State Bank of India's Bengal circle has been doing some pioneering work in this island in South 24 Parganas district. Self-help groups (SHGs) here have associated themselves with the bank more so to erase the memory of the chit funds that once used to have a field day here.

``We have lost thousands of rupees of our hard-earned money by investing in these chit funds. Verona used to have an office here once, but now you won't find any trace of them anywhere,'' grieves Ms Jaba Bhattacharya, a villager here who has lost money in hundreds. SBI has seen a steady growth in the region over the last two years. As on February 28, 2001, the Bengal circle had 1501 SHGs associated with it. The number rose from 1,194 from March 30, 2000. The amount deposited in the bank rose from Rs 28.91 lakh to Rs 42.62 lakh in the same period. As many as 595 SHGs have been financed by SBI to the tune of Rs 59.4 lakh during the period.

Thanks to SBI's increase in operations here, the womenfolk in this farflung island are a changed lot today. Putting aside an egg or a handful of rice from under the watchful eyes of their husbands is a tough task. But women here have done it, and done it regularly. Their efforts have now began paying rich dividends for them.

The eggs or rice have all contributed to these villagers' lives. In fact, they have given the women here `a voice of their own,' a phenomenon that was unthinkable even two years back. The women here have clustered into groups to form what banks the SHGs. Since then, it has been a different story altogether. To Bhattacharya, 35, a resident of Indranarayanpur village, this has been a dream come true. ``We, as in several places across the country, had been a subjected to a lot of persecution over the years. We had no right to visit a bank and had to depend entirely on our husbands' whims in family matters. But now things have changed and we definitely have a say.'' Jaba is a part of an SHG that now boasts of a deposit of Rs 5,890.