Yojana Magazine April 2022- 1 - UPSC

 Page 1


Development RoaDmap PM
GatiShakti is a transformative approach for 
economic growth and sustainable development. The 
approach is driven by seven engines, namely, Roads, Railways, 
Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics 
Infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy 
in unison. These engines are supported by the complementary 
roles of Energy Transmission, IT Communication, Bulk 
Water & Sewerage, and Social Infrastructure. Finally, the 
approach is powered by Clean Energy and Sabka Prayas– the 
efforts of the Central Government, the State governments, 
and the private sector together– leading to huge job and 
entrepreneurial opportunities for all, especially the youth. 
The Union Cabinet cleared the 
PM GatiShakti– National Master 
Plan for multi-modal connectivity 
to economic zones on 21 October 
2021. It is a giant stride in India’s 
ambitious goal of achieving  
USD 5 trillion economy. Announced 
during the Prime Minister’s address to 
the nation on the 75
th
 Independence Day 
from Red Fort, PM GatiShakti (speed 
and power) focuses on India’s citizens, 
industries, manufacturers, farmers, and 
villages among others. PM GatiShakti 
is supposed to break departmental silos 
and institutionalise holistic planning for 
stakeholders across major infrastructure 
projects. 
PM GatiShakti aims to ensure that India of the 21
st
 
century does not waste money or time due to lack of 
coordination in infrastructure projects. A technology 
platform has also been prepared for every megaproject so 
that every department has accurate information on time. It 
shall bring various stakeholders together and help integrate 
different modes of transportation. It will give new energy 
to the present and future generations of the country to build 
India of 21
st
 century and lay the foundation of Atmanirbharta 
for the next 25 years.
The master plan takes a holistic approach to sector-specific 
developments by integrating 16 ministries in a joint committee 
to implement and monitor Rs 100 lakh crores of investment. A 
closer look at the sector-wise take-outs are as follows:
y y In the Telecommunication sector, a total length of 
35,00,000 km of optical fibre cable network is to be 
laid down by 2024-25. Connecting all 2,50,000 Gram 
Panchayats with high-speed internet and 4G mobile 
connectivity by 2022. 
y y New and Renewable Energy sector capacity is to be 
increased from 87.7 Gigawatt to 225 Gigawatt by 2024-25. 
Around 50 per cent of India’s power generation capacity is 
to be met by renewable energy sources by 2024-25. 
y y The power transmission network is to be upgraded from 
4,25,500 circuit km to 4,54,200 circuit km by 2024-25. 
Transmission network performance parameters to match 
the best global standards. 
y y In Petroleum and Natural Gas sector, 17,000 km long 
trunk pipeline, connecting major demand and supply 
centres for industries, is to be added by 2024-25 making 
a total length of 34,500 km of pipeline across the country. 
All States are to be connected with the trunk natural gas 
pipeline network by 2027. 
y y Powered by Sagarmala, the shipping sector is to see an 
increase in cargo capacity at the ports to 1759 Million 
Metric Tonnes per Annum (MMTPA) by 2024-25 from 
1282 MMTPA in 2020. Cargo movement on all national 
waterways will be 95 Million Metric Tons (MMT) by  
2024-25 from 74 MMT in 2020. Cargo movement on 
Ganga to be increased from 9 MMT 
to 29 MMT by 2024-25. Powered 
by Regional Connectivity Scheme– 
UDAN, the civil aviation sector 
to see an increase in the aviation 
footprint globally. Around 20 airports, 
heliports, and water aerodromes are 
to be operational by 2024-25. A total 
of 109 airports including the existing 
51 airstrips, 18 greenfield airports, 12 
water aerodromes, and 28 heliports to 
be developed by 2024-25.
y y PM GatiShakti Master Plan for 
Expressways will be formulated in 
2022-23 to facilitate faster movement 
of people and goods. The National 
Highways network will be expanded by 25,000 km in 
2022-23. Rs 20,000 crore will be mobilised through 
innovative ways of financing to complement the public 
resources. Powered by Bharatmala, in the road transport 
and highways sector, two lakh km route of the national 
highway network is to be achieved by 2024-25. Along 
the coastal areas, 5590 km of four & six-lane national 
highways are to be completed by 2024-25. All State 
capitals in North Eastern Region to be connected with 
either four-lane National Highway or two alternate 
alignments of two-lane configurations each by 2024-25.
y y By 2024-25, Indian Railways to see a decongestion by 
51 per cent due to completion of critical projects. Cargo 
to be handled by Indian Railways will be 1600 million 
tonnes up from 1210 million tonnes in 2020. Western and 
eastern dedicated freight corridors for faster movement 
of freight trains to be completed. Railways will develop 
new products and efficient logistics services for small 
farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises, besides 
taking the lead in the integration of Postal and Railways 
networks to provide seamless solutions for the movement 
of parcels. ‘One Station-One Product’ concept will be 
popularised to help local businesses & supply chains.
The scope of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan will 
encompass the seven engines for economic transformation, 
seamless multi-modal connectivity, and logistics efficiency. 
It will also include the infrastructure developed by the State 
governments as per the GatiShakti Master Plan. The focus 
PM GatiShakti
Continued on page 66...
Page 2


Development RoaDmap PM
GatiShakti is a transformative approach for 
economic growth and sustainable development. The 
approach is driven by seven engines, namely, Roads, Railways, 
Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics 
Infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy 
in unison. These engines are supported by the complementary 
roles of Energy Transmission, IT Communication, Bulk 
Water & Sewerage, and Social Infrastructure. Finally, the 
approach is powered by Clean Energy and Sabka Prayas– the 
efforts of the Central Government, the State governments, 
and the private sector together– leading to huge job and 
entrepreneurial opportunities for all, especially the youth. 
The Union Cabinet cleared the 
PM GatiShakti– National Master 
Plan for multi-modal connectivity 
to economic zones on 21 October 
2021. It is a giant stride in India’s 
ambitious goal of achieving  
USD 5 trillion economy. Announced 
during the Prime Minister’s address to 
the nation on the 75
th
 Independence Day 
from Red Fort, PM GatiShakti (speed 
and power) focuses on India’s citizens, 
industries, manufacturers, farmers, and 
villages among others. PM GatiShakti 
is supposed to break departmental silos 
and institutionalise holistic planning for 
stakeholders across major infrastructure 
projects. 
PM GatiShakti aims to ensure that India of the 21
st
 
century does not waste money or time due to lack of 
coordination in infrastructure projects. A technology 
platform has also been prepared for every megaproject so 
that every department has accurate information on time. It 
shall bring various stakeholders together and help integrate 
different modes of transportation. It will give new energy 
to the present and future generations of the country to build 
India of 21
st
 century and lay the foundation of Atmanirbharta 
for the next 25 years.
The master plan takes a holistic approach to sector-specific 
developments by integrating 16 ministries in a joint committee 
to implement and monitor Rs 100 lakh crores of investment. A 
closer look at the sector-wise take-outs are as follows:
y y In the Telecommunication sector, a total length of 
35,00,000 km of optical fibre cable network is to be 
laid down by 2024-25. Connecting all 2,50,000 Gram 
Panchayats with high-speed internet and 4G mobile 
connectivity by 2022. 
y y New and Renewable Energy sector capacity is to be 
increased from 87.7 Gigawatt to 225 Gigawatt by 2024-25. 
Around 50 per cent of India’s power generation capacity is 
to be met by renewable energy sources by 2024-25. 
y y The power transmission network is to be upgraded from 
4,25,500 circuit km to 4,54,200 circuit km by 2024-25. 
