THE ATM THAT EMPOWERS

Kokilaben Patel has seen Kalpesh Patel operate the micro ATM many times but she's still fascinated by the steps that leads to him handing her Rs 3,000.

- Jumana Shah

A resident of Mahuliya village, Godhra taluka in Panchmahal district in Gujarat, the dairy farmer never went to school, but in the past year has emerged as a family matriarch of sorts after she learnt basic banking through the micro ATM she accesses at home. The 50-year-old manages the household finances now, and her prudence helped in the purchase of the family's tractor.

Kokila is among the thousands of women members of the Multipurpose Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies (MPACS) at the village level who have been given debit/credit cards to operate micro ATMs of the district cooperative central banks (DCCBS) of the Panchmahal and Banaskantha districts. Micro ATMs are similar to point-of-sale mobile devices that connect to the bank server via a GPRS. They provide basic services like cash deposit, withdrawal, fund transfer and balance inquiry. A local trained 'bank mitra' provides all aid.

This September, Union minister for home and cooperation Amit Shah launched White Revolution 2.0 which aims to transform the dairy cooperative sector and empower women through the ambitious 'Cooperation among Cooperatives' initiative. "In Gujarat, 3.6 million women are involved in the dairy sector and they do business worth Rs 60,000 crore annually. White Revolution 2.0 will empower them. When the bank cheques arrive in their names, they will be very happy," he said at an event here.