Local banker Lakhimi Baruah saw how women were ignored in banks so launched Assam’s first cooperative bank for women, ensuring thousands of marginalised women get access to banks, gaining financial literacy and empowerment.
Going to a bank is an intimidating experience for some people, especially those who are not educated.
If the officious affluence makes a person nervous today, imagine how tense it would have been decades ago – especially for illiterate women.
That is why Lakhimi Baruah started a bank in Assam – to make banking easy for women.
Twenty-two years later, after empowering thousands of marginalised women and helping them gain financial literacy, she has received the Padma Shri Award.
Being recognised for her efforts has also made Lakhimi Baruah a household name in the region.
But Baruah’s childhood was not easy.
Her mother passed away after giving birth to her. Her father lived in poverty in a village in the Golaghat district of Assam. He trained students for religious plays staged in temples – locally known as Satras – across the state.
“I was too small but still have faint memories of my childhood,” Baruah said.
Destiny’s hand struck again when Baruah lost her father when she was 13 and she moved in with her uncle and aunt who were extremely poor.
“I still remember. My monthly school fee was just Rs 2, but it was a big amount for us. The school management reduced the fee to half due to our financial situation. But it was still a daunting task for us to pay Re 1 every month,” she recalled.
Baruah used her sewing skills to contribute to the family’s finances.
“At an age when girls were playing, I was stitching their school uniforms. I earned Rs 5 for stitching a pair and it was a big amount for me then,” Baruah said.
Braving several difficulties and poverty, and also by teaching in a local school for additional income, she managed to complete her education.
During Baruah’s brief teaching career, she realised the challenges women faced. Her salary was often delayed and she found it difficult to manage her daily expenses.
She quickly moved on to banking and got a job in a cooperative bank in Golaghat in 1967.
“I was barely 18. My first salary was Rs 120, which was hefty money for me then,” she said.
Soon Baruah was transferred to Jorhat, around 50 kilometres away.
It was during her stint in Jorhat that she saw the difficulties women had in opening even a simple bank account.
“Men dominated the entire system. I realised how women who came to the bank were ignored.”
The women, who first feared entering the bank because of the rigid formalities in opening an account, were further intimidated while maintaining it.
“I often came across middlemen operating accounts of the poor. They took away a chunk of the poor people’s money as commission for helping them,” she told Village Square.
Baruah felt that it was a big setback for women aiming to achieve financial freedom.
“I felt really bad for them. I felt that something had to be done to uplift the women and empower them with financial literacy,” she said.
She discussed the matter with her husband, Prabhat Baruah, who also worked in the Jorhat bank.
The duo felt the need to do something to make banking accessible to women and help them become financially literate.
In 1990 Lakhimi Baruah wrote to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking permission to open a cooperative bank serving only women.
Baruah was not aware of the formalities needed to start a bank. But she felt that an exclusive women’s cooperative bank was the only way to lift underprivileged women from the shackles of poverty.
She had to wait for eight years to get permission from the apex bank. Two years later she took a voluntary retirement.
In 2000 she started the Konoklota Mahila Urban Cooperative Bank Limited with an initial share capital of Rs 8.45 lakh and 1,500 members, as per RBI’s guidelines.
The bank is named after Kanaklata Baruah, Assam’s freedom fighter shot dead by the British during the Quit India Movement of 1942.
Now her bank has a working capital of around Rs 17 crore and employs 21 people across three branches, two in Jorhat and another in the Sivasagar district.
“The majority of our account holders are tea garden workers who live in utter poverty. We try to create financial freedom for them,” Baruah said.
The employees go out of their way to make the women who come to their bank feel at ease.
“Usually people get nervous while completing the formalities. But we try to make them feel comfortable,” said Shibani Rajgarh, an employee. “We fill up the forms for the illiterate. We offer them our best services.”
The bank has around 4,500 account holders 80% of whom are illiterate women.
“Our customers can open an account with a minimum fee of only Rs 20 – or whatever they can afford. We give loans at a very nominal rate of interest too,” said Baruah.
Now the women deposit money and withdraw whenever they want without depending on middlemen.
“I’ve been a customer for the past five years. I’ve never faced any problems,” said Junai Gogoi, a customer. “The staff are very friendly and cooperative.”
Researchers from different parts of the country now visit the bank as a case study.
“It makes me proud my efforts have finally borne results. We’ve managed to offer financial literacy to several women in this region,” said Baruah.
In 2015 her bank was awarded with Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award by the then president, Pranab Mukherjee.
Receiving the Padma Shri Award fills Baruah with even more happiness.
“It’s a matter of pride for a woman like me from a poor background who struggled hard in life,” she said. “But my real trophy is the happiness I see on the faces of thousands of our women customers. They’ve become financially empowered with the help of the bank and they work hard to secure their children’s future.”
Gurvinder Singh is a journalist based in Kolkata.
