The PMJDY was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address on August 15, 2014 and was simultaneously launched on August 28 to foster financial inclusion. This national mission was launched to ensure people have access to financial services, namely, banking, remittance, credit, insurance, pension in an affordable manner.
As on August 18, 2021, the number of total PMJDY accounts stood at 43.04 crore. Of this, 55.47 per cent (23.87 crore) Jan-Dhan account holders are women and 66.69 per cent (28.70 crore) holders are in rural and semi-urban areas, the finance ministry said in a statement.
During the first year of the scheme, 17.90 crore PMJDY accounts were opened.
Out of total 43.04 crore PMJDY accounts, 36.86 crore or 85.6 per cent are operative, and the average deposit per account is Rs 3,398, as per the statement.
Increase in average deposit is another indication of increased usage of accounts and inculcation of saving habit among account holders, it said.
Total RuPay cards issued to PMJDY account holders rose to 31.23 crore. For account opened after August 28, 2018, the free accidental insurance cover on RuPay cards increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister tweeted, "Today we mark seven years of #PMJanDhan, an initiative that has forever transformed India's development trajectory. It has ensured financial inclusion and a life of dignity as well as empowerment for countless Indians. Jan Dhan Yojana has also helped further transparency."
Appreciating the untiring efforts of all those who have worked to make PMJDY a success, he said, their efforts have ensured the people of India lead a better quality of life.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while underlining the importance of the scheme, said the journey of PMJDY led interventions undertaken over a short span of 7 years has in effect, produced both transformational as well as directional change, thereby making the emerging financial inclusion ecosystem capable of delivering financial services to the last person of the society-the poorest of the poor.
"The underlying pillars of PMJDY, namely, Banking the Unbanked, Securing the Unsecured and Funding the Unfunded has made it possible to adopt multi-stakeholders' collaborative approach while leveraging technology for serving the unserved and underserved areas as well," she said.
Under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana announced on March 26, 2020, an amount of Rs 500 per month for three months (April'20 to June'20) was credited to the accounts of PMJDY women account holders, the finance ministry said.
A total of Rs 30,945 crore has been credited in accounts of women PMJDY account holders during Covid lockdown as an income support measure.
About 5 crore PMJDY accountholders receive direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the Government under various schemes, the ministry statement added.
To ensure that the eligible beneficiaries receive their DBT in time, the government takes an active role in identification of avoidable reasons for DBT failures in consultation with DBT Mission, NPCI, banks and various other ministries, it said.
With close monitoring in this regard through regular video conferencing with banks and NPCI, the share of DBT failures due to avoidable reasons as a percentage of total DBT failures has decreased from 13.5 per cent (FY 19-20) to 5.7 per cent (FY 20-21), it noted.
On the road ahead, the finance ministry said, eligible PMJDY account holders will be sought to be covered under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY).
Banks have already been communicated about the same, it said.
The government is also focussed on promotion of digital payments including RuPay debit card usage amongst PMJDY account holders through creation of acceptance infrastructure across India, it said.
Another focus area is improving access of PMJDY account holders to micro-credit and micro investment such as flexi-recurring deposit etc, it said.
The Centre has already provided Kisan Credit Card to around 6.5 crore farmers and has plans to bring the rest under the cover.
This is a "priority scheme" of this government to bring the farmers under the institutional loans.
"There would be same drive for Kisan Credit card, which was for Jan Dhan Yojna," said Rupala, who is the minister of state for agriculture, while replying to a private member bill on farmers' issues.
He said under Jan Dhan Yojna, the government has added 30 crore banks accounts and wants to replicate the same success in adding farmers under Kisan Credit card.
"Presently only 6.5 crore farmers out of 14 crore are being able to get benefits of this institutional loans and rest are out from it," he said adding" The government had done work on mission mode to provide it."
According to him, presently the amount credited by this scheme is around Rs 14 lakh crore.
"When we formed the government, the total credit flow was around Rs 8 lakh crore and today it is around Rs 13.5 to 14 lakh crore," he said adding the government has almost doubled it.
Accepting the suggestion of some members to make villages itself a hub for basic food processing and storage purpose, Rupala said he would ask the officials to work in this direction.
Over the issues of shrinking of land size of individual farmers, Rupala said the government has now started to convince them to encourage combined farming to improve farm yields.
The agriculture production is on record level and the country is self dependent in pulses, he said.
The Minister said it would soon become self-sufficient in oil seeds in the next two years.
"We have to do a lot of things and we are going in the right direction," said Rupala.
He further added that urea is available for the farmers and there is no shortage in any state after the government started coating it with neem.
Rupala also added the government is now training the farmers to deal with the issue of excess usage of water.
The minister was replying to a resolution moved by BJP member Vijay Pal Singh Tomar.
Tomar sought hike in funds provided to the farmers as Kisan Samman Nidhi from Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000 per year and Bharat Ratna for farmers for their contribution to the society.
"India is primarily an agrarian based economy with more than 55 per cent population engaged in farming. Besides there are 15 per cent people who are engaged in allied sectors. Thus there are 70 per cent population dependent on farm sector."
He said the country will only be prosperous when farmers progress and get remunerative price for crops grown by them.
Tomar asked the government to educate farmers about the latest technologies and techniques to make the agriculture process simple and fast, besides ensuring proper implementation of Fasal Bima Yojna (Crop Insurance Scheme) so that farmers benefit from the scheme.
The member also urged the government to provide internet and wi-fi facility for all Government services at village/Gram Panchayat level to help the farmers to gain latest information of the world.
He asked the government to ensure that crops are not purchased or sold at prices lower than the Minimum Support Price announced by the Government and penal action is taken against the violations.
Tomar said government should fix a limit for the crop loan disbursed at 4 per cent interest on Kisan Credit Cards as per the paying capacity of the farmers, as is in vogue in the case of industries.
This is to enable farmers carry on his transactions for 5 years and is safeguarded against exploitation by banks, he said.
He suggested the government keep agriculture equipments outside good and service tax (GST).
The resolution also seeks to provide small and marginalised farmers, who constitute more than 85 per cent of the farmers in the country, with all those facilities that are being provided for setting up big food parks and cold chains.
It also calls for setting up storage and processing units by forming 'Krishak Samiti' in clusters so that there is participation of farmers in these activities and facilitates an increase in their income.
Supporting the resolution, S S Roy (TMC)said that violent attempts by capitalists to grab farmers land should be dealt with strictly and government should issue advisory to such states.
Congress leader Chhaya Verma,Harnath Singh (BJP) and Ravi Prakash Verma (SP) also supported the bill.
Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD) said there is an urgent need to look into the matters concerning farmers as they were the providers of food to the people of the country.
"If farmers strike then even Parliament would have to shut down," he said.
He said, while the government has been writing off loans worth crores of industrialists, the condition of farmers remained unchanged in the country.
Vijaysai Reddy (YSRCP) said India is an agrarian state and the country would collapse if support is not provided to farmers.
Pointing out to fragmented land holdings by farmers in the country, he urged the government to frame a policy to counter the trend.
Sanjay Singh (AAP), Ajay Pratap Singh (BJP) Harshvardhan Singh Dungarpur (BJP) and B Lingaiah Yadav (TRS) also participated in the debate.