Enlightment at Sarnath

Sarnath is a place near Varanasi famous as a Buddhist site and archeologically significant town. Wiki will tell you about this in more detail but, I had an experience of a different kind here that I wanted to share here.

The story

First of all, this is not a travelogue and nor did I go there as a tourist. As a tiny deviation from a business trip, I went there without much interest really. Although this is one of the places I remember reading in history books at school (the other being Sanchi), I did not remember anything about it other than the name. Today, I came to know that  this is place where Buddha made his first sermon after enlightenment. The hotel suggested that I take an auto rickshaw which would cost me only about Rs 150. But, as usual, I did something unusual. I took  a cycle rickshaw half way to Sarnath where I had hopes of taking a bus. To my surprise, I didn't find any and I just couldn't convince myself to take an auto rickshaw which was already stuffed with four or more people. So, I hired another cycle rickshaw and I knew it is going to be a long journey (6 km) in this mode of transport. After a while, even I started feeling tired being exposed to the sun all along and was wondering how  the guy on the wheel managed it. Thankfully, he started halting in shady places and we started chatting. I offered to buy him a cup of sugared curd sold in one of the shops but he declined it and preferred to be busy with his cell phone. I was not totally surprised since I know about the reach of cell phones in the hinterlands - also Varanasi is a busy town and not a village. The rickshaw had a shade-maker  but that would only cover the passenger from the sun and not the driver. I pointed at another rickshaw and asked him why wouldn't he get such a cover done. His response was that it would cost him about 5000 and he couldn't afford to do so. I asked him if he knew about any companies that would finance such a thing and the response was a blank look. After I explained to him in my half-hindi that there are such companies, I asked him if he had a voter id and he answered in affirmative. I told him that there is a company whose office is nearby and I can show him the same during our return and he immediately said that they wouldn't give him any money. Soon, we reached Sarnath and I was looking at things in a different light now.

The Question

The question in my mind is if Nokia can reach him, if colas can reach him why can't banking reach? Perhaps, the answer lies in the fact that the above are tangible products whose benefits are there to be seen whereas banking is still one of those things where one has to keep saving for a really long time to see any benefits. This incident only highlights the fact that the unreached financial market is still huge although there are number of banks and other financial institutions. 

Here is what I think the government should do:

1. Create a distinct number for itself from which it can SMS people. It should develop the capacity to send messages in local languages and the from number should clearly say indicate that it is from the government of India

1. Through such ID, government can instantaneously promote whatever it wants to (political messages should be kept out) such as new schemes launched

1. Government should do something like EPF to promote savings and financial awareness. For instance, let rickshaw guy pay an RD of 10 rupees a day or 100 a week and as long as he or she does not close it prematurely, the government should add a bonus amount in the end. Now, how to target this for the poor? For now, government can use available ids restrict number of accounts to one and put a cap on total amount also so that the interest to do fraud comes down. One UID is launched, government should use that mechanism to give this targeted encouragement to savings

Finally, if you visit Sarnath, don't miss the archeological museum. One statue of Buddha in preaching pose is a master piece that makes one slow down in this world of hurriedness. Gotto go! Bye!