Transmission network performance parameters to match 
the best global standards. 
y y In Petroleum and Natural Gas sector, 17,000 km long 
trunk pipeline, connecting major demand and supply 
centres for industries, is to be added by 2024-25 making 
a total length of 34,500 km of pipeline across the country. 
All States are to be connected with the trunk natural gas 
pipeline network by 2027. 
y y Powered by Sagarmala, the shipping sector is to see an 
increase in cargo capacity at the ports to 1759 Million 
Metric Tonnes per Annum (MMTPA) by 2024-25 from 
1282 MMTPA in 2020. Cargo movement on all national 
waterways will be 95 Million Metric Tons (MMT) by  
2024-25 from 74 MMT in 2020. Cargo movement on 
Ganga to be increased from 9 MMT 
to 29 MMT by 2024-25. Powered 
by Regional Connectivity Scheme– 
UDAN, the civil aviation sector 
to see an increase in the aviation 
footprint globally. Around 20 airports, 
heliports, and water aerodromes are 
to be operational by 2024-25. A total 
of 109 airports including the existing 
51 airstrips, 18 greenfield airports, 12 
water aerodromes, and 28 heliports to 
be developed by 2024-25.
y y PM GatiShakti Master Plan for 
Expressways will be formulated in 
2022-23 to facilitate faster movement 
of people and goods. The National 
Highways network will be expanded by 25,000 km in 
2022-23. Rs 20,000 crore will be mobilised through 
innovative ways of financing to complement the public 
resources. Powered by Bharatmala, in the road transport 
and highways sector, two lakh km route of the national 
highway network is to be achieved by 2024-25. Along 
the coastal areas, 5590 km of four & six-lane national 
highways are to be completed by 2024-25. All State 
capitals in North Eastern Region to be connected with 
either four-lane National Highway or two alternate 
alignments of two-lane configurations each by 2024-25.
y y By 2024-25, Indian Railways to see a decongestion by 
51 per cent due to completion of critical projects. Cargo 
to be handled by Indian Railways will be 1600 million 
tonnes up from 1210 million tonnes in 2020. Western and 
eastern dedicated freight corridors for faster movement 
of freight trains to be completed. Railways will develop 
new products and efficient logistics services for small 
farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises, besides 
taking the lead in the integration of Postal and Railways 
networks to provide seamless solutions for the movement 
of parcels. ‘One Station-One Product’ concept will be 
popularised to help local businesses & supply chains.
The scope of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan will 
encompass the seven engines for economic transformation, 
seamless multi-modal connectivity, and logistics efficiency. 
It will also include the infrastructure developed by the State 
governments as per the GatiShakti Master Plan. The focus 
PM GatiShakti
Continued on page 66...
April 2022
YOJANA
Volume-66
No. 04
A DEVELOPMENT MONTHLY
Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides.
Rig Veda
Website: www.publicationsdivision.nic.in
@DPD_India
@publicationsdivision
@dpd_india
Editor 
Shuchita chaturvedi
Joint dirEctor, Production 
d K c hrudhainath
c ovEr dEsign
Bindu verma
our repreSent AtiveS 
Ahmedabad: Janhavi Patel, Bengaluru: BK Kiranmai, 
Bhubaneswar: Itishree Singh Rathaur, Chennai: 
Sanjay Ghosh, Guwahati: Maruf Alam, Hyderabad: 
Krishna Vandana P , Jalandhar: Gagandeep Kaur 
Devgan, Kolkata: Khurshid Mallick, Mumbai: Umesh 
Ujgare: Thiruvananthapuram: Roy Chacko.
Yojana (english): Room No. 647, Soochna Bhawan, 
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003.  
e-mail (editorial): sec-yojanaeng-moib@gov.in
YOJANA, a development monthly published since 
1957, is a theme-based journal providing in-depth 
analyses and views on socio-economic issues in 
the broader framework of government policies. 
Although published by the Ministry of Information 
and Broadcasting, YOJANA is not restricted to 
expressing the official point of view.
diScLaimer
l 	 The	 vie ws	 e xpressed	 in	 various	 articles	 are	
those	 of	 the	 authors	 and	 the y	 do	 not	 nec essarily	
re flect	 the	 vie ws	 of	 the	 Go vernmen t	 or	 the	
organisation/ s	the y	work	f or .
l Map s/flags	 used	 in	 the	 articles	 are	 only	
indic ative	 and	 the y	 do	 not	 re flect	 the	 politic al	
map	 or	 legal	 represen t ation	 of	 the	 flag	 of	 India /
an y	other	c oun tr y .
l The	 inf ographics/fig ures	 are	 pro vided	 b y	 the	
authors	 through	 their	 reliable	 sourc es	 and	
YOJANA 	 claims	 no	 re sponsibility 	 f or	 the	 same.
l Images,	 graphics	 and	 illus trations,	 whe re ver	
used,	 are	 mos tly	 sourc ed	 from	 go vernme n t	
channels	and	are	indic ative	in	nature.
l YOJANA 	 does	 not	 o wn	 responsi bility	
regarding	 the	 c on t en ts	 of	 the	 advertisemen ts.	
The	 re aders	 are	 reque s t ed	 t o	 verif y	 the	 claim s	
made	 in	 the	 advertisemen ts	 regarding	 c ourses,	
c areer -guidanc e	book s	or	ins titutions.
l YOJANA doesn't 	 e ndorse 	 or 	 promot e 	 an y 	 brands	
or 	 privat e 	 e n tities 	 presen t e d 	 as 	 c ase 	 s tudies 	 in 	 an y	 
of 	 the 	 article s.
SuBScriP tiOn/Grievance S
email: pdjucir@gmail.com 
Phone: 011-24367453  
(monday-Friday, 9:30 am- 6:00 pm)
Postal address: abhishek chaturvedi, Editor, 
Journals Unit, Publications Division, Room No. 
779, Soochna Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi 
Road, New Delhi-110 003.
Please	 not e	 that	 it	 will	 t ak e	 atleas t	 eigh t	
week s	 t o	 s t art	 your	 sub scrip tion.	 Kindly	 raise	 
your	 queries/grie vanc es	 about	 non	 rec eip t	 of	 the	
journals	only	aft er	this	period.
SuBScri PtiOn-reLated detaiLS : Page 65
in thiS iSSue
number of pages: 68
Next Issue - SOciaL SecuritY
Details of the sales Outlets of the Publications Division on Page 42
YOJANA is published in Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, 
Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
re GuLar S
deveLOPment rO admaP ........................................................................... Cover II
dO YOu KnO w? ..................................................................................................... 61
Our BOOKS ............................................................................................................ 62
Lead articLe
DIGITAL IDENTITy 
Dr Saurabh Garg .............................21
FOcuS
FINTECH REVOLUTION 
Debjani Ghosh ...............................25
SPeciaL articLeS
FINTECH BEyOND BOUNDARIES 
Injeti Srinivas ...................................9
ACCELERATING SOCIO-
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
Bharat Lal, Spurthi Kolipaka .............. 13
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN 
FINANCIAL SECTOR 
Balendu Sharma Dadhich .................. 29
RURAL BANKING AND  
FINANCIAL SERVICES 
Osama Manzar, Megha Katheria,  
Dr Syed S Kazi.................................... 33
Since 1957
INCLUSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE 
Sachin Chaturvedi .............................. 39
QUALITy EDUCATION 
Shalender Sharma, Dr Saneel Thakur .... 45
DIGITAL CURRENCy 
Karishma Sharma, Bhavya Tyagi ........... 49
FACILITATING INDIA@100 
Dr JD Agarwal, Aman Agarwal .............. 55
Page 3


Development RoaDmap PM
GatiShakti is a transformative approach for 
economic growth and sustainable development. The 
approach is driven by seven engines, namely, Roads, Railways, 
Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics 
Infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy 
in unison. These engines are supported by the complementary 
roles of Energy Transmission, IT Communication, Bulk 
Water & Sewerage, and Social Infrastructure. Finally, the 
approach is powered by Clean Energy and Sabka Prayas– the 
efforts of the Central Government, the State governments, 
and the private sector together– leading to huge job and 
entrepreneurial opportunities for all, especially the youth. 
