STATUS OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN HILLY RURAL AREAS OF UTTARAKHAND: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PAURI, CHAMOLI AND RUDRAPRAYAG DISTRICT
Hill Rural regions of Uttarakhand are inherent part of the state and were the prominent reason on the basis of which Uttarakhand state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh. Unfortunately the underdevelopment of these regions due to the aspect of ‘Area Deprivation’ associated with them has led to emergence of prominent problems like unemployment, lack of income generating opportunities and poverty leading further to a major problem of rural outmigration from them. To raise the economic condition of households of these regions it is important to enhance the income generating opportunities and to provide financial services which could cover up the majority of population with the social security net. The major way out to achieve them is through increase in financial inclusion. The present study through help of primary data examines the level of financial inclusion in the hill rural regions of Uttarakhand for which FII is computed on the basis of 4 dimensions of financial inclusion. The FII of the rural regions of development blocks of hill districts is compared with the FII of the all Indian rural households to examine the status of financial exclusion in hill rural regions of the state.