PROGRESS BEGINS WHEN WE
EMPOWER COMMUNITIES.
HDFC BANK PARIVARTAN. A STEP TOWARDS PROGRESS.

Tukojirao Patil, a farmer from Jalgaon district, Maharashtra, had been suffering from extreme poverty owing to the drought in the state for the past 4 years.
The region faced acute water shortage, erratic rainfall leading to the lack of water/soil moisture in effect causing crop failure year on year. HDFC Bank Parivartan, in partnership with KVGPS, addressed this challenge by creating 31 ground water recharge structures. Though there is still a long way ahead, Tukojirao is now hopeful of a better future.
He has joined the community in supporting the initiatives by offering his labour. This project project further aims to mitigate drought in 10 villages in Jalgaon with continuous efforts that will help recharge the ground water table.

"Rukmanibai ran a milk delivery service, selling milk to the villagers at dusk post working at the field all day. It was particularly difficult as she carried a torch along with the milk cans. The absence of streetlights in the community, put her at risk. Energy accessibility is a key concern in the overall development of a community, as there is an astounding absence of even basic infrastructure. Lack of electricity hinders the community from being able to work productively or move safely in the dark. Today many other like Rukmanibai are able to extent their work hours, small businesses are seen thriving and groups of men and women enjoying a light moment under these lights, which have become the village's assembly point. HDFC Bank, through its initiative is supporting for the installation of solar based street lights in these communities. More than 4,000 streetlights have been installed in about 9 states empowering the community. The lights have been handed over to the Village Development Committee who has been trained on maintenance and cleaning of the panels."

Premlal Kulaste, a marginal farmer from Deonala village of Chhindwara had a 5-acre barren land which he hadn’t ploughed in the last 20-25 years.. HDFC Bank Parivartan, through WOTR, has helped in the creation of water harvesting structures to prevent soil erosion. Premlal has now been able to cultivate the land and has grown millets in his farm earning Rs. 20,000/-
This project is active in 8 villages of Chhindwara district, MP where the land is being treated in order to reduce soil erosion. Following a ridge to valley approach, different soil and water conservation treatment methods such as trenches, stone bunds, farm bunds and refilling of farm bunds among others have been deployed. So far, the project has helped treat around 40 hectares of land, empowering up to 60 farmers in the community.

Despite availability of ground water, the state of Bihar lacks proper irrigation facilities.

Muzaffarpur district in Bihar is well known for vegetable cultivation but due to the high cost of irrigation, the income earned by the small and marginal farmers, does not cover the cultivation cost. During summers, farmers suffer from a lack of irrigation facility resulting to low average income during the year. In order to address this existing problem in the area, HDFC Bank with the NGO partner - Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India AKRSP (I), adopted a community based group irrigation (GI) system as a part of innovation in on-farm sector in 2013. This consists of a ground water boring with solar energy driven motor and community owned distribution and management system.

Through this system, groups of farmers and their families are being benefitted by the introduction of improved, reliable and equitably distributed irrigation water resulting to increased agricultural productivity, better income and improved food security at household level. This system has assisted in reducing poverty in rural areas among small and marginal farmers; accelerating the transition of the existing agricultural system to improved agricultural practices; and laying the foundation for a dynamic rural economy.

Conventional farming techniques lead to low yield and improper market price although sufficient cultivable land is available.

A majority of the farmers in Nalbari, Assam, had been cultivating crops based on their traditional knowledge or advice received from traders or other uneducated farmers.

Farmers will reap the gains from agriculture only if they are trained on farming: how much agro-input to use, when to use, how to identify lack of particular nutrition or a disease, etc.

In order to address this issue, HDFC Bank with the NGO partner Gramya Vikas Munch, planned to implement an Integrated Farm Model and promote a farmer training school in Nalbari Assam, so that farming is also a remunerative economic alternative for the target beneficiaries.

This model was formulated to provide the target farmers with various farming methods and enhance their knowledge of cultivation and agricultural techniques to increase productivity and quality of produce. This model has helped achieve multi-cropping of various cash crops, income generation of more than 1,30,000 per annum per person and the Development of SHGs leading to farmers’ cooperatives.

