understanding various term in question paper

Analyse
 Break an issue into its constituent parts. Look in depth at each part using supporting arguments
and evidence for and against as well as how these interrelate to one another.
Assess
 Weigh up to what extent something is true. Persuade the reader of your argument by citing
relevant research but also remember to point out any flaws and counter-arguments as well.
Conclude by stating clearly how far you are in agreement with the original proposition.
Clarify
 Literally make something clearer and, where appropriate, simplify it. This could involve, for
example, explaining in simpler terms a complex process or theory, or the relationship between
two variables.
Comment upon
Pick out the main points on a subject and give your opinion, reinforcing your point of view using
logic and reference to relevant evidence, including any wider reading you have done.
Compare
 Identify the similarities and differences between two or more phenomena. Say if any of the
shared similarities or differences are more important than others. ‘Compare’ and ‘contrast’ will
often feature together in an essay question.
Consider
 Say what you think and have observed about something. Back up your comments using
appropriate evidence from external sources, or your own experience. Include any views which
are contrary to your own and how they relate to what you originally thought.
Contrast
Similar to compare but concentrate on the dissimilarities between two or more phenomena, or
what sets them apart. Point out any differences which are particularly significant.

Critically evaluate
Give your verdict as to what extent a statement or findings within a piece of research are true,
or to what extent you agree with them. Provide evidence taken from a wide range of sources
which both agree with and contradict an argument. Come to a final conclusion, basing your
decision on what you judge to be the most important factors and justify how you have made
your choice.
Define
To give in precise terms the meaning of something. Bring to attention any problems posed with
the definition and different interpretations that may exist.
Demonstrate
Show how, with examples to illustrate.
Describe
Provide a detailed explanation as to how and why something happens.
Discuss
 Essentially this is a written debate where you are using your skill at reasoning, backed up by
carefully selected evidence to make a case for and against an argument, or point out the
advantages and disadvantages of a given context. Remember to arrive at a conclusion.
Elaborate
To give in more detail, provide more information on.

Evaluate See the explanation for ‘critically evaluate’.
Examine
 Look in close detail and establish the key facts and important issues surrounding a topic. This
should be a critical evaluation and you should try and offer reasons as to why the facts and
issues you have identified are the most important, as well as explain the different ways they
could be construed.
Explain
Clarify a topic by giving a detailed account as to how and why it occurs, or what is meant by the
use of this term in a particular context. Your writing should have clarity so that complex
procedures or sequences of events can be understood, defining key terms where appropriate,
and be substantiated with relevant research.
Explore
 Adopt a questioning approach and consider a variety of different viewpoints. Where possible
reconcile opposing views by presenting a final line of argument.
Give anaccount of
Means give a detailed description of something. Not to be confused with ‘account for’ which
asks you not only what, but why something happened.
Identify
Determine what are the key points to be addressed and implications thereof.
Illustrate
A similar instruction to ‘explain’ whereby you are asked to show the workings of something,
making use of definite examples and statistics if appropriate to add weight to your explanation.
Interpret
Demonstrate your understanding of an issue or topic. This can be the use of particular
terminology by an author, or what the findings from a piece of research suggest to you. In the
latter instance, comment on any significant patterns and causal relationships.
Justify
Make a case by providing a body of evidence to support your ideas and points of view. In order
to present a balanced argument, consider opinions which may run contrary to your own before
stating your conclusion.
Outline
 Convey the main points placing emphasis on global structures and interrelationships rather
than minute detail.
Review
Look thoroughly into a subject. This should be a critical assessment and not merely descriptive.
Show how Present, in a logical order, and with reference to relevant evidence the stages and combinationof factors that give rise to something.
State To specify in clear terms the key aspects pertaining to a topic without being overly descriptive.
Refer to evidence and examples where appropriate.
Summarise Give a condensed version drawing out the main facts and omit superfluous information. Brief orgeneral examples will normally suffice for this kind of answer
To whatextent
Evokes a similar response to questions containing 'How far...'. This type of question calls for a
thorough assessment of the evidence in presenting your argument. Explore alternative
explanations where they exist

The right way to make in India

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s advice that the country must “make for India” than merely “make in India” is perceptive and with many policy implications. The potential of the 1.25 billion-strong Indian population, with the highest (and growing) proportion of people below 35, is tempting to the rest of the world. Given the receptiveness of the people to innovation and new technologies, India is tempting as a production-centre where labour costs are low and capability is high.

