Jan Dhan Yojana scheme played a crucial role in the success of other welfare schemes – direct benefit transfer, disbursal of financial assistance during COVID-19. The finance ministry has recently announced more beneficial schemes for Jan Dhan Yojana account holders. Through this, the government offers life and accident insurance schemes for the account holders.
The NDA led government completing the 6th year of their flagship program Jan Dhan Yojana this year. It has been formulated to boost financial inclusion in the country. This flagship program helped poor people to get the central government benefits of various schemes directly. The Government-backed insurance schemes such as PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and PM Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) were announced in 2015. Now the government is offering these schemes to eligible account holders.
PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana offers insurance coverage of Rs.2 lakh, in case the death of the insured. It is available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years. The premium amount is Rs.330 per annum. PM Suraksha Bima Yojana offers insurance coverage of Rs.2 lakh for accidental death and full disability and Rs.1 lakh for partial disability with a premium of Rs.12 per annum. This scheme is available to people in the age group of 18 to 70 years.
The finance ministry said that Jan Dhan Yojana account holders will get access to micro-credit micro-investment such as Flexi-recurring deposits. It also plans to boost digital payments, including the use of RuPay debit cards among the account holders through the creation of acceptance infrastructure across India. Till August, there were 40.35 crore beneficiaries banked under the scheme, and two-third of the accounts are from the rural area. Data shows, the Majority of the accounts, 55% held by women, and the average deposit per account is Rs.3,239. It showed an increase of over 2.5 times since August 2015. According to Reserve Bank of India, a Jan Dhan account is considered inoperative if there have been no customer-induced transactions in the account for over two years. Till August, 34.81 accounts were operative, out of a total of 40.35 crore accounts.
