Following the success of the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), the government is considering providing life insurance and accident covers to over 430 million account holders, says the Finance Ministry. The Jan Dhan scheme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
An official statement said the banks have been communicated about the same. PMJDY provides a life cover of Rs 2 lakh for a premium of less than Rs 1 per day; it covers accidental risks. The scheme provides Rs 2 lakh for accidental death and full disability, and Rs 1 lakh for partial disability for a premium of Rs 12 per annum.
The Finance Ministry said the government is also making endeavors to promote digital payments among Jan Dhan account holders through the creation of acceptance infrastructure across the country and improving their access to micro-credit and micro-investment such as flexi-recurring deposits.
“The journey of PMJDY led interventions undertaken over a short span of seven years has in effect, produced both transformational as well as directional change thereby making the emerging financial inclusion ecosystem capable of delivering financial services to the last person of the society – the poorest of the poor,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. “The underlying pillars of PMJDY, namely, banking the unbanked, securing the unsecured and funding the unfunded has made it possible to adopt multi-stakeholders’ collaborative approach while leveraging technology for serving the unserved and underserved area as well.”
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The Finance Ministry highlighted that the number of Jan Dhan accounts have jumped to 43.04 crore (430.4 million) in August 2021 from 17.9 crore in August 2015. Out of the current account holders, 55.47% are women and 66.69% are located in rural and semi-urban areas. Bhagwat Karad, Minister of State for Finance, said PMJDY has been one of the most far-reaching initiatives towards financial inclusion not only in India but in the world. “Financial inclusion is among the top-most priorities of the government as it is an enabler for inclusive growth. It provides an avenue to the poor for bringing their savings into the formal financial system, an avenue to remit money to their families besides taking them out of the clutches of the usurious money lenders,” he said.
Overall, the PMJDY has been the foundation stone for people-centric economic initiatives. “One in two accounts opened between March 2014 and March 2020 was a PMJDY account. Within 10 days of nationwide lockdown more than about 20 crore women PMJDY accounts were credited with ex-gratia,” the statement highlighted.
