Modi wraps social security blanket on India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched three ambitious first-of-its-kind social security schemes providing accident and life insurance besides pension to “80 per cent-90 per cent” Indians and aiming specifically to benefit the poor and the economically deprived. The launch follows the Modi Government’s another major initiative of enabling 15 crore citizens with bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana.
While Modi launched the schemes — Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) — from Kolkata, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in company, several Union Ministers and Chief Ministers did so simultaneously at 115 places across India. The three schemes will come into force from June 1.
“Poor do not want sahara. We need to change how we think. The poor need shakti,” he said at the event.
Maintaining that 80 per cent to 90 per cent people in the country neither have insurance cover nor any possibility of pension, Modi said that in the first seven days of the trial run, banks have enrolled 5.05 crore people, including 42 lakh from West Bengal. This is Modi’s first visit to Bengal after ascending the Prime Ministerial chair.
“We can achieve whatever but if the fruits do not reach the poor, our development journey is incomplete... We are calling the world to ‘Make in India’ and at the same time we are opening bank accounts for the poor,” he said even as he urged people to pay small premiums towards insurance schemes for their domestic helps, drivers, and liftmen, among others.
The PM pointed out that Rs15,800 crore has been deposited in the 15 crore Jan Dhan accounts opened in four months and the scheme to provide cooking gas subsidy directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries has helped stop pilferages and leakages worth hundreds of crores of rupees.
Stating that it is a misconception that large industrial houses provide more jobs, Modi said about 5.5 crore small and medium entrepreneurs provide employment to more than 14 crore people despite their small resources and limited access to finance. He said it was on account of his Government’s concern for the poor and the underprivileged that “we have planned Mudra Banking to help 5.5 crore small entrepreneurs get loan facilities”.
He also paid tributes to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and said “this land (Bengal) has been blessed by Goddess lakshmi and Saraswati”.
For her part, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who shared the dais with Modi for the first time after he became the PM, said Governments must always work for the people. Advocating Centre-State cooperation for developing the country, Banerjee said, “The poor and the underprivileged constitute the foundation of this country and hence, should not be left out of any scheme. Each panchayat should be covered by a bank. let us dedicate this programme to the people of India.”
Responding to Banerjee’s statement wherein she wondered as to why thousands of panchayats were still not covered by social welfare schemes, the Prime Minister said, “It is a 60 year legacy that the Chief Minister is talking about.” “She has raised the issue here in front of me because she is confident that none other than this man (Modi) will do the unfinished work,” he added.
As for the schemes, PMSBY will offer a renewable one-year accidental death-cum-disability cover of Rs 2 lakh for partial/permanent disability to all savings bank account holders in the age group of 18-70 years for a premium of Rs 12 per annum per subscriber.
PMJJBY will offer a renewable one-year life cover of Rs 2 lakh to all savings bank account holders in the age group of 18-50 years, covering death due to any reason, for a premium of Rs 330 per annum per subscriber.
And the APY will focus on the unorganised sector and provide subscribers a fixed minimum pension of Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 3,000, Rs 4,000 or Rs 5,000 per month, starting at the age of 60 years, depending on the contribution option exercised on entering at an age between 18 and 40 years.
Mamata urges PM for complete debt waiver
Seeking his personal intervention, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give the State a complete waiver of its Rs2.74 lakh crore debt burden.