The other message that Rajan is giving us is that we must not tie ourselves to export-markets as the South East Asian nations and China did for many years. He is not saying that we should ignore world markets. We must export to the maximum. However, the message warns us of the deterioration in major economies. Remember that this is the man who warned the world three years in advance about the collapse of financial markets that occurred in 2008. We must take his prescience seriously.

What is happening to most of the developed economies? The long-term growth of Japan, Europe, even China, will be hindered by rapidly-ageing populations. This will contract their effective labour force and also domestic markets. The US escapes this fate because of immigration.

The current economic situation in the developed countries, except the US, is getting grim. The US expects 3% growth, sharply falling unemployment, revival in consumer confidence and retail purchases. Interest rates, at around zero now, need to rise and the Federal Reserve is making noises that they will. The economic revival in the US is fuelled to a great extent by the boom in production of oil and gas from shale. It has also led to a collapse in world oil prices, benefiting oil-short emerging economies like India. Despite efforts by Saudi Arabia to make the high-cost shale oil production uneconomic, and thus reduce domestic production in the US and increase crude imports, there appears little chance of this happening. The chances are that world crude oil prices will remain low for two more years.

Other developed economies are not in the same position. Germany, by phasing out nuclear power generation, and its rigid labour markets is becoming (as The Economist says), ‘the sick man of Europe’. Germany has been the economic engine for Europe. Its decline will hurt all Eurpoean Union countries. Spain and Greece are yet to recover after years of belt tightening and decline. The decline in the European economies will be accelerated by the decline in Germany. France is beset by the problems caused by a socialist government that is reluctant to demand more effort from its labour. Macroeconomic management in European countries appears to have been neglected in recent times. Japan appeared to be emerging under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s leadership from years of economic stagnation and deflation. However, that appears to have been stalled by a premature rise (long overdue) in consumption taxes. China is showing signs of a slowdown. Its overall fiscal situation is suspect because of the deficits of provinces and local authorities. Declining world commodity prices are also a result of falling Chinese demand.

Russia is in serious trouble, with a collapsing rouble, declining growth, rampant inflation and large increases in interest rates. It has not diversified its economy and continues to be heavily dependent on its crude oil and gas production. The collapse in world crude prices, therefore, has hurt Russia very badly. The economic sanctions of the West on Russia, too, have hurt it badly and there is no sign of their being eased.

Russia is unlikely to recover soon and may initiate warlike adventures to divert peoples’ attention from their plight. India has to wonder if it is safe to advance large sums to Russia for defence equipment and new nuclear plants. The situation in other two BRICS economies, Brazil and South Africa, is hardly better. African economies, too, are also struggling.

For India, collapsing crude oil prices have immensely benefited the NDA government. Consumer purchases are rising, inflation figures are dropping, and lower crude prices will help the balance of payments. It would be wise now for the government to retain the present consumer prices for petro products and use the resulting surplus in the Budget for urgent capital expenditures. Secondly, India cannot depend on any sharp rise in exports, especially since we are so dependent on minerals (iron ore) that will not be in as much demand, with the world economies battling declines. Exports of agricultural products might do well if the weather gods are kind and government minimum price support price policies are more flexible. Third, foreign direct investment might rise as India could be a beacon in an otherwise depressed global economic environment. Fourth, we must be much more cautious in large dealings with Russia, which has, in the past years, unceremoniously raised prices sharply, in the middle of working on contract (for example, the aircraft carrier Gorchakov).

Fifth, we must tackle energy supplies and costs. The law on unlimited liability of nuclear equipment plant suppliers, in the case of accidents, must be modified to limit the liability. Other countries like Japan, the US, and South Korea, could then supply their nuclear technology, and help reduce our dependence on coal. Construction of the new hydro plants in Nepal agreed recently must move apace. We must improve the technology in coal mining so that productivity and production can rise. This will require ultimate denationalisation of Coal India.

The Indian market is huge and can grow rapidly. Yet, manufacturing in India is less than a fourth of the GDP. This must rise. This will also help to increase jobs in organised manufacturing (presently around 6% of total employment). Manufacturing jobs are mostly urban. These new jobs will meet the expected surge in migration to urban from rural areas. We must become less dependent on imports of what we can make in India.

