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UPSC MAINS SOCIOLOGY SYLLABUS
Paper 1 – Chapter 10 – Social Change in Modern Society
- Sociological theories of social change.
- Development and dependency.
- Agents of social change.
- Education and social change.
- Science, technology and social change.
Paper 2 – Section B -(ii) Rural and Agrarian transformation in India:
- Programmes of rural development, Community Development Programme, cooperatives, poverty alleviation schemes.
- Green revolution and social change.
- Changing modes of production in Indian agriculture.
- Problems of rural labour, bondage, migration.
INTRODUCTION
Financial inclusion is critical to achieving the economic empowerment of women—one of the targets under the fifth Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality. Access to financial services gives opportunities for generating income, accumulating assets, and participating more fully in economic activities, thereby promoting social and economic empowerment. Financial inclusion also offers resilience from shock events like the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the need for ensuring that the poorest populations have access to formal financial services.
DATA
According to a 2022 IFC report, approximately 90 percent of women entrepreneurs in India have not borrowed from a formal financial institution. Another study reported that 53 per cent of male business owners lacked cash reserves during the lockdown of 2020, but the figure for female-led businesses was as high as 72 per cent.
According to the Findex survey, 13 percent of those who are unbanked globally are women. This index defines ‘account ownership’ as ownership of an account at a regulated institution, a bank, credit union, microfinance institution, post office, or mobile money service provider.
The percentage of women who have a bank or savings account that they themselves use has increased from 53 percent in NFHS-4 (2015-16) to 79 percent in NFHS-5.
Women’s access to credit remains low, even as awareness about microcredit programmes has increased from 41 percent in NFHS-4 to 51 percent in NFHS-5. Only 11 percent have ever taken a microcredit loan. Women’s use of microcredit programmes is higher in rural areas (12 percent) than in the urban regions (9 percent).
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RELEVANCE OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Financial inclusion is important for women to access loans, credit and to make transactions, but it is also essential to save money and build assets in a safe place, which can in turn take them out of poverty. Savings interventions increase women’s business earnings. Public policies are needed to support, promote and bring to scale improved access to and growing use of financial services for women and their businesses.
GENDER DIGITAL DIVIDE
Men and women engage differently with digital services – including digital financial services (DFS) – because of, among other factors, gendered social norms that don’t change nearly as fast as technology. Gendered social norms, a subset of social norms, prescribe different roles and expectations to men and women in households, communities, markets and public life. A 2018 Harvard study in India identified a fear within society that women’s mobile phone use would enable promiscuity or erode traditional Indian courtship norms, potentially helping to explain the country’s 26 percent gender gap in mobile and internet access.
CHALLENGES OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Lack of digital infrastructure.
Lack of credible, low-cost and high-quality financial advice.
Most women are being excluded from the formal financial system.
Difficulty in understanding different product offerings, financial terms, and conditions.
India is the heavily dominated cash economy, this poses a challenge for digital payment adoption.
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GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have taken initiatives to promote financial inclusion in rural area which include the opening of bank branches in remote areas, Issuing Kisan Credit Cards (KCC), Linkage of self-help groups (SHGs) with banks and Increasing the number of automated teller machines (ATMs).
With the strengthening of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) by NPCI, digital payments have been made secure, compared to the past. The Aadhar-enabled payment system (AEPS) enables an Aadhar enabled bank account (AEBA) to be used at any place and at any time, using micro ATMs.
The convergence of JAM trinity with the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme has largely been successful.
CONCLUSION
Women’s financial inclusion improves their agency while also impacting their growth and productivity. With the advent of Digital India, the term ‘financial inclusion’ has been highly associated with digital financial services. The Covid-19 pandemic may have propelled the adoption and usage of technology and expedited India’s digital transformation. However, women’s limited access to these digital technologies in India poses the danger of pushing them towards the wrong side of a persistent digital divide.