Rag-to-riches in poverty-stricken Odisha is sprouting up quite significantly in scam-ridden (mining to chit fund) State.
Within a span of a week, post the demonetisation shocker, the poor man’s account, popularly known as the Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts, has apparently struck a jackpot as deposits had jumped up by an eye-popping Rs570 crore. And in a fortnight, the jackpot is brimming up by a total inflow of Rs845 crore!
What has shocked the top State-level Bankers Committee (SlBC) officials here is that when during the last 15 months (August 2015-November 8, 2016), the over one crore PMJDY accounts saw accretion of around only Rs97 crore per month in the State, these accounts post the demonetisation are striking rich as they now are netting Rs56 crore per day!
Though, in this bounty season since November 9 to November 23, the zero-balance accounts have only dropped by a mere 2.5 per cent. The proportion of zero-balance accounts in the PMJDY, even after a fortnight of post-demonetisation, is over 22 per cent in the State vis-a-vis around 23.8 per cent on October 1, 2016.
“Generally, black money merchants stash their booties in those accounts that are active and have some balance in their accounts to spook the banking authorities,” explained a senior SlBC official behind the only marginal dip in zero-balance accounts after demonetisation.
SlBC sources, however, added that the rush has of late started trickling down after the open warning last week by PM Narendra Modi in a public rally in Uttar Pradesh where he cautioned the poor but warned the black merchants that action would be taken on deposits in the PMJDY accounts. SlBC sources added that the flow has almost been halved by November 26 in the PMJDY accounts vis-a-vis the inflow till November 16, 2016.
Significantly, the murkier plots playing up swiftly in the State raises eyebrows when the ‘jackpot PMJDY’ accounts were reported from mine-rich and industrial districts like Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Angul, Jajpur and Jagatsinghpur, among others. Even, suspicious transactions have come to the notice of bank officials in poverty-rich districts of the KBK (Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput) region, where poor tribals and farmers struggle hard to have two square meals a day.
“Even, private moneylenders, who emerged as the prime villains in serial farmers suicides last year in Odisha, have post demonetisation suddenly struck deals with indebted farmers to stash their ill-gotten money in their PMJDY bank accounts in many districts that were worst-hit by drought,” remarked a senior bank official. He added that services of SHG members were being also used by black merchants in many of the districts here to ‘colour’ their blacks to white.