Two-thirds of India’s population of a billion people live in the nation’s 600,000 villages. Despite India’s economic growth, the disparities between wealth and poverty are enormous. Many villagers migrate to the cities in search of work and end up begging on the streets. South Indian bank manager J S Parthiban set out to do something to help their economic circumstances. He encouraged beggars to open bank accounts in New Delhi, and pioneered micro-loans to villagers in his home state of Tamil Nadu. This is his story—and theirs.

**This is the 3 minute version which was selected as one of the winners of the BRITDOC/Co-operative Competition "It's Good To Know..." and was broadcast on Channel 4 at 7.55pm on 14.01.10.

Producer/Director Andrew Hinton pilgrimfilms.com
Photography Eric Trometer tarmakfilms.com
Editing Rob Petit milkwood.tv
Music Rasika Vartak
Executive Producers:
Jeanne Faber
Suresh Mathew
Christopher Hartnell

Special thanks to John, Jeanne and Susan Faber and everyone else who made this film possible.

A Pilgrim Films production for Initiatives of Change India: in.iofc.org/