55 million people already in the social security net

The success of Jan Dhan Yojna also led to a successful roll out of the direct bank linked subsidy scheme for domestic LPG cyliners

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said in a short span of seven days, close to 55 million people have enrolled for the government-sponsored mega insurance and pension schemes—the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

The trial run for the scheme started on May 1 through nationalised banks. The scheme was simultaneously launched today across 115 locations in India.

While launching the schemes in Kolkata Modi spoke about the success of the Jan Dhan Yojna, the first in the series of the Centre’s financial inclusion initiatives. Due to the Jan Dhan Yojna, close to 95 per cent of the country’s population now have a bank account, he said. Also,  under the scheme, 150 million new bank accounts were opened with a total deposit of nearly Rs 15,800 crore, he added.

At present, nearly 80-90 per cent of the country’s population did not have any insurance or pension schemes, he further said. “Nearly 120 million bank accounts are now getting direct subsidy for gas cylinders. We can already see a difference. Leakage worth crores have been checked,” he said.

Underlining the role of tiny and small enterprises in steering the economy of the country, Modi said, nearly 55 million tiny enterprises employ nearly 140 million people, while big industries accounted for the jobs of only a miniscule population.

“The role of big industries is very limited. The country is run by small enterprises,” said Modi.

Mudra Bank, which is expected to meet small credit needs of the people, too featured in the list of achievements cited by Modi. “The average credit need of a tiny enterprise is Rs 17,000. No bank provides such small loans. For this, we created the Mudra Bank. The work to start the bank is on,” he said.