The Union Cabinet cleared the 
PM GatiShakti– National Master 
Plan for multi-modal connectivity 
to economic zones on 21 October 
2021. It is a giant stride in India’s 
ambitious goal of achieving  
USD 5 trillion economy. Announced 
during the Prime Minister’s address to 
the nation on the 75
th
 Independence Day 
from Red Fort, PM GatiShakti (speed 
and power) focuses on India’s citizens, 
industries, manufacturers, farmers, and 
villages among others. PM GatiShakti 
is supposed to break departmental silos 
and institutionalise holistic planning for 
stakeholders across major infrastructure 
projects. 
PM GatiShakti aims to ensure that India of the 21
st
 
century does not waste money or time due to lack of 
coordination in infrastructure projects. A technology 
platform has also been prepared for every megaproject so 
that every department has accurate information on time. It 
shall bring various stakeholders together and help integrate 
different modes of transportation. It will give new energy 
to the present and future generations of the country to build 
India of 21
st
 century and lay the foundation of Atmanirbharta 
for the next 25 years.
The master plan takes a holistic approach to sector-specific 
developments by integrating 16 ministries in a joint committee 
to implement and monitor Rs 100 lakh crores of investment. A 
closer look at the sector-wise take-outs are as follows:
y y In the Telecommunication sector, a total length of 
35,00,000 km of optical fibre cable network is to be 
laid down by 2024-25. Connecting all 2,50,000 Gram 
Panchayats with high-speed internet and 4G mobile 
connectivity by 2022. 
y y New and Renewable Energy sector capacity is to be 
increased from 87.7 Gigawatt to 225 Gigawatt by 2024-25. 
Around 50 per cent of India’s power generation capacity is 
to be met by renewable energy sources by 2024-25. 
y y The power transmission network is to be upgraded from 
4,25,500 circuit km to 4,54,200 circuit km by 2024-25. 
Transmission network performance parameters to match 
the best global standards. 
y y In Petroleum and Natural Gas sector, 17,000 km long 
trunk pipeline, connecting major demand and supply 
centres for industries, is to be added by 2024-25 making 
a total length of 34,500 km of pipeline across the country. 
All States are to be connected with the trunk natural gas 
pipeline network by 2027. 
y y Powered by Sagarmala, the shipping sector is to see an 
increase in cargo capacity at the ports to 1759 Million 
Metric Tonnes per Annum (MMTPA) by 2024-25 from 
1282 MMTPA in 2020. Cargo movement on all national 
waterways will be 95 Million Metric Tons (MMT) by  
2024-25 from 74 MMT in 2020. Cargo movement on 
Ganga to be increased from 9 MMT 
to 29 MMT by 2024-25. Powered 
by Regional Connectivity Scheme– 
UDAN, the civil aviation sector 
to see an increase in the aviation 
footprint globally. Around 20 airports, 
heliports, and water aerodromes are 
to be operational by 2024-25. A total 
of 109 airports including the existing 
51 airstrips, 18 greenfield airports, 12 
water aerodromes, and 28 heliports to 
be developed by 2024-25.
y y PM GatiShakti Master Plan for 
Expressways will be formulated in 
2022-23 to facilitate faster movement 
of people and goods. The National 
Highways network will be expanded by 25,000 km in 
2022-23. Rs 20,000 crore will be mobilised through 
innovative ways of financing to complement the public 
resources. Powered by Bharatmala, in the road transport 
and highways sector, two lakh km route of the national 
highway network is to be achieved by 2024-25. Along 
the coastal areas, 5590 km of four & six-lane national 
highways are to be completed by 2024-25. All State 
capitals in North Eastern Region to be connected with 
either four-lane National Highway or two alternate 
alignments of two-lane configurations each by 2024-25.
y y By 2024-25, Indian Railways to see a decongestion by 
51 per cent due to completion of critical projects. Cargo 
to be handled by Indian Railways will be 1600 million 
tonnes up from 1210 million tonnes in 2020. Western and 
eastern dedicated freight corridors for faster movement 
of freight trains to be completed. Railways will develop 
new products and efficient logistics services for small 
farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises, besides 
taking the lead in the integration of Postal and Railways 
networks to provide seamless solutions for the movement 
of parcels. ‘One Station-One Product’ concept will be 
popularised to help local businesses & supply chains.
The scope of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan will 
encompass the seven engines for economic transformation, 
seamless multi-modal connectivity, and logistics efficiency. 
It will also include the infrastructure developed by the State 
governments as per the GatiShakti Master Plan. The focus 
PM GatiShakti
Continued on page 66...
April 2022
YOJANA
Volume-66
No. 04
A DEVELOPMENT MONTHLY
Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides.
Rig Veda
Website: www.publicationsdivision.nic.in
@DPD_India
@publicationsdivision
@dpd_india
Editor 
Shuchita chaturvedi
Joint dirEctor, Production 
d K c hrudhainath
c ovEr dEsign
Bindu verma
our repreSent AtiveS 
Ahmedabad: Janhavi Patel, Bengaluru: BK Kiranmai, 
Bhubaneswar: Itishree Singh Rathaur, Chennai: 
Sanjay Ghosh, Guwahati: Maruf Alam, Hyderabad: 
Krishna Vandana P , Jalandhar: Gagandeep Kaur 
Devgan, Kolkata: Khurshid Mallick, Mumbai: Umesh 
Ujgare: Thiruvananthapuram: Roy Chacko.
Yojana (english): Room No. 647, Soochna Bhawan, 
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003.  
e-mail (editorial): sec-yojanaeng-moib@gov.in
YOJANA, a development monthly published since 
1957, is a theme-based journal providing in-depth 
analyses and views on socio-economic issues in 
the broader framework of government policies. 
Although published by the Ministry of Information 
and Broadcasting, YOJANA is not restricted to 
expressing the official point of view.
diScLaimer
l 	 The	 vie ws	 e xpressed	 in	 various	 articles	 are	
those	 of	 the	 authors	 and	 the y	 do	 not	 nec essarily	
re flect	 the	 vie ws	 of	 the	 Go vernmen t	 or	 the	
organisation/ s	the y	work	f or .
l Map s/flags	 used	 in	 the	 articles	 are	 only	
indic ative	 and	 the y	 do	 not	 re flect	 the	 politic al	
map	 or	 legal	 represen t ation	 of	 the	 flag	 of	 India /
an y	other	c oun tr y .
l The	 inf ographics/fig ures	 are	 pro vided	 b y	 the	
authors	 through	 their	 reliable	 sourc es	 and	
YOJANA 	 claims	 no	 re sponsibility 	 f or	 the	 same.
l Images,	 graphics	 and	 illus trations,	 whe re ver	
used,	 are	 mos tly	 sourc ed	 from	 go vernme n t	
channels	and	are	indic ative	in	nature.
l YOJANA 	 does	 not	 o wn	 responsi bility	
regarding	 the	 c on t en ts	 of	 the	 advertisemen ts.	
