Excelsior Correspondent
PULWAMA, May 28: The Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Dr Raghuram Rajan today said supporting the flood-affected people of J&K and reviving their livelihood should be at the forefront of any relief and rehabilitation effort. He said empowering flood-affected people with means to sustaining their livelihood is crucial aspect of rehabilitation.
RBI Governor today visited Pulwama on the initiative of the State’s Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb Drabu to explore the possibility of how financial institutions can be co-opted in reviving the local economy and reaching out to the flood-affected. This is for the first time in the history of the district that RBI Governor visited Pulwama.
During his visit here, Dr Rajan, accompanied by Dr Drabu, interacted with the local representatives of trade, business, entrepreneurs, agriculturalists and Self Help Groups. The Self Help Groups mostly comprised women enterprisers who are successfully running localized income-generating units. He also interacted with flood-affected people of Pampore, Rajpora, Awantipora, Littar, Kakapora and other areas of Pulwama district said that such type of calamities damage the economic pursuits of the affected people and as such warrant cooperation and active involvement of Government and financial institutions to restore normal commercial and economic activity.
Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb A Drabu, Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, Neeraj Kumar, Senior RBI officials and other officers of District Pulwama were also present on the occasion.
Mr Rajan said that he was very much impressed by the dedication of the local artists who despite suffering heavy losses due to floods and having not been able to sell their finished products are still willing to keep the traditional handicrafts alive and going.
Dr Rajan said, he would discuss with the State Finance Minister and other agencies as to how these beautiful products can be marketed in a big way outside the State so that Self Help Groups associated with these local crafts get better returns.
In response to the demands from Self Help Groups and flood-affected people regarding soft loans and interest waiver in favor of agriculturists, artisans, small business and trading establishments affected by floods, the RBI Governor said that the State Government has already taken some steps, however, he would take up the matter further with the Union Government and financial institutions and see what can be done in this regard.
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