In RBI quiz, students learn finance lessons

SNS, Siliguri, 6 August 2014: Chief General Manager of Reserve Bank of India, Kolkata, EE Karthak, today alerted students on the Saradha scam and scams in other chit fund companies. He was addressing the students of various schools who had assembled to take part in the RBI Quiz Competition-2014 in the auditorium of the Delhi Public School at Dagapur in Siliguri. Mr Karthak spoke about how Saradha lured investors by assuring high rates of interest and how thousands of people were duped.

He talked about ways with which students could handle their finances and transactions better, while also giving them tips on how to start saving for their higher studies right from college life.

Darjeeling district magistrate Puneet Yadav, who was the chief guest in the final round of the quiz contest, echoed Mr Karthak and alerted the students on the ponzi schemes.

Walking down memory lane, reminiscing the days he also took part in quiz competitions and talking about the great quizmaster Siddhartha Bose, Mr Yadav said: “Taking part in quiz contests is training your life, while it helps you better plan your life in terms of education and finances, as the value of money is gradually going down.”

Boys and girls from around 80 schools in the region, including the Hills, took part in the RBI quiz during its preliminary rounds. Of them, six teams were selected for the final round. Each team comprised two students from a school. Army Public School, Bengdubi, BSF Senior Secondary Residence School, Kadamtala, Himali Boarding School, Kurseong, St Augustine’s School, Kalimpong, Delhi Public School, Siliguri, and Saptarshi Gyanpeeth, Kalimpong took part in today’s round.

Though several girls had participated in the competition, no one was selected for the final round today.

The quiz consisted of questions on topical issues, general knowledge and current affairs and especially on the RBI, Indian banking history, banking, accounting, finance, and Indian economy. The team from the Army Public School, Bengdubi, won the Siliguri Edition of the RBIQ-2014. The winning team will take part in the zonal finals of the Eastern Region scheduled to be held in Kolkata in November.

Notably, the RBI started an All India Quiz in the year 2012 for school students to create awareness on financial matters. More than 4,000 students across 44 centres across the country participated in the RBIQ in 2013.

In the final round today, students of St Augustine’s School, Aritra Mukherjee and Subham Jindal, and students of Army Public School Soumyadeep Bidyanta and Vipraw Srivastava, were neck and neck. But in the last round, Soumyadeep and Vipraw edged past the other team by obtaining 100 points. Ashish Tripathi, a Bangalore-based quizmaster, conducted the entire programme and handed over prizes to toppers following request from the district magistrate.

Among the distinguished guests in the event were head of the senior management of DPS, Kamlesh Agarwal.