Seven crore bank accounts will be opened for Indian residents under the new initiative
NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave a call to the bank officers to join in the “gigantic” task of opening the bank accounts of over seven crore families, treating it as a “national priority” and giving each account holder a ”RuPay” debit card and a Rs 1-lakh accident cover. It’s only the beginning. “As we go along, they will be covered by insurance and pension products,” he said.
He is launching the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (National Mission on Financial Inclusion) as announced by him in his Independence Day address from August 28. “There is an urgency to this exercise as all other development activities are hindered by this single disability. I am sure we will overcome this situation collectively,” he appealed.
A PMO press note claimed the PM has written an email to “all bank officers” to cover all households in the country with banking facilities, but it did not say whether it were limited to the officers of the public sector banks or also private banks, nor did it say whether the e-mail was addressed to them through their banks or individually.
He exhorted them to “put your shoulder to the wheel and try your level best to ensure that no one is left without a bank account,” and said: “This itself will be a source of immense satisfaction for you and your teams. I will myself recognise the achievements of the best performing branches.”
He described the mission lying at the core of the development philosophy of “Sab ka sath, sab ka vikas.” He noted that “as we move rapidly forward in this knowledge era with modern banking and financial systems, it is untenable that a large majority of our population is deprived of basic banking facilities.
“I sometimes wonder whether we have made matters so complicated that the poor and the marginalised are those who are trapped in a perpetual cycle of exclusion and deprivation. We need to break that cycle and the Jan Dhan Yojana is the first step in that direction. With a bank account, every household gains access to banking and credit facilities. This will enable them to come out of the grip of moneylenders, manage to keep away from financial crises caused by emergent needs, and most importantly, benefit from a range of financial products.”
The PMO press note said, Modi will launch the mission formally in Delhi on August 28, while it would be launched simultaneously across the nation, with parallel functions at the state-
level attended by Union Ministers, and also at district and sub-district levels. Camps are also to be organised at the branch level, it added.
