New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi launched his government’s massive financial inclusion programme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The scheme aims to take banking facilities to 75 million households by January 26, 2015, against the earlier deadline of August 15, 2015.
For this, banks have to open another 60 million accounts in five months. To help lenders meet the target, the prime minister announced a life cover of Rs 30,000 for all those opening bank accounts by January 26. Under the scheme, each customer will also get a RuPay debit card, with an in-built accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh and an overdraft facility of Rs 5,000, subject to satisfactory operations of the account for at least six months.
Minister of Statefor Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, whoon Tuesday cancelled her visit to Myanmar to attend this launch, played an active role in organising the event. The prime minister also launched a mobile banking facility on basic phones; now, one can transfer funds and check the available balance using any handset, through the SMS platform.
Under the Jan Dhan Yojana, all benefits from the Centre/states/local bodies are proposed to be transferred to the accounts of beneficiaries. Also, the government will push the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme and try to restart it for liquefied petroleum gas. It is likely the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be included under DBT.
For the entire exercise, the existing banking network will be strengthened – it will rope in an additional 50,000 business correspondents and set up about 7,000 branches and 20,000 new automated teller machines, in the first phase. Modi said the success of the enrolment drive on Thursday would give confidence not just to officials of the Department of Financial Services and banking sectors but to officers across Union government departments.
Saying the financial inclusion programme would fetch bankers the blessings of millions of women across the country, the prime minister, in an extempore speech, struck an emotional chord with the audience. Pointing out the five women who received account-opening kits at Thursday’s event appeared to have been dressed for a festival, he described the occasion as “vish-chakra se gareebon ki aazaadi ka parv (a festival to celebrate the liberation of the poor from a poisonous cycle)”.
Bureau Report
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