Financial, digital literacy empowering adolescent girls of Bengal

Adolescent girls of several West Bengal districts are brimming with new-found confidence as they go about making their families monthly budgets and opening bank accounts, thanks to an initiative by the state government and UNICEF to render financial and digital literacy.

Monalisha Lohar, 17, said she now plans the expenses of her four-member family and keeps a portion of money as savings. She also helps people in her village with banking chores.

Hundreds of adolescent girls of Purulia, one of the most backward districts of the state, have been taught how to make a family budget, open a bank account and withdraw money from the account, as part of a West Bengal government-UNICEF initiative under the Kanyashree Plus project to empower them and stop early marriage.

The girls are also told not to share the personal identification number (PIN), one-time password (OTP) and card verification value (CVV), officials said.

UNICEF West Bengal has been providing financial and technical support to the project in Purulia, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, South 24 Parganas, Birbhum, Purba Bardhaman and Kolkata.

“We have been told by the UNICEF trainers how to make the monthly budget and to keep a little portion of money for savings. I have told my parents that as part of the budget we should divide money into heads like food, clothing, education, electricity, LPG and savings. Our total expenditure should not be more than the monthly income,” Monalisha told

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