'Jan Suraksha schemes to help eliminate Jan Dhan's zero balance accounts'

The Jan Suraksha Yojana under which two insurance and a pension schemes would be launched countrywide Saturday would help in reducing the number of zero balance bank accounts created under the Jan Dhan Yojna, a senior government official said here Friday.

The "Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana" (accident insurance), the "Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana" (life insurance) and the "Atal Pension Yojana" under the Jan Suraksha Yojna, would be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday in Kolkata during his two-day visit to West Bengal.

"People often say that the government has been able to open bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojna, but most of them don't have any money. From the initial 97 percent zero balance accounts under the scheme, we have been able to bring them down to 57 percent," Hasmukh Adhia, secretary, financial services in the union finance ministry, told media persons here.

"With these insurance and pension schemes, the 57 percent zero balance account that exist today, will come down to zero and all of the accounts will have money. The schemes being so simple and beneficial, all would like to be part of it," said Adhia on the eve of the launch.

The 'JanSuraksha' schemes target the poor and unorganised sector who are neither covered by any form of insurance nor get pension.

"In India, only 20 percent of the population has any kind of insurance cover while just 11 percent are under some kind of pension scheme. So the Jan Suraksha schemes will act as a boon to a very large section of the population particularly the poor and those employed in the unorganized sector. Our aim is to extend insurance cover to the entire population," said Adhia.

The schemes will be simultaneously launched across the country from 115 different locations.

Adhia said the central government would be spending Rs.150-200 crore annually in promoting the schemes.

Under the accident insurance scheme, a person within the age of 18 to 70 years would be able to join the scheme that provides for a Rs.2 lakh coverage against an annual premium amount of Rs.12.

The premium for life insurance has been fixed at Rs.330 per annum with the age bracket for joining the scheme being 18 years to 50 years with a coverage of Rs.2 lakh.

The pension scheme will focus on the unorganized sector providing subscribers a monthly amount of Rs.1,000, Rs.2,000, Rs.3,000, Rs.4,000, or Rs.5,000 starting at the age of 60, depending on the contribution option exercised on entering at an age between 18 and 40 years.