The	 re aders	 are	 reque s t ed	 t o	 verif y	 the	 claim s	
made	 in	 the	 advertisemen ts	 regarding	 c ourses,	
c areer -guidanc e	book s	or	ins titutions.
l YOJANA doesn't 	 e ndorse 	 or 	 promot e 	 an y 	 brands	
or 	 privat e 	 e n tities 	 presen t e d 	 as 	 c ase 	 s tudies 	 in 	 an y	 
of 	 the 	 article s.
SuBScriP tiOn/Grievance S
email: pdjucir@gmail.com 
Phone: 011-24367453  
(monday-Friday, 9:30 am- 6:00 pm)
Postal address: abhishek chaturvedi, Editor, 
Journals Unit, Publications Division, Room No. 
779, Soochna Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi 
Road, New Delhi-110 003.
Please	 not e	 that	 it	 will	 t ak e	 atleas t	 eigh t	
week s	 t o	 s t art	 your	 sub scrip tion.	 Kindly	 raise	 
your	 queries/grie vanc es	 about	 non	 rec eip t	 of	 the	
journals	only	aft er	this	period.
SuBScri PtiOn-reLated detaiLS : Page 65
in thiS iSSue
number of pages: 68
Next Issue - SOciaL SecuritY
Details of the sales Outlets of the Publications Division on Page 42
YOJANA is published in Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, 
Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
re GuLar S
deveLOPment rO admaP ........................................................................... Cover II
dO YOu KnO w? ..................................................................................................... 61
Our BOOKS ............................................................................................................ 62
Lead articLe
DIGITAL IDENTITy 
Dr Saurabh Garg .............................21
FOcuS
FINTECH REVOLUTION 
Debjani Ghosh ...............................25
SPeciaL articLeS
FINTECH BEyOND BOUNDARIES 
Injeti Srinivas ...................................9
ACCELERATING SOCIO-
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
Bharat Lal, Spurthi Kolipaka .............. 13
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN 
FINANCIAL SECTOR 
Balendu Sharma Dadhich .................. 29
RURAL BANKING AND  
FINANCIAL SERVICES 
Osama Manzar, Megha Katheria,  
Dr Syed S Kazi.................................... 33
Since 1957
INCLUSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE 
Sachin Chaturvedi .............................. 39
QUALITy EDUCATION 
Shalender Sharma, Dr Saneel Thakur .... 45
DIGITAL CURRENCy 
Karishma Sharma, Bhavya Tyagi ........... 49
FACILITATING INDIA@100 
Dr JD Agarwal, Aman Agarwal .............. 55
4 YOJANA   April 2022
Valuable Insights
Thank you very much for publishing informative 
articles on National Education Policy 2020 in your February 
2022 monthly edition. The issue provides us with valuable 
insights into the policy and how it will reform our education 
system in a very effective manner. Also, your previous 
issues of October, November, and December helped me a lot 
in gathering information regarding the latest advancements 
in Science and Technology, Panchayati Raj System, and our 
progressive movement of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Thank you 
for helping Civil Services Aspirants through these issues.
– Vaibhav Vijay Panchal 
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Budget 2022-2023
A lot of thanks to the Yojana Team for presenting an 
all-encompassing views and an insightful issue on Budget 
2022-2023. I am a student and an avid and regular reader of 
this esteemed monthly magazine.
– Nitesh Kumar Manjhi
Thought-Provoking
Being a consistent reader of Yojana for a considerable 
period of time, I came to the assumption that it is only 
helpful to UPSC aspirants. In the February issue, there 
was an article about the ‘role of media’ which was so 
thought-provoking. There was a line in that article about 
media role which says media must be helpful for attaining 
surajya (good governance). I, from bottom of my heart 
would say thanks to the entire team of Yojana for such 
wonderful content.
– Ajit P 
Vizianagaram
Fascinating Content
I encountered Yojana for the first time in July 2021 and 
it fascinated me so much so that I bought Yojana of past one 
and a half years and now I have become an avid reader of 
this magazine. I request the Y ojana Team to come up with an 
issue revolving around our great freedom fighters.
– Baljeet Rajput 
Gopalganj, Bihar
National Education Policy
Young aspirants have got to read Yojana to update 
their knowledge. Ever since I retired in 2000, I have had 
the time to pursue the information Welfare Schemes. 
Inbox
sec-yojanaeng-moib@gov.in
Page 4


Development RoaDmap PM
GatiShakti is a transformative approach for 
economic growth and sustainable development. The 
approach is driven by seven engines, namely, Roads, Railways, 
Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics 
Infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy 
in unison. These engines are supported by the complementary 
roles of Energy Transmission, IT Communication, Bulk 
Water & Sewerage, and Social Infrastructure. Finally, the 
approach is powered by Clean Energy and Sabka Prayas– the 
efforts of the Central Government, the State governments, 
and the private sector together– leading to huge job and 
entrepreneurial opportunities for all, especially the youth. 
The Union Cabinet cleared the 
PM GatiShakti– National Master 
Plan for multi-modal connectivity 
to economic zones on 21 October 
2021. It is a giant stride in India’s 
ambitious goal of achieving  
USD 5 trillion economy. Announced 
during the Prime Minister’s address to 
the nation on the 75
th
 Independence Day 
from Red Fort, PM GatiShakti (speed 
and power) focuses on India’s citizens, 
industries, manufacturers, farmers, and 
villages among others. PM GatiShakti 
is supposed to break departmental silos 
and institutionalise holistic planning for 
stakeholders across major infrastructure 
projects. 
PM GatiShakti aims to ensure that India of the 21
st
 
century does not waste money or time due to lack of 
coordination in infrastructure projects. A technology 
platform has also been prepared for every megaproject so 
that every department has accurate information on time. It 
shall bring various stakeholders together and help integrate 
different modes of transportation. It will give new energy 
to the present and future generations of the country to build 
India of 21
st
 century and lay the foundation of Atmanirbharta 
for the next 25 years.
The master plan takes a holistic approach to sector-specific 
developments by integrating 16 ministries in a joint committee 
to implement and monitor Rs 100 lakh crores of investment. A 
closer look at the sector-wise take-outs are as follows:
y y In the Telecommunication sector, a total length of 
35,00,000 km of optical fibre cable network is to be 
laid down by 2024-25. Connecting all 2,50,000 Gram 
Panchayats with high-speed internet and 4G mobile 
connectivity by 2022. 
y y New and Renewable Energy sector capacity is to be 
increased from 87.7 Gigawatt to 225 Gigawatt by 2024-25. 
Around 50 per cent of India’s power generation capacity is 
to be met by renewable energy sources by 2024-25. 
y y The power transmission network is to be upgraded from 
4,25,500 circuit km to 4,54,200 circuit km by 2024-25. 
Transmission network performance parameters to match 
the best global standards. 
y y In Petroleum and Natural Gas sector, 17,000 km long 
trunk pipeline, connecting major demand and supply 
centres for industries, is to be added by 2024-25 making 
a total length of 34,500 km of pipeline across the country. 