These include defence equipment, silicon chips, and solar panels, to name some large imports. The cap of 49% on foreign direct investment must be raised. Investors must feel that they have control, even though it is illusory. Once the factory is established in India and there are Indian employees, the desired technology transfer is automatic. What else does India need? Imports will decline and we will learn the technology. Coal imports can fall if we move with vigour to change our energy policies as described. Commercial operations of mines, ultimate denationalisation can also sharply reduce the imports of coal. An early introduction of the goods and services tax will stimulate all domestic purchases.

The RBI Governor has encapsulated in Make for India a whole range of economic policies, some of which have been discussed here. The government must now move quickly to make the difference.

Why India needs a conservation act

India should reject its protection philosophy, embrace conservation and bridge gaps between people and officials

I have just returned from an extended tour of our jungles where, as usual, much is being spoken; little is being done to conserve our wilderness. While camping near the Corbett National Park, our cook, also the village leader, was called in every night to help with the elephant menace in his hamlet. He narrated numerous stories of tigers killing humans. Most kills were recent. The so-called man-animal conflict was at its worst and even the forests where I work in southern India we were seeing a spate of escalating conflicts between local people and officials. This got me thinking. Was something seriously amiss with our wilderness policies? On further thought, the answer dawned on me. India does not have its own standalone conservation act. We have the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972; why did we choose not to have the Wildlife (Conservation) Act of 1972 instead?

The first thing that comes to mind is that in conservation one needs to be in constant dialogue with all the players, and certainly our forest officials want no such thing. Dialogue makes one answerable, vulnerable and transparent, actions alien if not loathsome to officials.

Conservation is solely achieved through building trust and respect with all parties concerned. Though transparent dialogue is a crucial part of that trust-building process, the people living near our protected forests are not in dialogue with the officials. This has led to a severe conflict.

‘Protection’ has a very minor but essential part in effective ‘Conservation’. ‘Conservation’ comes first, followed by ‘Protection’. Wherever conservation fails, protection is supposed to kick in. That’s the way it is the world over, except India. When the African countries can have their own conservation laws, why in heavens name doesn’t India have one which stands on its own two feet? Instead of a Wildlife Conservation Act, we have a National Tiger Conservation Authority tucked away, hidden deep in the recess of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972. But it has only a handful of pages that make a veiled attempt to address the term ‘conservation’.

India is regarded as one of the most corrupt countries. Add to this the fact that our parks and sanctuaries have extensive boundaries, which, in most places remain porous. We have large sensitive forested regions of great value that cannot be effectively patrolled or protected. We have neither the funds nor the political will or the manpower to protect these expansive areas. These areas need to be conserved.

Further, protection is an exclusionary form of management that pushes people away. After more than six decades of Independence, it’s clear that we need to embrace the people living around our protected forests and convert them from being a liability to an asset. Only conservation can do that, not protection. Since 1947, officials and locals have drifted apart at an alarming rate and today a chasm exists between them. This has led to severe conflict. There being no effective dialogue between them, locals in general believe officials to be corrupt and officials on their part think most locals to be smugglers and poachers. This further escalates the conflict.

The officials have lived in denial of such conflicts and over time, instead of calling such a conflict the local man-authority conflict, have evolved a unique term for their failures and called it the man-animal conflict. How could they be answerable for the actions of animals, they would ask whenever the need arose.

It is clear that unless India rejects its protection philosophy and embraces conservation and bridges this gap between people living on the fringes of its forests and the officials and converts these people into assets by including them in the management of her sensitive regions, we can kiss our wilderness goodbye.

We have arrived at this alarming situation because it takes 10 to 15 years, if not a couple of generations, to start the dialogue process leading to effective conservation. Our officers hold their posts for but a couple of years, and fail to share the larger vision. Also because the process of dialogue and trust-building that feeds conservation at most times remains intangible, most funding towards wildlife management gets funnelled into protection. Efforts in any protection activity are tangible and can be measured for the disbursement of funds — examples are anti-poaching camps, vehicles, arms, fences, trenches, roads, fire lines, staff quarters and so on.

Conservation acts suffer because they cannot be measured thus. Conservation can best be described as the ‘human’s ethical pursuit of letting things be in nature’. This natural balance is difficult to maintain as man interferes with nature without truly understanding the consequences. Sadly, whenever man plays god he destroys without having the power to recreate. The writing is on the wall. Forest officials must stop hiding behind the so-called man-animal conflict and the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972. If we are to conserve our wilderness, we need a hard-hitting yet sensitive conservation act that also addresses, as an integral part of conservation, the local people-authority conflict upfront.

