B'lore reaches out to its urban poor

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Bangalore: Ujjivan Chief Executive, Samit Ghosh is of the opinion that when you give money to a woman, the majority of it will be spent on the family, whereas if you give it to a man, chances are that it will go to alcohol.

This seems to the mantra behind every micro finance organisation. But while micro finance has largely meant financial services for the rural sector, Bangalore-based Ujjivan is among the handful that lends to urban poor.

"Traditionally micro finance has been for rural areas, the thinking being that poverty arises in rural areas and migrates to cities. But today, we have over 100 million urban poor and they have been there for generations, so they really can't be ignored," says Ghosh.

The census figures of 2001 show there are 2 million poor people in Bangalore, which is 35 per cent of the population.

Take for example Padma. Her husband works as a daily wage labourer, but it's the earnings from her small shop that sustains the family of six. and there are thousands like her who are struggling to eke out a living in the IT city.

Padma was one of the people who approached Ujjivan for help. Says she, "I took a loan of Rs 7,000 and now that my shop is doing well, I have managed to pay off my loan. Ujjivan has also started life insurance and they also give scholarships for children. After Ujjivan, there's a lot of help for women - much more than the government managed to do for us."

The woman who sells vegetables, the girl who sells flowers, the maid in your house - people we take for granted - without whom our lives probably wouldn't be half as easy are the people that Ujjivan seeks out to help them build a better life.