सेवा क्षेत्र उपागम किसके कार्यक्षेत्र के अधीन कार्यान्वित किया गया था?
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The Service Area Approach was implemented under the purview of
(a) Integrated Rural Development Programme · (b) Lead Bank Scheme · (c) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme · (d) National Skill Development Mission
उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English
Answer: (b) अग्रणी बैंक योजना (लीड बैंक स्कीम)
The Service Area Approach was part of the Reserve Bank of India's Lead Bank Scheme. Introduced in April 1989, it assigned each rural and semi-urban bank branch a service area of 15 to 25 villages whose credit needs it had to meet.
- ✓ (b) RBI's Master Circular on the Lead Bank Scheme has a section on the Service Area Approach. It applied to all scheduled commercial banks including Regional Rural Banks and aimed to link bank credit with production, productivity and incomes.
- ✗ (a) The Integrated Rural Development Programme was an anti-poverty self-employment programme run by the government. It did not allocate villages to bank branches.
- ✗ (c) MGNREGS is a wage-employment guarantee scheme with no link to bank-branch service areas.
- • Since then RBI reviewed the approach in December 2004 and dropped its restrictive provisions. Banks are now free to lend in any rural or semi-urban area; village allocation applies only to Government-sponsored schemes (RBI Master Circular).
Remember · Service Area Approach (April 1989) sits under RBI's Lead Bank Scheme: one rural branch, 15 to 25 villages. Its village-allocation rule was relaxed in 2004.
Sources
- RBI Master Circular: Lead Bank Scheme (2024), section 8 Service Area Approach ↗ “The Service Area Approach (SAA) introduced in April 1989 for planned and orderly development of rural and semi-urban areas was applicable to all SCBs including RRBs. … The SAA scheme was reviewed in December 2004 and it was decided to dispense with the restrictive provisions of the scheme”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·