With the chit fund companies and other dubious financial firms wreaking havoc in the lives of thousands of hapless investors in the State, college students will now take upon themselves the responsibility of educating people against getting involved with the fraudulent organisations.
Volunteers of the National Service Scheme (NSS) wings in colleges and universities will move into the community, spreading awareness on the risks and hazards of investing in such companies.
The NSS volunteers would be provided training on the dubious methods adopted by the companies and firms to rob the people of their hard-earned money and savings with the help of local public and private sector banks. Engaging with the people at the grassroots, they will shoulder the onerous task of weaning them away from the lure of the fraudulent organisations and invest money under proper guidance in banks, Government institutions or trusted ventures only.
“What is most disturbing about the chit fund scam and other financial frauds that have gripped the State recently is that the victims are mostly from the disadvantaged and vulnerable sections of our society. Being economically and educationally backward, they have been easy prey for the operators,” Director, Higher Education, Dr Satyakam Mishra said. It is the lack of financial literacy that renders people vulnerable to such scams time and again. Dreaming of the returns that can enable them to meet many requirements like getting the children married, financing education or building a house, they put their entire financial resources at risk. In many cases, they even sell their assets to invest in the ventures.
“While efforts of the monetary authorities in increasing financial literacy among the people have not been able to achieve the desired goals, we feel the gap can be more effectively and efficiently filled up by the resources at our disposal including the NSS volunteers,” Mishra said.There are around one lakh NSS volunteers in the colleges and universities of the State. One major advantage that the volunteers have is that they hail from the same locality as the target group. Being known to the target group and having a standing due to their education, the people will listen to them and follow their advice.