against this background, let me now turn to the financial inclusion strategy of the reserve bank and what are the specific steps taken for uttarakhand? it is important to bring the poor and under - privileged sections of the society within the banking fold for inclusive growth. in this context, our recent financial inclusion drive has four key elements. first, provision of a set of basic financial products and services for the vulnerable and financially excluded sections. this includes a savings cum overdraft product in the form of bis central bankers ’ speeches no - frills account, and entrepreneurial credit in the form of kisan credit card ( kcc ) / general credit card ( gcc ) ( table 4 ). second, spread of financial literacy across all sections of the society by creating awareness about financial products and services among the population. third, greater regulatory incentives through liberalisation of interest rates and branch licensing. banks have been given complete freedom to price their advances so that lending in the rural areas could be a commercial proposition. given the lower penetration of formal credit and recourse to money lenders what matters is the availability of credit rather than the cost. banks have also been given the freedom to open branches in centres with population of less than 1, 00, 000. fourth, use of technology and innovative delivery models so that the cost for providing large quantum of small - ticket transactions could be brought down. this initiative included putting in place a system of business correspondent ( bc ) model to provide door - step delivery of financial products and services by authorized agents of banks ; and electronic benefit transfer ( ebt ) for routing of payments of the central and state government welfare schemes like social security pensions, mahatma gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme ( mnregs ), national old age pension scheme ( noaps ) directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. in this direction, the effort so far has been to make basic banking facility available to all villages with a population of over 2, 000 by end - march 2012. the progress in banking coverage over the last two years has indeed been substantial. the next step is to provide banking facilities with population below 2000. state level bankers committees ( slbcs ) are preparing roadmaps for banking facilities in these villages in a time bound manner. for meaningful financial inclusion, it is envisaged that banks would set up brick and mortar branches in a cluster of 8 – 10 bc units in a reasonable distance of 3 – 4 kilometers. bis central bankers

y v reddy : india – the global partner introductory remarks by dr y v reddy, governor of the reserve bank of india, at the world leaders ’ forum, columbia university, new york, 15 april 2008. * * * dean coatsworth, professor bhagwati, professor radon, students, faculty and alumni of columbia university, and members of the wider new york city community. i am grateful to president bollinger for extending me an invitation to participate in the prestigious world leaders forum at the low memorial library. distinguished past speakers at the forum include, i am informed, president clinton, president putin, the dalai lama and noble laureate joseph stiglitz. i am greatly honoured by the invitation and look forward to the informal dialogue with the highly respected dr. jagdish bhagwati. by way of an introduction, i will present select aspects of the engagement of independent india with the global polity and economy. while india became independent on 15th august 1947, it became a republic on 26th january 1950, with the adoption of a written constitution which is governing the nation. dr. b. r. ambedkar, the architect of the indian constitution, had the benefit of education at the columbia university where he obtained a ph. d. prof. john dewey inspired many of dr. ambedkar ’ s ideas about equality and social justice. prof. edwin seligman, himself a friend of lala lajpat rai, the legendary fiery freedom fighter of india, became a mentor to the young ambedkar. dr. ambedkar also benefitted from his research and education in london. these are examples of how india ’ s freedom movement and the constitution, that binds our governance today, have benefitted from partnering with the global scholarship, in general, and with the special relationship with columbia university and the united states, in particular. incidentally, the columbia university conferred an honorary degree on the first prime minister of india, pandit jawaharlal nehru, on his first visit to the us soon after our independence. an important characteristic of the global society is the sheer diversity of races, religions, cultures, ideologies and languages. india has the distinction of reflecting, in itself, the great diversity of the global society. for example, india is a home to the largest number of people practising zoroastrianism – who are also known as parsees. two of india ’ s provinces are governed by communist parties.