The West Bengal Student Credit Card (WBSCC) scheme, an initiative of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, appears to be losing favour with students and their parents who have indicated reluctance to attend a function when Banerjee herself is due to issue such cards.
The Chief Minister will present the kids with their cards at a camp that the state department of education is holding in Kolkata on Thursday. Less than 24 hours remain for the programme, but the pupils' and their parents' response has been muted.
Although 18,000 participants were scheduled to attend the programme on Thursday, according to sources in the education department, only 6,000 applicants—or just one-third of the intended slot—had submitted applications as of Wednesday afternoon.
Currently, prospective awardees are being directly called by department representatives at the district level to request their attendance at the programme on Thursday.
Under the condition of anonymity, a senior education department official told the media that the widespread denial of loan requests under the WBSCC programme was likely the root of the reluctance.
"After the scheme was launched following the Assembly elections last year, around 1.25 lakh loan applications have been received. However, till date, only around 18,000 such loan applications, which is just 14 per cent of the total applications, have been sanctioned.
"For example, an engineering student who is currently in his third semester applied for a bank loan under the scheme when he was in the first semester last year, but his application is yet to get sanctioned," he said.
The state government representatives have insisted for more bank participation in the WBSCC programme at nearly every meeting of the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC).
The state government had told the lenders that there is no chance of the loans becoming bad loans or non-performing assets because the lending plan will include a state government guarantee (NPA). All of these attempts, meanwhile, have fallen short, and the banks have demonstrated unwillingness to take part.
According to Ashoke Mukherjee, a former secretary of the State Bank of India Staff Association, a simple state government guarantee does not ensure loan approval.
"There have been instances of loans carrying state government guarantee becoming NPAs. Secondly, if the loan amount exceeds a certain limit, there is a requirement of collateral security irrespective of the state government guarantee. At times loan applications are rejected because of lack of supporting documents. There can be many reasons for rejection of bank loans," he said
