Expanding its social safety net, PM Jan Dhan Yojana now is an open ended scheme for all

New Delhi, September 6: Expanding the social safety net programme, the government on Wednesday opined to cover more beneficiaries under the PM Jan Dhan Yojana scheme making it one of the open-ended schemes for people in the country.

Proposing to expand the scope of beneficiaries by government’s ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the scheme aims at providing a bank account to every Indian household. The aim will now be to provide a bank account to every individual.

Taking it on Twitter, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted, “PMJDY has been a boon to rural households, especially women as they are the largest beneficiaries of this scheme.” The government estimates that around 80% of Indians have bank accounts.

According to the cabinet decision, overdraft facility for the accounts opened under the new scheme will be doubled to Rs 10,000, of which Rs 2,000 will be without any conditions. Age limit for availing of the overdraft has also been raised to 65 years from 60. The accident insurance cover available on the RuPay debit cards linked with the new insurance account has been doubled to Rs 2 lakh.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana was launched by the Narendra Modi-led government in August 2014. It was the first big mission launched by the Modi government after it assumed office in May 2014. Initially spelled out by the finance minister in his budget speech, the financial inclusion programme was announced by Modi during his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

 

The mission aimed to provide at least one bank account for every household, along with an overdraft facility of Rs 5,000, a RuPay debit card and a personal accident insurance of Rs 1 lakh. Eventually, the government also rolled out concessional life insurance, health insurance, and pension schemes for people as it sought to bring every Indian into the social security net.