Context:
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) released Second All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) 2021-22
Key highlights of survey:
- Average monthly income of households increased by 57.6%.
- Share of food in consumption basket of households declined from 51% to 47%.
- Proportion of respondents indicating good financial literacy increased from 33.9% to 51.3%.
- Proportion of agricultural households that took loans from institutional sources increased from 60.5% to 75.5%
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD):
- Apex banking institution to provide finance for agriculture and rural development.
- Headquarters – Mumbai
- Mandate – Responsible for the development of the small industries, cottage industries, and any other such village or rural projects.
- Status – Statutory body established in 1982 under National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981.
- Based on the recommendation of – Shivaraman Committee
- Governed by – Board of Directors, who are appointed by the Union government
- Functions of NABARD –
- Implements rural development projects of the World Bank, commercial banks (CBs), and other financial institutions approved by RBI.
- Supervises Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and integrate them to the CBS (Core Banking Solution) platform.
- Core Banking Solution (CBS) – Networking of branches which enables customers to operate their accounts, and avail banking services from any branch of the Bank, regardless of where he maintains his account.
- Functions of the 3 institutes of RBI were transferred to NABARD –
- Agricultural Credit Department (ACD)
- Rural Planning and Credit Cell (RPCC)
- Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC)
- Initiatives of NABARD –
- NAFINDEX – A national level survey released by NABARD that offers comprehensive overview of rural population in terms of their status of livelihoods and level of financial inclusion (including loans, insurance, pension etc.).
- Integrated Tribal Development Programme – Implemented by NABARD, aiming to provide sustainable livelihoods to tribal families of the country.
- Kisan Credit Card Scheme – Designed by NABARD to enable farmers to meet their credit requirements for agriculture and allied activities.
- Climate Change Fund – Constituted from the profits of NABARD to address the impacts of climate change
- E-Shakti – Project developed by NABARD for the digitization of all members of the Self Help Group (SHG) in India.
Source: PIB
Previous Year Question
Which one of the following activities of the Reserve Bank of India is considered to be part of ‘sterilization’?
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2023 Prelims]
(a) Conducting “Open Market Operations’
(b) Oversight of settlement and payment systems
(c) Debt and cash management for the Central and State Governments
(d) Regulating the functions of Non-banking Financial Institutions
Answer: (a)
