An interest-free community bank initiative by Chancellor Md. M. Hoque, created for the welfare of the entire USTM fraternity and surrounding communities.
The ocean is made of tiny drops of water. It is said that from small beginnings, great things result. Hence, with a view to contributing to the common welfare of the USTM fraternity, including the students, faculty members and the operational staff, and for helping communities in distress, during man-made or natural disasters, an initiative is envisaged by the Chancellor of the university, Md M. Hoque. This is the genesis of the USTM Community Bank.
The characteristic feature of the proposed bank is that all its stakeholders will also be contributors to the corpus fund. All loans from this fund will be interest-free for a prescribed minimum period and without any collateral. The processing time will be less than a day. ERDF, the sponsor of the university, will contribute the seed money, after that, the Bank will function and grow on the strength of its own momentum.
The Name of the Bank will be USTM COMMUNITY FUND
The USTM Community Bank is a part of its extension programme. The mission is to render help to all its stakeholders, in meeting the short term and medium-term credit needs in an informal manner and also for streamlining its outreach programme to communities in distress, without any time gap.
It has been observed that every human being is in need of some emergency cash, for some reason or the other. We do not have any mechanism to redress this need. We at USTM feel this problem more acutely. At times, the students do not receive money on time from their parents and are forced to pay late fees, if they fail to discharge the obligation on time, as per the university rules. Sometimes some medical emergencies arise. Sometimes, the salary is not disbursed on the first day of the month, but those who stay in rented accommodation are expected to pay the rent on time. There are many reasons for the unexpected need for some extra cash, but no way to solve the problem. Apart from this, there are many occasions when the communities feel distressed, either due to man-made or natural calamities. USTM has always endeavoured to send quick and useful relief in such situations. But a time gap creeps up to mobilise the relief material. The USTM Community Bank can fill this gap, and contribute to the welfare of the fraternity as well as the community.
At times, extra money is needed for a medium-term time period also. To pay for the advance while booking a vehicle, or to meet the marriage expenditure, or for health treatment of oneself or a family member. There are many instances, in the campus, when lack of access to a medium-term loan of fifty thousand to a lakh of rupees, have held up important events and caused a lot of harm to the general well being of the fraternity members. The Bank can step forward to meet this need.
When either parent of any student passes away due to premature death, the resulting financial crisis proves to be fatal for the educational life of the student. There are cases when our own student faces some health issues and needs costly health treatment. The management tries to chip in some resources for such a purpose. The bank will earmark some funds for such a purpose. How much funds will be devoted to such a purpose will be fixed every year by the Governing Council.
Like individuals, at times the community also faces a crisis. The situation of flash floods, landslides and other natural or man made disturbances call for immediate help. The Bank will provide us with a buffer to help the needy at a short notice, till we mobilise the resources to help the needy. Thus, the bank will help fulfil the immediate, medium-term credit needs of the USTM fraternity and will also help us extend a helping hand to the individuals in distress outside the fraternity and give us some breathing space when we want to help communities affected by disasters.
All students, staff, faculty, Deans, Pro-VC and VC. Contributes Rs 1/day. Eligible for interest-free loan up to Rs 10,000/- for a maximum of 31 days.
Any ordinary member working for 1+ year. Registration fee Rs 3,000/-. Eligible for interest-free loan up to Rs 50,000/- for a stipulated period.
Any ordinary member working for 1+ year. Registration fee Rs 5,000/-. Eligible for interest-free loan up to Rs 1,00,000/- for a stipulated period.
External well-wishers who wish to contribute to the noble cause. Minimum contribution of Rs 10,000/- to become a patron member.
The person who desires to borrow money is required to submit an application to the Governing Council. On the receipt of the application, the processing will be done immediately and subject to the availability of the fund, the loan amount will be disbursed immediately. In case the fund is not available, a probable time will be given to the applicant along with a serial number, on which date the loan can be disbursed.
ERDF will initiate the corpus fund with a seed money of Rs 5,00,000/-. Each member contributes Rs 1/day. Patron donations and late fees diverted by USTM also go to the corpus fund. A Fixed Deposit of Rs 1 Crore is created as Community Endowment.
The Bank will be governed by a Governing Council constituted as follows: