The rules and regulations of our microfinance groups can be found below.
First of all, I am happy to report that I have a translation of an example of the Rules and Regulations for our micro-finance groups, or SEGS. I have posted it below. Part of it are missing due to translation issues, but the bulk of it is there. As you can see there is a very clear set of rules by which the groups operate and which determines the interest rates on loans, the period of payback, and so forth. It also establishes dispute arbitration and other necessary aspects of group endeavors. The translation was actually done by an engineer in silicon valley that I met on the plane coming back from CO after the 4th of July. His name his Hitesh Gupta and I owe him a great debt of gratitude. I could've probably done it on my own, but it would've taken a long time and would have eaten into my research time. I greatly appreciate Hitesh's contribution and want to thank him for his help. He is also interested in helping us in the future, so I look forward to having his input in coming times.
Generic picture of Indian students. Not my own.
I also wanted to mention that with the start of the school year in India (on July 1st) we are currently work on adjusting the schedules of our youth leadership and technology groups (YLTGs). Actually, it is a quite busy time for the students both because it is school time and many crops are being harvested, while others are being planted. Hence, we have to adjust the program to make it doable for them. To that end, we are allowing the students to come at their convenience during the week to work on the computers and get practice. We are additionally trying to set up times on Sunday when we can meet with the groups with all the members together so that we can keep the group as a cohesive unit. We will continue to adjust the program to get the right balance in the time to come.
Another exciting bit of news is that we got an offer from one of the Indian organizers of the program through which I originally went to India as a student, the Minnesota Studies in International Development (MSID) program, to host a student in our NGO. This is very heartening news, as I think it indicates that people are seeing our that we have established our organization and program in a sound manner. I hope that when I go to India again next year that I will meet with one of our interns. That would be very cool.
501(3)(c) status, something we're working towards right now.
From the US front, we have our nonprofit incorporation papers all drafted and are in the process of submitting them. I think they should go through without much of a problem and then we'll start looking at 501(3)(c) status. I'm happy at the progress in establishing a sister support organization here in the US. I think shortly we'll have an official organizational bank account and then a little bit after that, tax exempt donation status. We're moving in that direction. We got help on the papers from a lawyer, pro-bono, so we are very grateful for that. Another example of people chipping in a little bit to help this little organization along. Very grateful for that.
Finally, it looks like we'll have an official website with a lot of the information from this blog collated in one-place by the end of this month. I'll probably write a specific post just to announce its functionality. The website has already been purchased and will be lssrj.org. Be on the lookout for that.
Here are the rules and regulations, courtesy of Hitesh's translation:
Self Empowerment Group's Creation and Administration Rules
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1. Goal of the group : Social and economic development, social upliftment through establishment of bank balance
2. Intent of group: Saving and establishing group's administration, motivating people in the organization to work as a team, development, getting loan to fulfill the collective and related needs of the group, start collective work, deal with the bank, cleanness, study, culture, education, sports etc
3. Group's name and address :
4. Citizenship/Origin : The organization will consist of one village with women of the same educational and economic retardation . The group will have women between the age of 18 to 50 years.
5. Amount of Stipend : Between 50 to 100 rupees including food per month for each member of the organization
6. Election of organization's head: Based on every member's agreement, the head will be chosen for 2 years. This way every one in the the team will get an opportunity to head the organization. However for some reason, the election does not take place, the elected head will continue chairing the organization. There will be two heads. First: Adesh Second: Sanjeev.
7. Group head's duties and obligations :
Adesh : list of responsibilities
Sanjeev: different set of responsibilities
8. Group's meeting day, time, place :- All members of the group will decide to meet once a month. Most of the time, the meeting should take place in the afternoon between 12 to 3pm. The location will be decided based on convenience of the group.
9. Opening a bank account :- The balance will be … stored in the name of self help organization's account. The account will be under the name of the two heads and they will take care of the account.
10. Giving the loan and asking for the loan: Only after the group's account has 5000 Rs will the money be loaned to group members. The interest will be more/less that the normal market price which will be decided by the group. The loan will be obtained only after a letter from the group.
11. Maximum loan given by organization and interest rate:- Every one will decide the amount of loan given, however in the beginning, the amount will be start from a small amount. Depending on the balance left, the loan amount can be increased. Interest will be 1 to 2 rupees monthly per each hundred rupees of the loan.
12. Punishment for non payment of loan :- All members of the organization will decide how much fine will the person late will have to pay. However the amount will be on a daily basis.
13. After how much time is the money paid back and who is responsible to make sure the money is paid back: The group will decide the time limit, but it will not be more than 1 year. From the loan taker's group, 2 people will be chosen and will be responsible to make sure that loan is returned on time.
14. Dispute settlement : Dispute settlement will be done by the entire membership of the group.
15. Punishment on breaking the rules:- If one member breaks a rule, all members will decide on how to punish the person. Whatever the group decides, that member will have to accept. If that member does not accept the decision, the group will have the right to keep that person's entire balance and take away his membership.
16.
17. Way to obtain new membership to the group: Based on agreement of all members, new members will be accepted.
18. Who would keep important records and what will be kept: Adesh and Sanjeev will keep the records. To make sure records are kept correctly, from time to time, it will be audited. The responsibility of this would be on everyone.
19. Punishment for not coming to monthly meeting on time:- It is important to attend punctually the monthly meeting. However if some member has to go out of town, then he has to give his monthly payment to some other member. However if this happens more than 2 times in a year or the member comes late, the group can fine him 5 to 10 rupees. The rule of coming on time is also valid for family members.
20. How will decisions be made by the group: Decisions will be made on a timely manner after all member sit down and discuss.
21. Goal of Lok Sahbhagi Sanstha :
22.
23. Depositing Money To The Bank : After the group does all the transactions during its meeting, and if money is left, then administrative members will deposit money to the bank. Ordinary members cannot deposit money to the bank.
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