yes, advertising does help, product sale in rural market. In the urban areas people are more educated and exposed to wider environment, and have enough knowledge, to choose the right kind of product, that meets their needs and requirement. But, when it comes to rural market, the situation is entirely different, here people have less exposure and has few choices what so ever to make; they usually prefer to stick to traditional things or the ones they have been using all along. When you advertise here, you are making them aware, of the choices they have, and are exposing them to new things, better and upgraded products.

Advertising is a process where in you give knowledge, about a product, its usefulness and its advantages, to a customer and give him a choice to choose the better one. So when you advertise in a rural place, where people have less product knowledge, and know even less about the benefit of using a particular product, you are creating a big market for your product. All that you need to take care is that, you are reaching them by the right means, at the right time.

There was a time when only, big business people, or people who are in important and key posts used cell phones, but now, you see a person working in fields, a farmer, a person working for daily wages, or as a labor, carrying cell phone, you ask him, why does he need it, he will give you thousand one reasons and advantages of using cell phone. That is the power and potential of advertising, a person who is illiterate, and has no bigger cause to claim the usage of cell phone, still uses it, maybe, just to listen to songs, or for a sense of pride that he also has one cell phone. That is the worth of rightly promoted ads. This example is enough to show that, advertising does help product sales in rural market.

Times are changing at a rapid pace, and along with that the thinking pattern of the people is also changing, television has a huge influence, on the people in the rural areas, and it is the very means that they educate themselves, about the ways and means things work out in urban areas. Through t. v. they know everything, and they are exposed to the various choices they have. So, rural market has a huge potential, if tapped properly through proper means of advertising.

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FMCG Sector booms in Rural India: NSSO

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has released the survey 2009-10 on household consumer expenditure on Friday.

According to the survey of NSSO, the FMCG sector has been booming in the rural India. As the rural India people have been spending more on consumer goods like durables, beverages and services for last five years.

It is believed that the high influence of advertisement may cause the boom in the FMCG goods in the rural market; however it was not confirmed in the survey.

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Victory for Niyamgiri Hills Tribes: Church of England sells Vedanta shares

Business News This Week: In a significant development in the Vendata's mining project in Odisha (Orissa), the Church of Egland has sold $5.9 million shares in Vendanta resources. The Church of England had invested in the shares of the Vedanta for last six months.  The bauxite mining project by the Vedanta is being protested by the tribes of the Niyamgiri Hills.

According to the media reports, the project in the Niyamgiri Hills is threat for the wildlife in the forest and moreover the tribes will loss their earning from the forest and land. Considering the protests and reportedly violation of human rights, the Church of England has decided to sell its holdings in the bauxite mining project in Orissa by the Vedanta. Even some of the tribes from state of Orissa reportedly protested against the project in Niyamgiri Hills in England. It's certainly a victory sort of thing for the tribes those have been protesting against the project. The pressue on the investors of the proejct is said to be mounting.

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