No end to battle over land

When the National Democratic Alliance government amended the land acquisition Act through an ordinance last week, it promised to set farmers and industry on an amiable path to mutual benefits and development.

Land acquisition under the 1894 Act had been marked by violent protests, even police firings at farmers. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013, is the first law on acquiring land post-Independence. Does this ordinance amending the law before it was even fully implemented make the acquisition of land more transparent and fair?

Non-transparent resource allocation

The LARR Act was passed unanimously by all political parties last September. Commenting on the changes back then, Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry’s National Task Force on Infrastructure, said: “The term ‘public purpose’ has now been clearly defined. The misuse of this clause under ‘eminent domain’ was the bane of the earlier legislation. It led to forcible, heartless acquisition programmes as well as ‘lazy acquisitions where acquired land was hugely in excess of needs or just left unutilised.’”

After the ordinance was passed last week, Mr. Chatterjee maintained, “All I can say is I am positive about the ordinance as it includes public-private partnership for social infrastructure in the exempt category.”

Among the main changes, the ordinance exempts special categories of projects from the requirements of social impact assessment (SIA) and obtaining consent of affected families mandated by the LARR Act. It dilutes the time limit of five years put on projects, after which if land remained utilised, it would go back to the landowner. Instead, the period of five years has been substituted by unspecified period. Another dilution is of the “retrospective clause” to exclude time spent under litigation in cases where a stay order has been passed.

CAG Report revelations

A month before the ordinance was cleared, a Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) report on special economic zones (SEZs) was tabled in Parliament. It found that of the 45,635 hectares of land notified for the development of SEZs, no operations had taken place in 38 per cent of the notified land even after several years of acquisition. It criticised developers, including Reliance, DLF and Essar, for acquiring land but using only “a fraction of it.”

“Many tracts of lands were acquired invoking the ‘public purpose’ clause,” it noted. For instance, the CAG found that the Mukesh Ambani-promoted SEZ in Navi Mumbai had got over 1,250 hectares of land at Dronagiri in Maharashtra in 2006 for a multi-product SEZ. But no industrial unit had been built on the land till now. The CAG found that several industrial houses had raised loans of Rs. 6,309.53 crore mortgaging leasehold government land.

The SEZs, along with private health and educational institutions, are in the broad category of public-private social infrastructure projects now exempted from the SIA’s scrutiny and consent clause under the ordinance. “By giving up the consent clause, you are opening the door for forcible land acquisition which is not acceptable and should not happen under any circumstances. By giving up SIA, you are opening the door for diversion of land,” said Jairam Ramesh, under whose tenure as Union Rural Development Minister the LARR Act was passed in 2013.

While industry bodies such as the CII have welcomed the ordinance, describing it as a sign of the government’s “serious commitment to economic reforms,” farmers’ unions have announced protests when Parliament meets for the Budget Session. “Hundreds of farmers were martyred protesting unfair acquisition. The Modi government has done this to hand over land to acquire land and hand it over to builders and industry,” said B.S. Rajwal, president, Bharat Kisan Union.

Environmentalists, too, have questioned the dilutions in favour of developers. “The government wants to empower companies to acquire land and do nothing with it. The ordinance says five years, or a specified time period whichever is later, but it does not say who will specify this time period, can it be changed or extended,” pointed out Shankar Gopalakrishnan of Campaign for Survival and Dignity.

Intensifying conflicts

A study released by a U.S.-based think-tank, Rights and Resources Initiative and Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development, studied Supreme Court and High Court judgments from the past 10 years, and newspaper reports on land disputes and found that land conflicts affect one-fourth of India’s 610 districts. In instances such as the ongoing struggle over POSCO land in Odisha, the Bengaluru-based Alternative Law Forum found that between 2006 and 2012, 230 cases were filed against over 2,000 villagers resisting POSCO.

Several of the conflicts have resulted from takeover of agricultural and irrigated land. But the ordinance dilutes the provision in the 2013 to acquire multi-crop, irrigated land only as a last resort but exempting special categories.

“Even if the company offers Rs. 50 lakh, we will not give up agricultural land,” said Deepak Das (35), who leads the North Karanpura Bachao Samiti in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand and is an accused in four cases related to land acquisition protests. The samiti comprises over 10,000 families at 23 villages in Hazaribagh opposing a NTPC project to mine coal here since 2005.