All States are to be connected with the trunk natural gas 
pipeline network by 2027. 
y y Powered by Sagarmala, the shipping sector is to see an 
increase in cargo capacity at the ports to 1759 Million 
Metric Tonnes per Annum (MMTPA) by 2024-25 from 
1282 MMTPA in 2020. Cargo movement on all national 
waterways will be 95 Million Metric Tons (MMT) by  
2024-25 from 74 MMT in 2020. Cargo movement on 
Ganga to be increased from 9 MMT 
to 29 MMT by 2024-25. Powered 
by Regional Connectivity Scheme– 
UDAN, the civil aviation sector 
to see an increase in the aviation 
footprint globally. Around 20 airports, 
heliports, and water aerodromes are 
to be operational by 2024-25. A total 
of 109 airports including the existing 
51 airstrips, 18 greenfield airports, 12 
water aerodromes, and 28 heliports to 
be developed by 2024-25.
y y PM GatiShakti Master Plan for 
Expressways will be formulated in 
2022-23 to facilitate faster movement 
of people and goods. The National 
Highways network will be expanded by 25,000 km in 
2022-23. Rs 20,000 crore will be mobilised through 
innovative ways of financing to complement the public 
resources. Powered by Bharatmala, in the road transport 
and highways sector, two lakh km route of the national 
highway network is to be achieved by 2024-25. Along 
the coastal areas, 5590 km of four & six-lane national 
highways are to be completed by 2024-25. All State 
capitals in North Eastern Region to be connected with 
either four-lane National Highway or two alternate 
alignments of two-lane configurations each by 2024-25.
y y By 2024-25, Indian Railways to see a decongestion by 
51 per cent due to completion of critical projects. Cargo 
to be handled by Indian Railways will be 1600 million 
tonnes up from 1210 million tonnes in 2020. Western and 
eastern dedicated freight corridors for faster movement 
of freight trains to be completed. Railways will develop 
new products and efficient logistics services for small 
farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises, besides 
taking the lead in the integration of Postal and Railways 
networks to provide seamless solutions for the movement 
of parcels. ‘One Station-One Product’ concept will be 
popularised to help local businesses & supply chains.
The scope of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan will 
encompass the seven engines for economic transformation, 
seamless multi-modal connectivity, and logistics efficiency. 
It will also include the infrastructure developed by the State 
governments as per the GatiShakti Master Plan. The focus 
PM GatiShakti
Continued on page 66...
April 2022
YOJANA
Volume-66
No. 04
A DEVELOPMENT MONTHLY
Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides.
Rig Veda
Website: www.publicationsdivision.nic.in
@DPD_India
@publicationsdivision
@dpd_india
Editor 
Shuchita chaturvedi
Joint dirEctor, Production 
d K c hrudhainath
c ovEr dEsign
Bindu verma
our repreSent AtiveS 
Ahmedabad: Janhavi Patel, Bengaluru: BK Kiranmai, 
Bhubaneswar: Itishree Singh Rathaur, Chennai: 
Sanjay Ghosh, Guwahati: Maruf Alam, Hyderabad: 
Krishna Vandana P , Jalandhar: Gagandeep Kaur 
Devgan, Kolkata: Khurshid Mallick, Mumbai: Umesh 
Ujgare: Thiruvananthapuram: Roy Chacko.
Yojana (english): Room No. 647, Soochna Bhawan, 
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003.  
e-mail (editorial): sec-yojanaeng-moib@gov.in
YOJANA, a development monthly published since 
1957, is a theme-based journal providing in-depth 
analyses and views on socio-economic issues in 
the broader framework of government policies. 
Although published by the Ministry of Information 
and Broadcasting, YOJANA is not restricted to 
expressing the official point of view.
diScLaimer
l 	 The	 vie ws	 e xpressed	 in	 various	 articles	 are	
those	 of	 the	 authors	 and	 the y	 do	 not	 nec essarily	
re flect	 the	 vie ws	 of	 the	 Go vernmen t	 or	 the	
organisation/ s	the y	work	f or .
l Map s/flags	 used	 in	 the	 articles	 are	 only	
indic ative	 and	 the y	 do	 not	 re flect	 the	 politic al	
map	 or	 legal	 represen t ation	 of	 the	 flag	 of	 India /
an y	other	c oun tr y .
l The	 inf ographics/fig ures	 are	 pro vided	 b y	 the	
authors	 through	 their	 reliable	 sourc es	 and	
YOJANA 	 claims	 no	 re sponsibility 	 f or	 the	 same.
l Images,	 graphics	 and	 illus trations,	 whe re ver	
used,	 are	 mos tly	 sourc ed	 from	 go vernme n t	
channels	and	are	indic ative	in	nature.
l YOJANA 	 does	 not	 o wn	 responsi bility	
regarding	 the	 c on t en ts	 of	 the	 advertisemen ts.	
The	 re aders	 are	 reque s t ed	 t o	 verif y	 the	 claim s	
made	 in	 the	 advertisemen ts	 regarding	 c ourses,	
c areer -guidanc e	book s	or	ins titutions.
l YOJANA doesn't 	 e ndorse 	 or 	 promot e 	 an y 	 brands	
or 	 privat e 	 e n tities 	 presen t e d 	 as 	 c ase 	 s tudies 	 in 	 an y	 
of 	 the 	 article s.
SuBScriP tiOn/Grievance S
email: pdjucir@gmail.com 
Phone: 011-24367453  
(monday-Friday, 9:30 am- 6:00 pm)
Postal address: abhishek chaturvedi, Editor, 
Journals Unit, Publications Division, Room No. 
779, Soochna Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi 
Road, New Delhi-110 003.
Please	 not e	 that	 it	 will	 t ak e	 atleas t	 eigh t	
week s	 t o	 s t art	 your	 sub scrip tion.	 Kindly	 raise	 
your	 queries/grie vanc es	 about	 non	 rec eip t	 of	 the	
journals	only	aft er	this	period.
SuBScri PtiOn-reLated detaiLS : Page 65
in thiS iSSue
number of pages: 68
Next Issue - SOciaL SecuritY
Details of the sales Outlets of the Publications Division on Page 42
YOJANA is published in Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, 
Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
re GuLar S
deveLOPment rO admaP ........................................................................... Cover II
dO YOu KnO w? ..................................................................................................... 61
Our BOOKS ............................................................................................................ 62
Lead articLe
DIGITAL IDENTITy 
Dr Saurabh Garg .............................21
FOcuS
FINTECH REVOLUTION 
Debjani Ghosh ...............................25
SPeciaL articLeS
FINTECH BEyOND BOUNDARIES 
Injeti Srinivas ...................................9
ACCELERATING SOCIO-
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
Bharat Lal, Spurthi Kolipaka .............. 13
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN 
FINANCIAL SECTOR 
Balendu Sharma Dadhich .................. 29
RURAL BANKING AND  
FINANCIAL SERVICES 
Osama Manzar, Megha Katheria,  
Dr Syed S Kazi.................................... 33
Since 1957
INCLUSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE 
Sachin Chaturvedi .............................. 39
QUALITy EDUCATION 
Shalender Sharma, Dr Saneel Thakur .... 45
DIGITAL CURRENCy 
Karishma Sharma, Bhavya Tyagi ........... 49
FACILITATING INDIA@100 
Dr JD Agarwal, Aman Agarwal .............. 55
4 YOJANA   April 2022
Valuable Insights
Thank you very much for publishing informative 
articles on National Education Policy 2020 in your February 
2022 monthly edition. The issue provides us with valuable 
insights into the policy and how it will reform our education 
system in a very effective manner. Also, your previous 
issues of October, November, and December helped me a lot 
in gathering information regarding the latest advancements 
in Science and Technology, Panchayati Raj System, and our 
progressive movement of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Thank you 
for helping Civil Services Aspirants through these issues.
