Context:
- Central Govt. has decided to make Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana an Open Ended Scheme. Under this PMJDY Scheme, govt. has now added more number of incentives in order to encourage poor people to open zero balance bank accounts. This scheme was launched in August 2014 for 4 years. 1st phase of PMJDY scheme was completely focused on opening basic bank accounts. People also got RuPay debit cards with inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs. 100,000.
About PMJDY:
- PM Jan Dhan Yojana is the biggest financial inclusion scheme in the entire World. Now the govt. wants to make scheme more open ended with more incentives keeping in view of its “runaway success”.
- Jandhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) linking will continue to provide the essential backbone to cover various activities. This includes Banking / Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner.
- This decision to make Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana an open ended scheme will accelerate the pace of digitised financially included and insured society.
- This scheme was launched in 2014 to open basic bank accounts and Rupay Debit Card with inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh. All the poor people can open zero balance bank accounts with overdraft facility of Rs. 5000 after 6 months. Accounts can be opened in any bank branch and business correspondent (Bank Mitr) outlet. If the account holder wishes to get cheque book, he / she will have to fulfill minimum balance criteria.
Features included:
- Now the over-draft limit for account holders has now been doubled to Rs. 10,000. Finance Minister has made this announcement while briefing the media for 1st time after resuming office on 23 August after 4 month break after undergoing kidney transplant.
- Accidental Insurance Now Rs. 2 Lakh – All the people who opens new Jan Dhan Bank Accounts after 28 August 2018 will now get Free Accident Insurance Cover of double amount of Rs. 2 lakh.
- Over-draft Limit Now Rs. 10,000 – Now there would be no conditions attached for overdraft of upto Rs. 2,000. Now the maximum limit for over-draft is set at Rs. 10,000 (previously Rs. 5,000). IN PMJDY, this facility is available after 6 months of opening bank accounts.
- Till date, around 30 lakh people have availed the benefits of over draft facility. Over-Draft facility means that the account holder can withdraw money from his account which is more than the actual balance present in bank account.
- Upper Age Limit now 65 Years – Also the upper age limit to avail the Jan Dhan Yojana facility is now raised from 60 years to 65 years.
Source: Sarkariyojana