Modi launches Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, 1.5-cr bank accounts opened across India in one day
A record 1.5 crore bank accounts were opened across the country in a single day on Thursday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his Government’s mega scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’, declaring it was aimed at eradicating financial untouchability by providing bank accounts to the poor.
The gigantic exercise was launched simultaneously at 76 centres across the country by 20 Chief Ministers and several Union Ministers, including Information Minister Prakash Javadekar at Pune, law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at Chennai, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at Bhopal, Home Minister Rajnath Singh at lucknow and HRD Minister Smriti Irani at Surat. In all, 600 programmes and 77,852 camps were organised on the first day to open bank accounts.
launching the scheme at Vigyan Bhawan here, Modi said by January 28 next year it will cover 7.5 crore people, who will be provided zero-balance bank account with RuPay debit card, life insurance cover of Rs 30,000 in addition to accidental insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. later the account holders will be provided an overdraft facility of up to Rs 5,000.
“Mahatma Gandhi worked to remove social untouchability and if we want to get rid of poverty, then we have to first get rid of financial untouchability. We have to connect every person with the financial system. And for that, this programme has been given impetus. When a bank account is opened, it’s a step towards joining the economic mainstream,” he said.
Modi regretted that even after 68 years of Independence, not even 68 per cent of the population was covered by the banking system.
Describing the occasion as a festival to celebrate the liberation of the poor from a poisonous cycle Modi said: “Those who open accounts by January 26, 2015, they will be given life insurance cover of Rs 30,000 over and above the Rs 1 lakh accident insurance. This will help the family.”
In the third phase, he said, these account holders would also be provided micro-pension facility.
“I believe that when a person opens a bank account, then he or she takes the first step to get connected with the economic system. Today 1.5 crore families got connected with the economic system. This will give a boost to the economy,” he said.
Modi said six months after opening the account the account-holder would be able to get a loan of Rs 5,000 from the bank.
The Prime Minister said the nationwide success of the enrolment drive would give confidence not just to the officials of the Department of Financial Services and banking sectors, but also to officers across the Union Government, that they can successfully achieve the goals that they set for themselves.
“Never before has the Government of India organised a programme of such scale — over 77,000 locations — with the participation of so many Chief Ministers, Union Ministers, Government and bank officials,” the Prime Minister said.
Asserting that the scheme would also help in fighting corruption by plugging leakages in the Government subsidy scheme, Modi said it was easy for the rich to get a loan at low interest rates but the poor were forced to seek loans from moneylenders at five times the rates.
He said a breakthrough was required to overcome the vicious cycle of poverty and debt, and that a breakthrough had been achieved today.
He said there were similarities between the poor getting access to mobile telephones, and getting access to debit cards. They both had the effect of instilling confidence and pride among the poor, he added.
“Now, the poor would be able to do normal bank transactions through non-smart phones as well because of the introduction of new technology by the National Payments Corporation of India,” he said.
While the existing banking network would be geared up to open bank accounts of the uncovered households in both rural and urban areas, the banking sector would be expanding itself to set up additional 50,000 business correspondents, more than 7,000 branches and more than 20,000 new ATMs in the first phase, he said.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said around 58 per cent of the population of the country had bank accounts. “In simple words it means there are still 10 crore families that are away from banking services as they do not have access to banking services, they are also deprived of means of savings,” he said. The ultimate motive of this scheme is that no family should be deprived of this service, he added.
The Finance Minister said mobile banking for the poor would be available through National Unified USSD Platform for which all banks and mobile companies have come together.
Normal bank transaction can be done through any phone across the country, he added.