Taking 'Dhan' to 'Jan'

  • Barnali Dutta / FG
  • India
  • Sep 12, 2014

 

 

 

The much-vaunted buzz over financial inclusion culminated in Narendra Modi launching the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) on August 28th. . This marks a significant step in the conversion of the Indian economy from a cash-based one to a cashless, digital economy. On the first day itself as many as 1.5 crores accounts were opened by those who had never till then had their own bank account. An elated Prime Minister declared the day as the ‘day of financial freedom.’ State Bank of India, as the country’s largest bank, was very pro-active from the first day itself. The Bank set up as many as 11,300 camps in different States. Even the poor banked in – with over 20,000 accounts. To ensure the success of the scheme from Day 1, the Prime Minister is believed to have sent personal letters to all the Bank chiefs, well ahead of time. He had directed them to gear up for meeting the challenges of this gigantic task. The Prime Minister’s message was that the opening of at least one bank account, for all the households in the country, should be treated as a ‘national priority’. 

 

However, there are niggling doubts in the minds of some. P K Gupta, Chief Manager of Punjab National Bank, Gurgaon Branch, opines. “No doubt the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is one of the finest schemes for the economically weaker sections, and we received an overwhelming response from every part of Gurgaon. Over 1,000 accounts have been opened within 5 days, and many other applications are under process. But personally I believe that our screening system needs to improve, and there should be a proper check to ascertain whether the person has any other account in any other bank or not.” He adds, “We have opened accounts of even those who did not possess identity cards; we accepted their sworn and signed declarations.” “ICICI Bank has received good response from the poor. It was good to observe an encouraging interest from sweepers and rikshawalas for the opening of their individual accounts. Many came forth with their entire family members to herald the opening of their account!” exclaimed an official of the ICICI Bank, Gurgaon. R P Sharma, Chief Manager of Gurgaon Gramin Bank, says, “We have been quite proactive in this. To increase the awareness of this facility among the deserving masses, we came up with an idea of organising camps in various nearby villages on Saturdays and Sundays. The submission of a pehchanpatra (proof of identity) is mandatory; but if they don't have one, we ask the Sarpanch (village headman) to be the witness. This scheme is for both the rural and urban population, and 28,000 accounts have been opened for the beneficiaries residing in Gurgaon District (upto Mewat).” Such awareness camps have been hosted across Gurgaon and have helped the locals. Bimla Devi, who works as a maid, managed to open her own account, thanks to the launch and implementation of this scheme. Confident, and beaming a smile, she says, “I run my family, and opening a savings bank account in any bank had always been a sort of challenge, since I don't have any knowledge about the various procedures. Now onwards I and my family members have an account in a government controlled bank and I am happy on this count.” Interestingly, there have been quite a few who have taken advantage of this scheme with or without understanding the actual concept of the PMJYD and its meaning. In particular, certain migrants who have come from different parts of the country to earn their daily bread in this Millennium City, are among those being easily lured by this scheme. “My native land is Bihar and I do have bank account in my village, but when I heard about this scheme I was over exited and went for another account,” says Sardar Singh, a mason working on a contract basis. 

Once a bank account becomes the norm, it will be easier for the government to directly disburse all the privileged subsidies into the accounts of the poor, instead of dispensing them through the expansive leaky network of various agencies; above all, this process will help the govt. to skip the red-tapism as well as the capitalising ‘middlemen’, who appear from nowhere as the messiahs of the ‘have-nots’. For the benefit of the deserving masses, the Jan Dhan scheme has much simpler Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules vis-à-vis the normal banking norms. The account holders are also being offered add-on benefits - one among them being the accident insurance cover of up to Rs. 1 lakh (sans payment of any premium). Those opening accounts before January 26 next year will also get a life cover worth Rs. 30,000. Under this scheme, the people will be able to open zero-balance accounts with any bank, be it government owned or a private one. Once operative for at least six months, the account holders may also be offered an overdraft facility to the tune of Rs.5000.  Each account holder will be offered a RuPay debit card, which is as good as accessing a basic form of mobile banking. The government hopes to add other benefits, such as micro insurance and pension, in the next phase. Although branded by some as ‘old wine in new bottle’, the PMJDY scheme has numerous attractive features. An account holder under PMJDY would feel proud to be a part of the progressive economy of India.

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