FM proposes several social welfare schemes aimed at ensuring better financial security

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday proposed several social welfare initiatives that the government will undertake to ensure better financial security of the citizens.

"A large proportion of India's population is without insurance of any kind - health, accidental or life is worrying, as our young population ages, it is also going to be pension-less. We are going to work towards creating a universal social security system for all Indians, specially the poor and the under-privileged," Jaitley said while presenting the union budget.

Jaitley said that Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana will be launched to cover accidental death risk of Rs. 2 lakh for a premium of just Rs. 12 per year.

"Similarly, we will also launch the Atal Pension Yojana, which will provide a defined pension, depending on the contribution, and its period. To encourage people to join this scheme, the Government will contribute 50 percent of the beneficiaries' premium limited to Rs. 1,000 each year, for five years, in the new accounts opened before December 31, 2015," he said.

The Finance Minister further announced Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana which covers both natural and accidental death risk of Rs. 2 lakhs. The premium will be Rs. 330 per year, or less than one rupee per day, for the age group 18-50.

The Finance Minister also proposed the creation of a Senior Citizen Welfare Fund, in the Finance Bill

"There are unclaimed deposits of about Rs. 3,000 crore in the People's Provident Fund (PPF), and approximately Rs. 6,000 crores in the EPF corpus. We propose the creation of a Senior Citizen Welfare Fund, in the Finance Bill, for appropriation of these amounts to a corpus which will be used to subsidize the premiums of vulnerable groups such as old age pensioners, BPL card-holders, small and marginal farmers and others. A detailed scheme would be issued in March," he said.

The Finance Minister proposed a new scheme for providing Physical Aids and Assisted Living Devices for senior citizens living below the poverty line.

"Special regard needs to be paid to the population of senior citizens in the country which is now approximately 10.5 crore, out of which over one crore are above the age of 80 years. 70 percent live in rural areas and a large number are in the BPL category. A sizable percentage of them also suffer from age related disabilities," he said.

"My Government also remains committed to the ongoing welfare schemes for the SCs, STs and Women. Despite serious constraints on Union finances, allocations made this year are Rs. 30,851 crore to SCs, Rs. 19,980 crore to STs and Rs. 79,258 crore to women," he added.

The Minister also announced an integrated education and livelihood scheme called 'Nai Manzil' to enable Minority Youth who do not have a formal school-leaving certificate to obtain one and find better employment.