– Vaibhav Vijay Panchal 
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Budget 2022-2023
A lot of thanks to the Yojana Team for presenting an 
all-encompassing views and an insightful issue on Budget 
2022-2023. I am a student and an avid and regular reader of 
this esteemed monthly magazine.
– Nitesh Kumar Manjhi
Thought-Provoking
Being a consistent reader of Yojana for a considerable 
period of time, I came to the assumption that it is only 
helpful to UPSC aspirants. In the February issue, there 
was an article about the ‘role of media’ which was so 
thought-provoking. There was a line in that article about 
media role which says media must be helpful for attaining 
surajya (good governance). I, from bottom of my heart 
would say thanks to the entire team of Yojana for such 
wonderful content.
– Ajit P 
Vizianagaram
Fascinating Content
I encountered Yojana for the first time in July 2021 and 
it fascinated me so much so that I bought Yojana of past one 
and a half years and now I have become an avid reader of 
this magazine. I request the Y ojana Team to come up with an 
issue revolving around our great freedom fighters.
– Baljeet Rajput 
Gopalganj, Bihar
National Education Policy
Young aspirants have got to read Yojana to update 
their knowledge. Ever since I retired in 2000, I have had 
the time to pursue the information Welfare Schemes. 
Inbox
sec-yojanaeng-moib@gov.in
YOJANA   April 2022 5
Each leader has his own vision. NEP-1986 laid stress 
on Human Resources Development to implement Govt 
Schemes planned with greater know-how and vigour 
for efficient management of projects for welfare. ICT 
was part of NEP-1986 which has revolutionised ITES 
for business and economic growth at a great speed from 
1990 to enter the 21
st
 century. NEP 2020 lays stress on 
the basic academics of students and the teachers for 
Foundational Learning and Numeracy. However, little 
stress is seen on Maths, Science (Physics-Chemistry), 
Biology and Botany for innovation and inventions in 
industry, engineering, healthcare of humans/animals, 
and creating an environment for healthy living on this 
planet by avoiding pollution and global warming.
– A Reader 
Bathinda, Punjab
Precisely Disseminates Information
Since the Development Monthly, Yojana, celebrated 
“Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” through its esteemed articles, 
I would like to thank the team and all its contributors 
for being so precise and accurate in disseminating 
the information to the common mass at an affordable 
price. The recent edition is a much-needed topic to be 
comprehensively covered since the education system has 
undergone a tumultuous period due to Covid-19. Prima 
facie, the New Education Policy seemed quite impressive 
with its updated formats. I am thankful to Yojana for 
presenting the nuances associated with this new system.
– Sayan Karmakar  
Kolkata, West Bengal
Holistic and Multidimensional
I would like to thank Yojana team for providing us with 
excellent source of insights. I was waiting for this topic 
(NEP) for a long time. Every article of this magazine is the 
best in every manner. Its multidimensional approach and 
illustration give us a holistic point of view for every topic. 
I am preparing for UPSC CSE and this magazine is very 
helpful for me in developing insights. 
– Gyan Singh 
New Delhi
Inclusive Development
Just finished reading this month's Yojana Magazine on 
the Union Budget. I loved reading the comprehensive and 
broad based coverage of it. The analysis and deeper insight 
of the budget in the magazine really provided a context to 
the Budget in an easy to understand way. Kudos to the team! 
Please consider publishing an issue on inclusive development 
post-Covid, especially in the context of K-shaped recovery 
and rising inequality.
– Anjali Singh 
New Delhi
An Index to Current Events
I am an ardent follower of the magazine. It is like an 
index to all the current events taking place in the country. 
I would like the team to also publish economic topics 
like disinvestment, economic growth, etc., which give 
an overview of the global models with our country’s 
contemporary ones. To take the Indian economy to 5 trillion, 
a comparison of other countries’ models can be inherited 
and worked upon. As our economy is in a phase of recovery, 
it would be great for all to know the views of experts.
– Shivain Bhardwaj
Knowledgeable Content
I would like to share my feedback on reading Yojana 
regularly. This magazine is useful to all of us for gaining 
extra knowledge and is different as compared to others. It is 
written in a very simple language. I am suggesting to all the 
readers, this magazine is not only important for UPSC but it 
is also important for our clarity, anyone can read this easily. 
Thank you so much team Yojana!
– Ganesh Wadagale  
Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
Government Policies
Dear Yojana Team, I am following Yojana for the 
last two years and I find it very helpful in improving my 
knowledge, reading skills; it’s like a knowledge hub of 
government policies. I like your ‘Do Y ou Know’ section. So, 
thank you for giving such knowledgeable content.
– Aman Rawat 
Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Page 5


Development RoaDmap PM
GatiShakti is a transformative approach for 
economic growth and sustainable development. The 
approach is driven by seven engines, namely, Roads, Railways, 
Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics 
Infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy 
in unison. These engines are supported by the complementary 
roles of Energy Transmission, IT Communication, Bulk 
Water & Sewerage, and Social Infrastructure. Finally, the 
approach is powered by Clean Energy and Sabka Prayas– the 
efforts of the Central Government, the State governments, 
and the private sector together– leading to huge job and 
entrepreneurial opportunities for all, especially the youth. 
The Union Cabinet cleared the 
PM GatiShakti– National Master 
Plan for multi-modal connectivity 
to economic zones on 21 October 
2021. It is a giant stride in India’s 
ambitious goal of achieving  
USD 5 trillion economy. Announced 
during the Prime Minister’s address to 
the nation on the 75
th
 Independence Day 
from Red Fort, PM GatiShakti (speed 
and power) focuses on India’s citizens, 
industries, manufacturers, farmers, and 
villages among others. PM GatiShakti 
is supposed to break departmental silos 
and institutionalise holistic planning for 
stakeholders across major infrastructure 
projects. 
PM GatiShakti aims to ensure that India of the 21
st
 
century does not waste money or time due to lack of 
coordination in infrastructure projects. A technology 
platform has also been prepared for every megaproject so 
that every department has accurate information on time. It 
shall bring various stakeholders together and help integrate 
different modes of transportation. It will give new energy 
to the present and future generations of the country to build 
India of 21
st
 century and lay the foundation of Atmanirbharta 
for the next 25 years.
The master plan takes a holistic approach to sector-specific 
developments by integrating 16 ministries in a joint committee 
to implement and monitor Rs 100 lakh crores of investment. A 
closer look at the sector-wise take-outs are as follows:
y y In the Telecommunication sector, a total length of 
35,00,000 km of optical fibre cable network is to be 
laid down by 2024-25. Connecting all 2,50,000 Gram 
Panchayats with high-speed internet and 4G mobile 
connectivity by 2022. 
y y New and Renewable Energy sector capacity is to be 
increased from 87.7 Gigawatt to 225 Gigawatt by 2024-25. 
Around 50 per cent of India’s power generation capacity is 
to be met by renewable energy sources by 2024-25. 
y y The power transmission network is to be upgraded from 
4,25,500 circuit km to 4,54,200 circuit km by 2024-25. 
Transmission network performance parameters to match 
the best global standards. 
y y In Petroleum and Natural Gas sector, 17,000 km long 
trunk pipeline, connecting major demand and supply 
centres for industries, is to be added by 2024-25 making 
a total length of 34,500 km of pipeline across the country. 