The land ordinance does little to check the real bottlenecks posed by cronyism, lack of accountability or arbitrariness in the decision-making processes. A “reform” such as this may fail to check social conflict with little improvement in vital infrastructure.

Big role for small national park in saving threatened butterflies

One of the smallest national parks records one-fifth of the country’s species

Gorumara National Park, one of the smallest national parks in India, has turned out be a safe haven for butterflies as evident by recent studies that have recorded more than 330 species of butterflies in the park.

There are about 600 known species of butterflies in West Bengal and about 1,500 in India. Gorumara alone accounts for more than half of the species found in the State and about one-fifth found in the country.

The park, located in the State’s Jalpaiguri district, covers an area of only 80 sq. km., and has recorded at least four species of butterflies that have never been found in the State before.

Of these, the Bicolour Cupid and Malayan Nawab are placed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the Witch and the Branded Young Fly are in Schedule II of the Act. Animals and insects who are most threatened are slotted in Schedule I of the Act.

Among the 330 species, about 50 are placed in the different Schedules of the Act. Four species of butterflies belonging to Schedule I, 39 species in Scheduled II and seven species categorized in Scheduled IV can be found in the park.

“About 314 of the butterflies were recorded initially as part of an inventory building exercise and published in the form of a book. After the publication about 15 more species have been found,” Sumita Ghatak, Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife Division II Jalpaiguri told The Hindu.

Representatives of Nature-Mates Nature-Club, a city based non-government organisation, working on wildlife issues, said that the work for identification of the different kinds of butterflies which started in 2012, is still continuing now.

“Apart from being home to animals like elephants, rhinoceros, gaur, leopard and different kinds of deer, we have recorded a huge collection of lesser-known but interesting species of butterflies,” Arjan Basu Roy, a representatives of Nature-Mates said.

Challenge paralysed by society

Our Prime Minister’s call to focus on zero defect manufacturing quality is certainly the correct direction for India’s future. Referring to the IT sector as showing innovation and research prowess 25 years ago, he bemoaned that India is yet to create something pathbreaking like Google, while talent has left the country. Undoubtedly, IT/ITES grew to $86 billion annual exports, but how much adaptable innovation has happened in this business size is debatable, while research investment has been miniscule.

Innovation is a big word, we use it all the time in India, but without capability to produce digital technology basics like hard discs. Thailand is dominating this market. Even the Japanese, Koreans, and now Chinese are incredible adaptable innovators in multiple domains, not fundamental inventors. Where are India’s engineers making wafers and semiconductors in India?

I’m sure our government is better facilitating technical paperwork to ease business nowadays. The real problem is elsewhere though. It’s in capability building that requires extreme behavioural change to match global standards and an entrepreneurial bent of mind. For manufacturing to acquire an edge, we need engineers dedicated to hardcore engineering, and well-trained, disciplined, capability-driven workforce. But look at the cream of our engineers jumping to MBA finance, marketing or HR without even trying out R&D or manufacturing in India. I asked some brilliant 24-year-old IIT-plus-MBA working people, why don’t we hear of 18-year-old Indians having an innovative or entrepreneurial bent of mind?

Several angles emerged in answering this question. Parents in India, they said, want the son to score high marks in school and college, get a high salaried job; the vision for the daughter is wealthy husband and reputable family. Making it to IIT is really tough, they explained. During their past two years in school, they enrolled for special and expensive coaching classes to learn engineering fundamentals to prepare for IIT entrance exams. Children continuously feel, often unstated, pressure from parents when choosing the education stream in high school. Science, required for engineering and medical studies, is always first priority. You need high overall marks to take science. So by default, arts or commerce students are considered less intelligent. Even when good in science, these young professionals said avoiding coaching class was unthinkable because basics are not properly emphasised at school. What’s worse, even with rigorous external coaching they may not make it to IIT.

Why go for competitive IIT, when so many engineering colleges exist? “The job market recognises IIT as top of the pile.” Having become an IIT engineer, why go for MBA? They answered, enterprises value MBA graduates over engineers, it’s obvious from starting salaries where MBAs get double the remuneration. Engineers wanting to pursue an engineering profession find Indian research institutes, R&D labs or corporate engineering positions do not offer the right scope of scientific or engineering work, the payscale is dismal, nor do such jobs enjoy mainstream status. For higher education, IIT graduates try going abroad as MTech or doctoral studies, even in IITs, do not match the high standard of western universities. But an IIT-plus-MBA, especially IIT-plus-IIM is every parent’s dream come true. This upwardly-mobile education gets the best job offers, highest societal recognition, uppermost starting salary, all without having any work experience. “There’s further hierarchy: IIT-IIM with finance specialisation tops all! Such a student was even offered R1 crore annually.” What’s the real difference between IIM and IIT-IIM? “The IIT-IIM definitely has better analytical ability and structured discipline at the start, but after sometime, there’s no difference.” It’s disgraceful how we misuse pure engineering professionals.