Sisilia Makri lives in Pahambir Them in Meghalaya. In addition to household chores, Sisilia helped her husband in farming, and together they earned an average of about Rs. 3000 to Rs. 4000 per month. Sisilia joined a self-help group which provided training to her as well as other women in her village. They received assistance in market linkage and today they manufacture brooms which are being sold in local markets as well as being sent to Andhra Pradesh. Sisilia now makes about 30 to 40 brooms per day earning an average of 150 rupees a day. This additional income will help her pay for her children's education and also take care of other needs.
HDFC Bank Parivartan and FXB India Suraksha have helped Sisilia make a living through her own efforts. With the focus on agro and allied livelihood activities such as broom-making and bee-keeping, this project has helped generate employment and alleviate poverty in the community by promoting enterprise development.

Prathna Singh was a graduate staying in Suswahi village, Varanasi. Prathna had completed her graduation but lacked the necessary employment skills. She enrolled herself for the training programme offered by HDFC Bank through Orion Edutech in Uttar Pradesh. She underwent career assessment and counselling and chose to pursue a course in the service sector. After successful training, she secured a job with Bai Bazaar as an executive sales officer through the job fairs/ Rozgar mela organised by the institute. Today she is earning Rs. 7,500/- per month. HDFC Bank in partnership with Orion Edutech has provided training to more than 8,000 youth in the age group of 18-35 in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the programme is designed as per NSQF Standards and SSC guidelines for a variety of job roles depending on the aspirations of the candidates as well as the existing qualities and skill set. The candidates passing out through the programme are being provided with NSDC Certification as well.

Vamanrao Bhoyar was a farmer of Sonurli village in Yavatmal. His cropping pattern was conventional and these traditional crops gave him a low income. He wanted to try alternative crops but due to lack of knowledge and technology he was not able to yield other crops. HDFC Bank Parivartan through SIED, provided him the support he needed. His farm was identified for demonstration of Floricultural (Marigold) cultivation. Through this new technology and training from experts on increasing crop production, Vamanrao is now cultivating marigold flowers in his 0.40-acre field. He is able to produce about 35 to 40 kg of flowers earning an average of about Rs.1200/day. Currently, SIED is actively working in 11 villages in Yavatmal district.

Ashutosh Dubey, a government school teacher from Talgram, Kannoj had initiated a bal sansad, which aimed to empower students and encourage community participation thereby improving school enrollment. Through the ZIIEI program, his innovation was amongst the 30 ideas that were selected and recommended for adoption to other schools throughout Uttar Pradesh. This recognition has further motivated him to continue providing quality education to his students. Through the ZIIEI project, HDFC Bank Parivartan identifies zero/minimal cost at grassroots level innovations that have lead to improvement in existing teaching systems and processes. These ideas are disseminated to all government schools for adoption. It has covered all 75 districts in the state with training inputs delivered to 10,000 government officers, 5.5 lakh teachers, and 1 lakh head teachers. Currently, 75,000 schools of the state (at least 750 schools in every district) are implementing zero-investment innovations to improve the quality and reach of education. In 2017, with encouragement and support from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, ZIIEI is now making its way to 12 states across India. The project aims to create long-term, widespread improvement in the quality of education.

Shamshad Qureshi, a class seven student lacked interest in studies and it was reflected as poor attendance. His disinterest in studies was largely because he was unable to understand what was being taught in the classroom. Project Disha, changed things for him, once the teachers started using innovative methods and activity-based learning modules which made learning fun, he was able to understand maths and loved working with the new science kits. Shamshad and many of his friends started looking forward to school. HDFC Bank Parivartan through Magic Bus India Foundation initiated Project Disha in 172 schools across 143 villages in the states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to reach out to more than 17,500 students. The project aims to create an environment that enables learning, in the twin domains of academics and life skills. This is achieved by providing learning aids, improving teaching effectiveness through training and mentoring of teachers, encouraging parent participation through activating and strengthening of School Management Committees (SMCs) along with the goal of raising student learning levels in reading and numeracy.

All her life Raswanti Bai had to follow the age-old practice of defecating in the open, at dawn or dusk, which put her at risk. Under the Swacch Bharat Mission (SBM), HDFC Bank Parivartan initiated construction of individual household toilets. Raswanti Bai received the assistance and is happy that she and her daughters will not have to undergo the inconvenience of defecating in the open any more. She has pledged to use the toilet and maintain the same and is a key motivator in the village to promoting the objective of eliminating open defecation. HDFC Bank Parivartan partners with NGOs across 12 states to make these villages Open Defecation Free (ODF). The approach focusses on community participation, along with the convergence of government funds.
So far, the programme has helped in the construction of more than 7,000 individual household toilets across 12 states in the country with 33 villages declared as ODF (Open Defecation Free) villages.

