these objectives in the absence of poverty alleviation. extreme poverty and deprivation often discourage the urge of the poor to participate in programs that do not provide immediate support to their livelihood. to encourage the poor to participate in these initiatives, therefore, requires that developmental programs, at the starting point, should focus on providing opportunities for people to earn a living and increase their incomes over time. the program can be followed up by providing people the means for enhancement of their capabilities to exploit available opportunities. finally, effective mechanisms for protection against a temporary or permanent loss of livelihood should supplement the overall program to achieve the goal of inclusive growth. presently, a number of intervention programs are conducted by the government that focus on employment creation and the flagship nrega is one such significant initiative. one could not, of course, belittle the excellent work being done by non - government organizations engaged in supporting livelihoods in several poor underdeveloped hinterlands. in the financial sector, the reserve bank has crafted well known programs to achieve planned, structured and sustained financial inclusion such as adoption of business correspondent and business facilitator model, preparation of board approved financial inclusion plans, requiring banks to providing a minimum of four banking products and services including nofrills accounts with overdrafts, and is committed to furthering the scope of these initiatives. collective and multipronged efforts to promote inclusive growth supplemented by some earnest investment in human capital are the only ways by which we can move towards becoming a knowledge economy. the second stage assimilation of knowledge, skills and technology can be obtained from education by means of brain - gain. the virtual modes of education through ict and linkages to national and international information hubs can provide the benefits of information availability without the need to be present at in certain space or time. the benefits of brain – gain are realized from the wide - spread availability of domain knowledge from remote locations which can transform business productivity at minimal cost. the e - choupal experiment of itc, for example, showcases the possibility of bis central bankers ’ speeches improvement in quality of produce and improved realization of returns from farming due to availability of better information on market prices. the helpline of the ministry of agriculture with experts on board has been similarly instrumental in solving day to day problems of farmers. further, internet based e - education portals for students offer boundary - free learning experience. these portals provide virtual classrooms and guidance from professional instructors on different subject areas and can have widest possible reach regardless of brick

the counterparty. change in legal environment due to legislative changes and court interpretations / proceedings also result in legal risk. legal risk includes risk of nonenforceability of contract or in - correct documentation resulting in the increased probability of loss. broadly, legal risks may result in ( i ) claims against institution, ( ii ) fines, penalties, punitive damages, ( iii ) unenforceable contracts resulting from defective documentation, and ( iv ) loss of institutional reputation. documentation forms an important part of the banking and financial sector. for many, documentation is a panacea to the legal risks that may arise in banking activities. but then it has also been realized and widely acknowledged that loopholes exist in these documentations. as a result of lessons learnt from time to time, the loopholes in the documentation are attempted to be plugged by adding further terms and conditions in existing documents or by adding further documents resulting in voluminous and confusing documentation. in banking there is no end to innovation in documentation because, for keeping pace with the changing needs and aspirations of the customers, banks have been venturing into various kinds of innovative products. identifying the legal risks that lurk behind modern techno - savvy complex transactions and market jargon, is no easy task. the starting point while entering into any financial transaction is the legal capacity to contract and this becomes complex to interpret in respect of innovative financial instruments, since laws or regulators may not have kept pace with financial innovation. the risk of loss due to non - enforceability of the contract in a court of law as one of the counterparties lacks the legal capacity to contract was witnessed in the case of hammersmith & fulham, uk. in this case, the city councils had entered into a series of interest rate swaps with banks, which turned out to produce major losses for the councils due to increase in british interest rates. the swaps were later ruled invalid by british courts as the city councils did not have the authority to enter into such transactions and were found to be ultra vires. as a result, the loss had to be absorbed by the counterparty banks. lessons of the crisis some of the key legal risks faced by entities in the recent financial crisis related to bankruptcy risks, mis - selling of complex derivatives, enforceability of contracts / agreements backing otc transactions across jurisdictions and the hitherto untested risks in the securities market – custodial arrangements, repo transactions, tripartite agreements, securities lending etc. over the