Crunching marks to family pressure somewhat explains how societal systems paralyse self-expression, denying our young generation the scope of an inventive bent or entrepreneurial mindset. Here’s where the Prime Minister should start his real brainwashing to displace this culture. When children are dependent and protected like treasures by rich parents, their inventive or entrepreneurial inclination go out the window. When parents don’t have money, children become street urchins. On the other hand, I’ve professionally experienced that less educated people in the practical field like plumbers, electricians, auto or electronic mechanics, now the mobile phone repairers, have a huge bent for entrepreneurship. Such working-class individuals are vast in number, but not valued in society. Here again the Prime Minister needs to strongly support their intellectual development. They can translate their working knowledge into adaptable innovation, but they need the right skill guidance, not through pedagogy but with practical training.

I’m very encouraged by a start-up by one of my client friends. The past 12 years I’ve known Vibhu Hajela, he’d often ask about entrepreneurship as I’ve written about it several times, and I’ve always encouraged him. This 52-year-old mechanical engineer MBA with 27 years of rich work experience, earning annually half a crore of rupees suddenly called last year to say he’s left his job to start a plastic injection moulding factory. He knows he has to generate working capital to continue, and will miss the luxury of good salary at month’s end. I’m sure “Make in India” will succeed with this kind of SME initiative, and the government will support such start-ups. I must add that Vibhu’s wife was extremely supportive of his entrepreneurial drive.

There are several young Americans, school/college dropouts like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, among others, who invented in a garage or cellar, then successfully marketed their inventions. Thomas Alva Edison left school from age seven because his teacher said he was confused. His mother educated him at home, encouraging him to follow his scientific bent of mind. Edison spent all his pocket money buying chemicals for experiments. He invented the microphone, telephone receiver, stock-ticker, phonograph, movies, office copiers, incandescent electric lights, and owns 1093 patents. When Edison died in 1931, his assistant, Russian-born, Paris-trained chemist Martin Rosanoff said, “Had Edison been formally schooled, he might not have had the audacity to create such impossible things.”

Jan Dhan Yojana crosses 100-mn mark Ministry claims 98.4% households now have bank accounts

The ambitious plan of the government to achieve financial inclusion for all has taken a step closer to its target with 98.4 per cent household in India having bank accounts. Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, unveiled by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on 28 August last year, 26 January was set as the deadline to open 75 million bank accounts. The target was later revised to 100 million.  

“In the last three months, 103 million new accounts have been opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana. By now, 98.41 per cent households in the country are covered under the scheme,” said Hasmukh Adhia, secretary, department of financial services.

Banks managed to achieve the stiff target of opening 100 million bank accounts a month before the deadline of 26 January.

Adhia said banks had conducted a survey of 219 million household. Of these, 98.4 per cent respondents said they have a bank account. According to the last census, there are 250 million households in the country. “There are 3 crore to 4 crore (30 million to 40 million) who are from the effluent sections of the society declined to take part in the survey,” Adhia said. Adhia added that RuPay cards have been issued to 79.7 per cent of the accounts. The government is also working on seeding theAadhaar number with the bank accounts; 33 per cent of the accounts have already been synced with the Aadhaar numbers. At present, it is not mandatory for accounts to be seeded with Aadhaar for direct benefit transfers (DBT). But the banks have been advised to do so to make DBT transfers easy.

However, a majority of accounts are still inactive with zero balance, and it is a big challenge for the banks to mobilise savings in these accounts.

“We will be deliberating on how to keep the accounts active. We will have to see how to mobilise savings rate from 30 per cent currently to 35 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). We will also have to see how to use these accounts for DBT, pension distribution and other benefits,” added Adhia.

To deepen financial inclusion now, the finance ministry will be getting into an “open challenge mode” for opening accounts under the Jan Dhan scheme.

This will be announced once the 100 per cent target is achieved. “Under this, anyone who does not have an account can approach a bank and an account will be opened immediately,” said Adhia.