FINANCE DEPARTMENT

DEMAND NO.15

POLICY NOTE FOR THE YEAR 2002-03

  8. TARGETS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:

Every  year,  the  State Government  fixes net  target  for collections under Small Savings and the same is distributed to all the  districts.  The  District Collectors  in  their  respective districts   and the  Commissioner,  Chennai  Corporation,   are  responsible for implementing the schemes in the districts and achieving the prescribed targets. For the year 2001-02, the State Government fixed a net Small Savings target  of  Rs.2400 crores, and a collection of Rs.1850 crores (Provisional) has been made.

9. The  Directorate  of Small Savings  provides  support services  through publicity in press, television  and Radio, display of boards, distribution of pamphlets, electronic display etc., to market the scrips and also monitors collection  every month besides  compiling  statistical information (scrip-wise  and  district-wise) every  month.   The  Director of  Small  Savings  periodically reviews  the  performance of each district through  the  Personal Assistants  to Collector (Small Savings and Raffles)  and  Deputy Director  of   Small Savings,  Chennai   Corporation   besides co-ordinating  with  Postal  and  National  Savings   Organization authorities.  

10.  AGENCY SYSTEM FOR SMALL SAVINGS

Small Savings agents play  a  vital role in Small Savings collection.  At present there are 3 kinds of agencies.

(i) Standardised Agency System (SAS) :-

  These  agents canvass for deposits in Small  Savings  scrips.   At  present there are 10,238 agents in the  State under this agency. They are appointed by the District Collectors / Block Development Officers / Tahsildars.

(ii) Authorised Agents (Public Provident Fund) Scheme -

These agents  collect deposits under Public Provident Fund (PPF)  only.  At present there are  1703 agents in the State under this Agency. These agents are appointed by the  Regional Director of National Savings Organization, Government of India.

(iii) Mahila Pradhan Kshetriya Bachat Yojana (MPKBY) :-

Only  women  agents   are     appointed   under this scheme to collect    deposits    under   5    year  Post  Office Recurring Deposit Scheme exclusively. They also act as SAS and PPF  agents.   At present  there are 15,808 agents throughout  the  State under this agency. These agents are appointed by the District Collectors with the recommendation of   Deputy Regional Director of National Savings Organisation, Government of  India.

11.  AGENT INCENTIVE

 Agents   get   the   following   incentives   for   their mobilisation effort.

  12.  The  Directorate  of Small Savings has taken   necessary action   to   computerize  the  Small  Savings   work   of   each Collectorate,  viz. to settle the Agents Incentive and to  track  their progress with technical support of NIC.   The work has been completed and the network communication system is in operation.

   13.  Besides, the Directorate of Small Savings is also taking steps to boost the Small Savings collection in  the state. These include  the following :-

    (i) The NIC has developed an application data-base software for agents through which chronically inactive agents can be identified and weeded out.

     (ii)  Motivation  of more number of the  retiring  employees  in each  district  to  deposit their retirement benefits under  POMIS  and  other  Scrips.

    (iii)  Collecting  the  list of Income – Tax assesees in the higher income groups from the  Income  Tax Department  and  persuading them to invest their  saving  in  Tax Savings Scrips of Small Savings viz. National Savings Certificate (NSC),  National  Savings  Scheme (NSS),  Public  Provident  Fund (PPF), through mass mailing.

    (iv) Appointment of  more number of  agents especially housewives agents under MPKBY and SAS.

     (v) Training  of  the Small Savings Agent at each block  twice  in  a financial  year.

     (vi)   Block level, District level and State level  Awards  are also  given to the best performing Small Savings Agents. 

      (vii) Awards are also  given to the best performing Postal Officials so as to  encourage best public service by postal employees.

     (viii) Necessary  minimum infrastructure facilities are being provided to the  needy  Post Offices of each district so as to improve services to the public.

     (ix)  Immediate action is being taken for the settlement of Agents Incentive.

       (x) Action plan is being approved for each District  and systematic   publicity campaigns using audio and visual media  is  being  conducted in  the villages in the district.

       (xi) Interactive Voice  Response Systems (IVRS) have been installed in the Directorate of Small Savings and in the Collectorates  of Madurai  and  Coimbatore for the benefit of the  people. Action is being taken to install the IVRS system in the districts of Vellore, Trichy, Kancheepuram, Tirunelveli, Erode  and Salem.

14. In order to encourage local bodies to participate in the Small Saving scheme,  Government sanction an incentive to local bodies based on the increase in small savings net collections in a year  over the previous year. A sum of Rs.31.29 crores for the year 2000-01 and Rs. 33.73 crores for the year 2001-02 have  been sanctioned for this purpose.

RAFFLES

15. The main objective of the Raffle scheme is to mobilise resources for the implementation of welfare schemes for the people.

16.  Tamil Nadu Lottery enjoys a  strong credibility among the people for the following reasons:

            (i) The draws are conducted in a transparent manner through a monitoring committee consisting of two officials and three non-officials namely one industrialist, one bank manager and one raffle agent.

            (ii) Prizes above Rs.5,000/- are paid by the department to the holders of the prize winning tickets and all the prize winning tickets are submitted to the department.

            (iii) Public participation in the draws are permitted freely.

            (iv)  Results of all draws are notified in Government Gazette.

1. 17.  The following are the Raffle schemes presently in operation:

            The total turnover for the year 2001-02 was Rs.166.16 crores and the net profit was Rs.50.23 crores.