Q. The Service Area Approach was implemented under the purview of (UPSC Prelims 2019)
Answer: Lead Bank Scheme
Notes: The correct answer is [B] Lead Bank Scheme. The Service Area Approach (SAA) was introduced in 1989 as a strategy to improve the quality of rural lending and ensure coordinated credit injection into the rural economy.

• Lead Bank Scheme (Correct): The SAA was a modification of the Lead Bank Scheme (1969). Under SAA, each semi-urban and rural bank branch was assigned a specific "service area" comprising approximately 15 to 25 villages. The branch was responsible for assessing the credit needs of that specific area and preparing an Annual Credit Plan.
• Integrated Rural Development Programme (Incorrect): While SAA supported the credit needs of IRDP beneficiaries, it was a structural mechanism of the banking system, not a sub-component of the IRDP program itself.
• MGNREGS (Incorrect): This scheme focuses on providing a legal guarantee for 100 days of unskilled manual work. It is an employment guarantee act, not a banking credit delivery mechanism.
• National Skill Development Mission (Incorrect): Launched much later (2015), this mission focuses on skill training and entrepreneurship, whereas SAA was a 1980s initiative focused on rural banking.

The SAA aimed to prevent duplication of efforts by multiple banks in the same area and to make the bank branch responsible for the overall economic development of its assigned villages.