All States are to be connected with the trunk natural gas 
pipeline network by 2027. 
y y Powered by Sagarmala, the shipping sector is to see an 
increase in cargo capacity at the ports to 1759 Million 
Metric Tonnes per Annum (MMTPA) by 2024-25 from 
1282 MMTPA in 2020. Cargo movement on all national 
waterways will be 95 Million Metric Tons (MMT) by  
2024-25 from 74 MMT in 2020. Cargo movement on 
Ganga to be increased from 9 MMT 
to 29 MMT by 2024-25. Powered 
by Regional Connectivity Scheme– 
UDAN, the civil aviation sector 
to see an increase in the aviation 
footprint globally. Around 20 airports, 
heliports, and water aerodromes are 
to be operational by 2024-25. A total 
of 109 airports including the existing 
51 airstrips, 18 greenfield airports, 12 
water aerodromes, and 28 heliports to 
be developed by 2024-25.
y y PM GatiShakti Master Plan for 
Expressways will be formulated in 
2022-23 to facilitate faster movement 
of people and goods. The National 
Highways network will be expanded by 25,000 km in 
2022-23. Rs 20,000 crore will be mobilised through 
innovative ways of financing to complement the public 
resources. Powered by Bharatmala, in the road transport 
and highways sector, two lakh km route of the national 
highway network is to be achieved by 2024-25. Along 
the coastal areas, 5590 km of four & six-lane national 
highways are to be completed by 2024-25. All State 
capitals in North Eastern Region to be connected with 
either four-lane National Highway or two alternate 
alignments of two-lane configurations each by 2024-25.
y y By 2024-25, Indian Railways to see a decongestion by 
51 per cent due to completion of critical projects. Cargo 
to be handled by Indian Railways will be 1600 million 
tonnes up from 1210 million tonnes in 2020. Western and 
eastern dedicated freight corridors for faster movement 
of freight trains to be completed. Railways will develop 
new products and efficient logistics services for small 
farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises, besides 
taking the lead in the integration of Postal and Railways 
networks to provide seamless solutions for the movement 
of parcels. ‘One Station-One Product’ concept will be 
popularised to help local businesses & supply chains.
The scope of PM GatiShakti National Master Plan will 
encompass the seven engines for economic transformation, 
seamless multi-modal connectivity, and logistics efficiency. 
It will also include the infrastructure developed by the State 
governments as per the GatiShakti Master Plan. The focus 
PM GatiShakti
Continued on page 66...
April 2022
YOJANA
Volume-66
No. 04
A DEVELOPMENT MONTHLY
Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides.
Rig Veda
Website: www.publicationsdivision.nic.in
@DPD_India
@publicationsdivision
@dpd_india
Editor 
Shuchita chaturvedi
Joint dirEctor, Production 
d K c hrudhainath
c ovEr dEsign
Bindu verma
our repreSent AtiveS 
Ahmedabad: Janhavi Patel, Bengaluru: BK Kiranmai, 
Bhubaneswar: Itishree Singh Rathaur, Chennai: 
Sanjay Ghosh, Guwahati: Maruf Alam, Hyderabad: 
Krishna Vandana P , Jalandhar: Gagandeep Kaur 
Devgan, Kolkata: Khurshid Mallick, Mumbai: Umesh 
Ujgare: Thiruvananthapuram: Roy Chacko.
Yojana (english): Room No. 647, Soochna Bhawan, 
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003.  
e-mail (editorial): sec-yojanaeng-moib@gov.in
YOJANA, a development monthly published since 
1957, is a theme-based journal providing in-depth 
analyses and views on socio-economic issues in 
the broader framework of government policies. 
Although published by the Ministry of Information 
and Broadcasting, YOJANA is not restricted to 
expressing the official point of view.
diScLaimer
l 	 The	 vie ws	 e xpressed	 in	 various	 articles	 are	
those	 of	 the	 authors	 and	 the y	 do	 not	 nec essarily	
re flect	 the	 vie ws	 of	 the	 Go vernmen t	 or	 the	
organisation/ s	the y	work	f or .
l Map s/flags	 used	 in	 the	 articles	 are	 only	
indic ative	 and	 the y	 do	 not	 re flect	 the	 politic al	
map	 or	 legal	 represen t ation	 of	 the	 flag	 of	 India /
an y	other	c oun tr y .
l The	 inf ographics/fig ures	 are	 pro vided	 b y	 the	
authors	 through	 their	 reliable	 sourc es	 and	
YOJANA 	 claims	 no	 re sponsibility 	 f or	 the	 same.
l Images,	 graphics	 and	 illus trations,	 whe re ver	
used,	 are	 mos tly	 sourc ed	 from	 go vernme n t	
channels	and	are	indic ative	in	nature.
l YOJANA 	 does	 not	 o wn	 responsi bility	
regarding	 the	 c on t en ts	 of	 the	 advertisemen ts.	
The	 re aders	 are	 reque s t ed	 t o	 verif y	 the	 claim s	
made	 in	 the	 advertisemen ts	 regarding	 c ourses,	
c areer -guidanc e	book s	or	ins titutions.
l YOJANA doesn't 	 e ndorse 	 or 	 promot e 	 an y 	 brands	
or 	 privat e 	 e n tities 	 presen t e d 	 as 	 c ase 	 s tudies 	 in 	 an y	 
of 	 the 	 article s.
SuBScriP tiOn/Grievance S
email: pdjucir@gmail.com 
Phone: 011-24367453  
(monday-Friday, 9:30 am- 6:00 pm)
Postal address: abhishek chaturvedi, Editor, 
Journals Unit, Publications Division, Room No. 
779, Soochna Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi 
Road, New Delhi-110 003.
Please	 not e	 that	 it	 will	 t ak e	 atleas t	 eigh t	
week s	 t o	 s t art	 your	 sub scrip tion.	 Kindly	 raise	 
your	 queries/grie vanc es	 about	 non	 rec eip t	 of	 the	
journals	only	aft er	this	period.
SuBScri PtiOn-reLated detaiLS : Page 65
in thiS iSSue
number of pages: 68
Next Issue - SOciaL SecuritY
Details of the sales Outlets of the Publications Division on Page 42
YOJANA is published in Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, 
Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
re GuLar S
deveLOPment rO admaP ........................................................................... Cover II
dO YOu KnO w? ..................................................................................................... 61
Our BOOKS ............................................................................................................ 62
Lead articLe
DIGITAL IDENTITy 
Dr Saurabh Garg .............................21
FOcuS
FINTECH REVOLUTION 
Debjani Ghosh ...............................25
SPeciaL articLeS
FINTECH BEyOND BOUNDARIES 
Injeti Srinivas ...................................9
ACCELERATING SOCIO-
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
Bharat Lal, Spurthi Kolipaka .............. 13
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN 
FINANCIAL SECTOR 
Balendu Sharma Dadhich .................. 29
RURAL BANKING AND  
FINANCIAL SERVICES 
Osama Manzar, Megha Katheria,  
Dr Syed S Kazi.................................... 33
Since 1957
INCLUSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE 
Sachin Chaturvedi .............................. 39
QUALITy EDUCATION 
Shalender Sharma, Dr Saneel Thakur .... 45
DIGITAL CURRENCy 
Karishma Sharma, Bhavya Tyagi ........... 49
FACILITATING INDIA@100 
Dr JD Agarwal, Aman Agarwal .............. 55
4 YOJANA   April 2022
Valuable Insights
Thank you very much for publishing informative 
articles on National Education Policy 2020 in your February 
2022 monthly edition. The issue provides us with valuable 
insights into the policy and how it will reform our education 
system in a very effective manner. Also, your previous 
issues of October, November, and December helped me a lot 
in gathering information regarding the latest advancements 
in Science and Technology, Panchayati Raj System, and our 
progressive movement of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Thank you 
for helping Civil Services Aspirants through these issues.
