CONTENTS
- Digital Banking Units
- East Asia Summit
Digital Banking Units
Focus: GS III: Indian Economy
Why in News?
Recently, the Prime Minister of India has dedicated 75 Digital Banking Units (DBU) across 75 districts to the nation.
About Digital Banking Units
- A digital banking unit is a specialized fixed point business unit or hub, housing a certain minimum digital infrastructure for delivering digital banking products and services.
- It aims at servicing existing financial products and services digitally in self-service mode at any time.
- The RBI has announced the guidelines for DBUs, following the report of a working group of the Indian Banks Association (IBA).
- Services: Opening of savings account, balance-check, print passbook, transfer of funds, investment in fixed deposits, loan applications, stop-payment instructions for cheques issued, application for credit / debit cards, view statement of account, pay taxes, pay bills, make nominations, etc.
- The DBUs will also facilitate onboarding to Government credit link schemes through the Jan Samarth portal and end-to-end digital processing of small ticket MSME/retail loans.
Benefits:
- The DBUs will enable those who do not have Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure to access banking services digitally.
- They will also assist those who are not tech savvy to adopt digital banking.
East Asia Summit
Focus: GS II: International Relations
Why in News?
Recently, India participated in the 6th East Asia Summit Education Minister’s Meeting held in Hanoi, Vietnam.
About: East Asia Summit
- It was established in 2005.
- It is a forum of 18 regional leaders for strategic dialogue and cooperation on the key political, security, and economic challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region.
- The concept of an East Asia Grouping was first promoted in 1991 by the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad.
- There are six priority areas of regional cooperation within the framework of the EAS.
- Environment and Energy,
- Education,
- Finance,
- Global Health Issues, Pandemic Diseases,
- Natural Disaster Management,
- ASEAN Connectivity.
- The EAS calendar culminates in the annual Leaders’ Summit, which is usually held alongside ASEAN Leaders’ meetings in the fourth quarter of every year.
- Meetings of EAS Foreign Ministers and Economic Ministers are also held annually.
Membership:
- It comprises the ten member states of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) which are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, along with 8 other countries namely Australia, China, Japan, India, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the USA.
- It is an ASEAN-centred forum so it can only be chaired by an ASEAN member.
- Brunei Darussalam is the chair for 2021.