Promotion of good hygiene practices, is necessary for effective learning. Priyanka, a meritorious student, often stayed at home during menstruation as her school lacked a functioning toilet. Under the School Sanitation Programme, HDFC Bank Parivartan helped in building a separate toilet for girls which has enabled her and many other girls to attend school every day. Priyanka is now part of the student council formed for the upkeep of the toilets and they ensure that the toilets are regularly cleaned and maintained.
In an effort to promote good hygiene and sanitation practices, HDFC Bank Parivartan has provided support in establishing sanitation infrastructure in over 900 schools in about 9 states across the country. Along with the construction of toilets, a thorough WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) programme is promoted in these schools to inculcate good hygiene practices.

During the disastrous floods in June 2013, Kedarnath district in Uttarakhand was one of the worst affected. Multiple landslides resulted in mass casualties, loss of private and public assets and damage to infrastructure. Several villages were cut-off due to damage to routes. HDFC Bank in partnership with HelpAge India, set up a primary healthcare centre(PHC) at Phata village on main Kedarnath route in Rudraprayag. The PHC served 50 nearby villages with an approximate population of 75,000. The villagers were able to avail the services of specialist doctors, diagnostic facilities. In addition to the PHC, Mobile Health Service were made available in the nearby villages. Close to 50,000 villagers were treated through the centre in the three year period of the centre.

In FY 2015-16, under the aegis of Swachch Banking, the Bank’s CSR initiative for rural India. HDFC Bank launched ‘Dhanchayat’ an educational film series to raise awareness on the dangers of borrowing money from unorganised sources, Dhanchayat has focused on financial literacy by delving on the good habits of savings. While the first film touched on the dangers of borrowing from unorganised sector, the next film titled 'Panch Kayde ke Panch Fayde' touched on the virtues of savings, deposits, avenues of banking and loans. As part of Swachch Banking, which aims to raise awareness about clean and convenient banking, HDFC Bank-branded Dhanchayat video vans travelled across East, West, South, North and Central India, covering thousands of villages across the country. The vans stop at assembly points such as haats, bazaars, melas, mandis and village Panchayats. Over 2500 village have been covered under the initiative.

In order to create an agile and efficient digital economy it is imperative to bridging the existing gap in digital knowledge. Our Digital Literacy Mission (DLM) is an initiative that aims to create at least one digitally literate individual per household in the country, thus empowering them on the digital platform. In partnership with the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) the DLM centre empowers the community by conducting capacity building and training programs to engage citizens in diverse age groups and across in diverse communities such as Women, youth and children in urban, semi urban & rural communities. The first centre, set up in Shingadewadi village, aims to make 200 individuals digitally literate, thus empowering 200 households in effect. With the aid of basic internet facilities, and necessary software, dissemination of information is carried out and helps the train the individuals on the digital platforms. The usage of internet for training on the platforms, ensures that the capacity building will be carried out in a sustained manner.

Bhikhabhai Patel, is a dairy farmer from the rural community with no formal education. However he wanted his son to get the best educational opportunity possible, and his son Mayank was a bright boy studied hard to fulfill his fathers dream. Mayank got an opportunity to pursue a programme in Singapore; however, in order to go ahead, he needed an educational loan. Bhikabhai, in order to attain any such loan, needed to have access to financial services. Bhikabhai, was a regular user of the Multi-Functional Terminal (MFT) provided by HDFC Bank and regularly poured milk at the terminal. The Milk to Money Terminal (MFT) technology captures the quantity and quality of milk every time milk is poured by connecting to the fat tester and weighing machine. This data in converted into an accounting entry instantaneously which credits the farmer's account. The MFT contains a cash dispenser that functions as standard ATM, thus the farmer can withdraw the amount from his account immediately if needed. Because of the MTM which had helped build his credit history Bhikabhai, was able to avail of a loan for his son and fulfill his dreams for a better future. The MTM has similarly in addition to providing quick access to their money also helped the farmers build their credit history thus allowing them to take advantage of all financial services.