Jan Dhan account holders to get insurance
The PMJJBY provides a life cover of Rs 2 lakh for a premium of less than Rs 1 per day, PMSBY covers accidental risks
The government is likely to provide life insurance and accident covers to over 430 million account holders under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). The finance ministry has said that the government aims to include micro-insurance schemes — Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) under PMJDY.
On August 15, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address had announced the Jan Dhan scheme to the masses.
The statement issued by the ministry stated that the banks have been informed about this move already.
Insurance schemes
The PMJJBY provides a life cover of Rs 2 lakh for a premium of less than Rs 1 per day.
PMSBY which covers accidental risks provides Rs 2 lakh for accidental death and full disability. It also provides Rs1 lakh for partial disability for a premium of Rs 12 per annum. The government is planning initiatives to push digital payments among Jan Dhan account holders by developing acceptance infrastructure across the country. The government also aims at enhancing the accessibility to micro-credit and micro-investment such as Flexi-recurring deposits etc.
“The journey of PMJDY led interventions undertaken over a short span of seven years has in effect, produced both transformational as well as directional change thereby making the emerging FI [financial inclusion] ecosystem capable of delivering financial services to the last person of the society-the poorest of the poor,” said the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
She also added that the core theme on which PMJDY stands is ‘banking the unbanked’, ‘securing the unsecured’, and ‘funding the unfunded’. “These have made it possible to adopt multi-stakeholders collaborative approach while leveraging technology for serving the unserved and underserved areas as well,” Sitharaman added.
The number of Jan Dhan accounts have jumped to 43.04 crore in August 2021 from 17.9 crore in August 2015, according to the finance ministry.
Out of the current account holders, 55.47% are women. Around 66.69% are located in rural and semi-urban areas.