– Vaibhav Vijay Panchal 
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Budget 2022-2023
A lot of thanks to the Yojana Team for presenting an 
all-encompassing views and an insightful issue on Budget 
2022-2023. I am a student and an avid and regular reader of 
this esteemed monthly magazine.
– Nitesh Kumar Manjhi
Thought-Provoking
Being a consistent reader of Yojana for a considerable 
period of time, I came to the assumption that it is only 
helpful to UPSC aspirants. In the February issue, there 
was an article about the ‘role of media’ which was so 
thought-provoking. There was a line in that article about 
media role which says media must be helpful for attaining 
surajya (good governance). I, from bottom of my heart 
would say thanks to the entire team of Yojana for such 
wonderful content.
– Ajit P 
Vizianagaram
Fascinating Content
I encountered Yojana for the first time in July 2021 and 
it fascinated me so much so that I bought Yojana of past one 
and a half years and now I have become an avid reader of 
this magazine. I request the Y ojana Team to come up with an 
issue revolving around our great freedom fighters.
– Baljeet Rajput 
Gopalganj, Bihar
National Education Policy
Young aspirants have got to read Yojana to update 
their knowledge. Ever since I retired in 2000, I have had 
the time to pursue the information Welfare Schemes. 
Inbox
sec-yojanaeng-moib@gov.in
YOJANA   April 2022 5
Each leader has his own vision. NEP-1986 laid stress 
on Human Resources Development to implement Govt 
Schemes planned with greater know-how and vigour 
for efficient management of projects for welfare. ICT 
was part of NEP-1986 which has revolutionised ITES 
for business and economic growth at a great speed from 
1990 to enter the 21
st
 century. NEP 2020 lays stress on 
the basic academics of students and the teachers for 
Foundational Learning and Numeracy. However, little 
stress is seen on Maths, Science (Physics-Chemistry), 
Biology and Botany for innovation and inventions in 
industry, engineering, healthcare of humans/animals, 
and creating an environment for healthy living on this 
planet by avoiding pollution and global warming.
– A Reader 
Bathinda, Punjab
Precisely Disseminates Information
Since the Development Monthly, Yojana, celebrated 
“Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” through its esteemed articles, 
I would like to thank the team and all its contributors 
for being so precise and accurate in disseminating 
the information to the common mass at an affordable 
price. The recent edition is a much-needed topic to be 
comprehensively covered since the education system has 
undergone a tumultuous period due to Covid-19. Prima 
facie, the New Education Policy seemed quite impressive 
with its updated formats. I am thankful to Yojana for 
presenting the nuances associated with this new system.
– Sayan Karmakar  
Kolkata, West Bengal
Holistic and Multidimensional
I would like to thank Yojana team for providing us with 
excellent source of insights. I was waiting for this topic 
(NEP) for a long time. Every article of this magazine is the 
best in every manner. Its multidimensional approach and 
illustration give us a holistic point of view for every topic. 
I am preparing for UPSC CSE and this magazine is very 
helpful for me in developing insights. 
– Gyan Singh 
New Delhi
Inclusive Development
Just finished reading this month's Yojana Magazine on 
the Union Budget. I loved reading the comprehensive and 
broad based coverage of it. The analysis and deeper insight 
of the budget in the magazine really provided a context to 
the Budget in an easy to understand way. Kudos to the team! 
Please consider publishing an issue on inclusive development 
post-Covid, especially in the context of K-shaped recovery 
and rising inequality.
– Anjali Singh 
New Delhi
An Index to Current Events
I am an ardent follower of the magazine. It is like an 
index to all the current events taking place in the country. 
I would like the team to also publish economic topics 
like disinvestment, economic growth, etc., which give 
an overview of the global models with our country’s 
contemporary ones. To take the Indian economy to 5 trillion, 
a comparison of other countries’ models can be inherited 
and worked upon. As our economy is in a phase of recovery, 
it would be great for all to know the views of experts.
– Shivain Bhardwaj
Knowledgeable Content
I would like to share my feedback on reading Yojana 
regularly. This magazine is useful to all of us for gaining 
extra knowledge and is different as compared to others. It is 
written in a very simple language. I am suggesting to all the 
readers, this magazine is not only important for UPSC but it 
is also important for our clarity, anyone can read this easily. 
Thank you so much team Yojana!
– Ganesh Wadagale  
Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
Government Policies
Dear Yojana Team, I am following Yojana for the 
last two years and I find it very helpful in improving my 
knowledge, reading skills; it’s like a knowledge hub of 
government policies. I like your ‘Do Y ou Know’ section. So, 
thank you for giving such knowledgeable content.
– Aman Rawat 
Dehradun, Uttarakhand
YOJANA   April 2022 7
Editorial
YOJANA
Fintech as an Enabler
T
here was a time when going to the market without 
carrying a wallet loaded with cash was unfathomable. 
Eventually, the ATM cards reduced the amount of cash 
we needed to carry in our wallets to some extent. In 
today's time and era, be it the roadside vegetable vendor 
or big stores in malls, all are accepting digital payments. 
These are interesting times when mobile payments are 
surpassing ATM cash withdrawals. 
This has brought ease to the consumers and has 
immensely expanded the scope of the digital ecosystem 
in the financial sphere. The long queues at the highway 
tolls and the subsequent delays have been reduced to 
a great extent with the automated FASTag system. 
The pandemic was, in a way, boon for the sector when 
‘touchless’ transactions didn’t remain a luxury but a 
necessity to combat the spread of infection. Most of the 
activities saw a shift from a brick-and-mortar model to personal screens for a long duration. 
This made a good use-case for fintech. Despite the economic downturn, fintech payments saw 
investments double in the first half of 2020. Digital India opened new avenues of innovation 
and brought ease through financial technology. Today, it is paving the way to financial 
inclusion and taking innovations to the last mile, thus empowering local communities. 
Fintech is an integration of technology in financial services to provide better delivery 
to consumers. It is broadly based on the four pillars of income, investments, insurance, 
and institutional credit. For the citizens, the government making use of technology to link 
them to the financial benefits and initiatives is another aspect of fintech. With its array of 
applications, the scope and opportunities are immense. 
The Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile, or JAM Trinity has been a gamechanger in financial 
inclusion in India. This year, the Union Budget has laid a sound roadmap for fintech and 
its scope in augmenting services to the people. The introduction of Digital Currency and 
core banking in post offices are considered the next leap in this direction. Direct Benefits 
Transfers and e-RUPI have enabled targeted delivery and have reduced leakages in the 
system while initiatives like PM SV ANidhi have enabled access to credit for small vendors 
across the country.
Though the urban market is embracing fintech, rural India is still a lesser-tapped market 
for the industry. The infrastructure and manpower required for the fintech solutions to be a 
part of rural livelihoods need to be further strengthened to reap its benefits. Also, there is a 
need to ensure trust in the use of these technologies by the people and a system wherein their 
money and investments are safe and secure. Policy support in the area of data security and 
fraud management is essential. The use of new technologies like Blockchain, geo-fencing, 
geo-tagging, or a framework to prevent phishing attacks can be a step forward in ensuring 
a secure and stable digital financial ecosystem. With the plethora of opportunities, fintech 
and its ecosystem have a long way to go as an enabler technology, that is accessible and 
affordable for economic and social well-being.                                                                      ?