NABARD Grade A Current Affairs — 20 October 2026

The Government of India has launched a Saturation Campaign for Financial Inclusion schemes to ensure universal coverage of eligible beneficiaries across six flagship programmes: PM Jan Dhan Yojana, PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana, PM Mudra Yojana, and Stand Up India. The campaign targets uncovered rural and semi-urban households, directing banks and Business Correspondents to conduct door-to-door outreach to eliminate exclusion gaps in government welfare delivery.

Financial inclusion saturation campaigns are a policy tool used when schemes have high design coverage but uneven ground-level penetration. The six schemes targeted here represent distinct pillars of India's financial inclusion architecture: PM Jan Dhan Yojana addresses basic banking access (zero-balance accounts); PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) provides life insurance at ₹436/year for ₹2 lakh cover; PM Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) offers accidental death cover at ₹20/year for ₹2 lakh; Atal Pension Yojana (APY) targets unorganised sector workers for pension security; PM Mudra Yojana provides collateral-free loans up to ₹10 lakh in three tiers (Shishu, Kishor, Tarun); and Stand Up India facilitates loans of ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore for SC/ST and women entrepreneurs.

The saturation approach reflects a shift from passive scheme availability to active last-mile delivery — a recurring policy theme in India's welfare architecture (similar to the Ayushman Bharat saturation drive). Business Correspondents (BCs) are central to this effort, as they serve as banking agents in unbanked areas. For RBI aspirants, this connects to Priority Sector Lending norms and financial inclusion targets. For NABARD aspirants, the rural credit and BC network angle is critical. For UPSC aspirants, this illustrates the Direct Benefit Transfer ecosystem and the governance challenge of welfare scheme saturation in federal India.

India's agriculture sector has undergone significant transformation since 2014, with foodgrain production rising to a record 332 million tonnes in 2023-24. The government has raised MSP across 23 crops, expanded PM-KISAN to cover 9.3 crore farmers with ₹2,000 per instalment, and scaled up schemes like PMFBY and KCC. Allied sectors — fisheries, animal husbandry, and horticulture — have grown rapidly, with India becoming the world's second-largest fish producer and largest milk producer.

This factsheet consolidates India's agricultural policy architecture across five major pillars: income support, crop insurance, credit access, market reform, and allied sector development.

**Income Support — PM-KISAN:** Launched in 2019, PM-KISAN provides ₹6,000 per year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 directly to landholding farmer families. Over ₹3.24 lakh crore has been disbursed to 9.3 crore beneficiaries cumulatively.

**Crop Insurance — PMFBY:** The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, launched in 2016, caps farmer premium at 2% for Kharif, 1.5% for Rabi, and 5% for commercial/horticultural crops. The remainder is shared between Centre and State.

**Credit — KCC and AIF:** The Kisan Credit Card scheme provides revolving credit for crop cultivation, post-harvest, and allied activities. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), worth ₹1 lakh crore, finances post-harvest management and agri-logistics.

**MSP Framework:** The government fixes MSP for 23 crops annually based on the CACP recommendation. The MSP for paddy in 2024-25 is ₹2,300 per quintal.

**Allied Sectors:** India is the world's largest milk producer (239 million tonnes, 2023-24) and second-largest fish producer (17.5 million tonnes). The PM Matsya Sampada Yojana targets raising fish production to 22 million tonnes by 2024-25 with an outlay of ₹20,050 crore. Horticulture production stands at ~352 million tonnes, exceeding foodgrains.

The interconnection of these schemes — from input subsidy to market linkage — forms the static backbone of agricultural policy questions in both NABARD and UPSC.

The NAMASTE scheme, jointly implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, aims to eliminate manual scavenging in urban India by professionalising sanitation work. A recent PIB release highlights a success case where sewer and septic tank workers received safety equipment, skill training, and access to mechanised tools. The scheme targets hazardous cleaning jobs and provides beneficiaries with capital subsidies and alternative livelihoods under a convergence model.

NAMASTE stands for National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem. It was launched in 2022-23 as a Central Sector Scheme with a budget of ₹360 crore, replacing the earlier Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS). The scheme operates through a convergence of multiple central programmes — PM SVANidhi for credit, PM DAKSH for skill training, and NAMASTE's own component for safety equipment and capitalization.

The core problem NAMASTE addresses is that despite legal prohibition of manual scavenging under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, deaths in sewers and septic tanks continued because sanitation work remained informal, dangerous, and caste-linked. NAMASTE reframes the worker — from a 'manual scavenger' to a 'Sanitation Worker' — and then progressively upgrades them to 'Sanitation Entrepreneur' through mechanisation and capital access.

Key delivery features: (1) Profiling of all sewer and septic tank workers through Urban Local Bodies (ULBs); (2) PPE kits and safety gear provisioned free of cost; (3) Skill training under PM DAKSH for machine operation; (4) Capital subsidy up to ₹5 lakh for purchasing sanitation machines; (5) All workers to be linked with government health and social security schemes.

For NABARD and UPSC aspirants, the critical linkage is that NAMASTE is a rights-based urban welfare scheme targeting a constitutionally-protected marginalised community, delivered through ULBs and funded as a Central Sector Scheme — meaning 100% central funding with no state share, distinguishing it from Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

At its 39th AGM held via video conferencing, IREDA's CMD announced the agency's loan book reached ₹93,069 crore in FY26, marking strong growth in renewable energy financing. The meeting also saw the release of IREDA's first-ever ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) report, signalling a shift toward sustainable institutional governance. IREDA, a Mini Ratna Category-I CPSE under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, funds solar, wind, and other clean energy projects across India.

IREDA — the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. — is a Government of India enterprise established in 1987 under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). It functions as a specialised Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and Public Financial Institution (PFI) that provides term loans and financial assistance for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Its loan book crossing ₹93,069 crore in FY26 represents a significant milestone in India's clean energy financing ecosystem. IREDA plays a central role in India's target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, a commitment made under the Paris Agreement and reaffirmed in India's updated NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions).

The release of IREDA's first-ever ESG report is noteworthy from an exam perspective. ESG reporting integrates environmental impact, social responsibility, and corporate governance disclosures — increasingly mandated by SEBI for listed entities and encouraged by RBI and the government for PSUs. IREDA was listed on Indian stock exchanges in November 2023 through an IPO, making such disclosures both regulatory and reputational obligations.

For aspirants, IREDA sits at the intersection of infrastructure financing, green energy policy, and institutional governance — all high-frequency themes for UPSC, RBI Grade B, and NABARD Grade A. The examiner typically extracts the founding year, ministry, classification (Mini Ratna Category-I), and its role in the renewable energy value chain.