Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana will help in bringing residents of remote areas into the banking system. A total of 14 crore families are being linked with the banking system through this scheme, she said while launching the scheme along the Chief Minister Harish Rawat and others in Dehradun on Thursday.
The Union Minister said that the people will be able to derive various benefits on opening their accounts in banks. They will have access to insurance, debit card and Rs5,000 overdraft facility in addition to which they will also get direct benefit of various Government department schemes in their accounts through direct cash transfer. Regarding the recurring disasters in the State, Gandhi said that her Ministry will accord priority to any proposal the State Government sends for the welfare of the disaster affected women and children of Uttarakhand.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that there is connectivity problem with BSNl in Uttarakhand which needs to be resolved in order to enable banks to open accounts within the stipulated time period. The Union Minister assured him that she would apprise the Prime Minister about the problem being faced in the State. Rawat said that the State will provide all possible assistance for ensuring the success of the PMJDY. Officials concerned have been issued instructions to assist bank officers in the identification of target beneficiaries. Rawat said that a financial inclusion programme had been started in 2011 for connecting all families to the banking system. Taking this effort ahead, the campaign has now been launched for providing additional benefits for opening bank accounts. As part of the scheme at least one account will be opened per family across the nation. It is good that Uttarakhand has also been chosen for the launch of this scheme, said Rawat. He informed the Union minister for Women and Child Development that people in the remote areas of the State still have to struggle in order to meet their fundamental needs. The social sector has an important role in the development here, he said, while also expressing hope that the Women and Child Development minister will accord priority to the State in its schemes. "The PMJDY is a welcome step but in a State like Uttarakhand with difficult mountainous terrain, the lack of proper connectivity is still a major problem. lack of mobile phone and internet connectivity could pose a problem in the implementation of the scheme," he said, while requesting the Union Minister to direct BSNl through the Government of India to facilitate mobile phone connectivity in areas where it is not available at present. There is need for adopting a more flexible attitude for opening bank branches in the mountainous regions. This will help those without access to banking facilities benefit from this scheme and become part of the development story. The CM expressed happiness at the fact that 1,500 camps were held across the State on Thursday for opening bank accounts of PMJDY beneficiaries and stressed that the State will provide its full cooperation in this national mission.