ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB) (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – IR)

Context: Asian Development Bank (ADB) intends to partner with India to promote digital public infrastructure (DPI) in its projects to help improve the impact of development projects and bridge the digital divide that has become the new face of inequality.

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

• Formation: 1966.
• Objective: It envisions a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty in the region.
• Headquarter: Manila, Philippines.
• Members: 68 members including India, China and Pakistan.

o The bank admits the members of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP, formerly the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East or ECAFE), and non-regional developed countries.

• Largest capital contribution and voting rights: Japan and the United States (have equal and largest)>China>India>Australia.

Digital public Infrastructure (DPI): It is the foundational technology and data systems that governments and public organizations put in place to support various digital services and interactions with citizens, businesses, and other government entities. It is the digital counterpart to physical public infrastructure like roads, bridges, and utilities.

• Example: UPI, Aadhar, single window clearance, mygov.in etc.