New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh government’s ‘adhyatm’ (spirituality) department has issued orders to establish the first ‘time bank’ in the country, according to a report in Times of India.The time bank will allow individuals to offer voluntary service and earn credit hours and get repaid in the same way. The additional chief secretary Manoj Shrivastava told TOI that all district collectors and administrators of Rajya Anand Sansthan had been asked to take steps to initiate the process.According to officials, the time bank system will be based on reciprocity and will encourage individuals to help each other in exchange for hourly time credits. One could participate in a form of voluntary service like teaching underprivileged children or looking after elderly persons and get paid in kind for the credit hours earned.Officials also told TOI that the time banks will be opened in every district and that there will be no cap on the number of banks that can be set up.Also read: Madhya Pradesh: Akshaya Patra to Provide Mid-Day Meals in Bhopal DistrictAdditional chief secretary Manoj Shrivastava said, “It will bring people willing to help and those in need of help on a single platform. Those who help will get credit hours in ‘time bank account’, while those taking help will assist anyone in need in the bank’s network. It is not necessary that a person has to help the same person who helped him”.In September the Hindu had reported that the Madhya Pradesh government’s happiness department planned to set up a time bank that would lend currency to an hour, which could be exchanged to learn a new skill without the need for any paper money.The time banks would also enable person-to-person, person-to-agency and agency-to-agency transactions. “Members will start with zero credits, which they could gradually acquire by imparting skills. Credits can even go in negative. And in case a skill becomes popular over time benefiting only a few members, other members will be compelled to do their mite with vigour to collect more credits,” said Akhilesh Argal, CEO of the state government department.In the beginning, the 50,000 volunteers already registered with the department through local networks will form community-level banks and list the skills and services they could impart.Last year, a panel of experts from the NHRC’s core group had recommended that India adopt the “time bank” scheme, launched by Switzerland, to take care of senior citizens who are living without any support from their family.