Four government-owned banks entered into an agreement with the human resource development ministry to hasten the implementation of the government's new Rs. 60 billion National Literacy Mission.

The agreement aims at bringing greater transparency into the system. It also emphasizes delivery and online monitoring of ‘just-in-time fund flow and proper utilisation of the Sakshar Bharat (Literate India) fund'.

The HRD minister, D Purandeswari, said, "We have learnt from our past experience and wanted to bring in transparency in the new mission. Coming together with banks will help us ensure a hassle free flow of funds to the implementing agencies up to the gram panchayats."

This mission was launched by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh to make 70 million adults, most of them being women, of 365 underdeveloped districts literate.

The expenditure plans have already been received from 167 districts of 19 states. J S Raju, the chief of National Literacy Mission Authority (NLMA) said that the centre would use the core banking system of these banks.

According to a feature of the proposed fund flow scheme, there would be a single bank account for each state to enable the districts, blocks and gram panchayats to issue cheques and monitor spending.

Ajay Mishra, General Manager, Punjab National Bank said that a transparent system like that would help in achieving success in the literacy mission.

The four banks would provide customized cheque books to agencies implementing this scheme and assure that they would receive cash for a certain period of time.