“Gopal, I have deposited the money in your account”, I heard my mother announce on the phone. This would seem like a normal conversation otherwise but what made it different was that Gopal, our house help, was in his village in Jharkhand tending to his sick wife and requiring financial assistance to take care of her medical expenses. Thankfully, now the financial assistance reached him in a matter of minutes which prior to the launch of the scheme would have been an ordeal, an untold saga of misery. Gopal would have in those circumstances approached his village money lender who could have taken advantage of his situation and extracted his pound of flesh. However, with Gopal’s wife being in dire need of medical help, he would have consented to everything for the sake of his wife and little children, thus making Gopal poorer and poorer. Apart from this, I also overheard our gardeners’ talking to my mother saying “Didi, from now onwards please deposit our salaries in our account so we can take out as much as we need. We need to save for our daughter’s wedding”
What did all this mean and why were these conversations different from those before the scheme? I wished to know and hence decided to probe further.
It was on 15th August of 2018, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna describing the occasion as a festival to celebrate the liberation of the poor from poverty.
The objective of the scheme was to ensure access to financial services like savings bank accounts, credit facilities, insurance and pension to the unbanked weaker sections and low income groups through effective use of technology. Beneficiaries were to also get a RuPay Debit card with a built-in accident insurance of Rs. 1 Lakh.
This programme was meant to provide an avenue for the poor to bring their savings into the formal financial system, to remit money to their families in villages and to extricate them from the clutches of money lenders.
From a financial inclusion perspective as well, the Jan Dhan-Aadhar-Mobile trinity that linked Jan Dhan bank accounts with account holder’s aadhar and mobile number is a significant step.This enabled direct benefit transfers under various government welfare schemes such as MNREGA wages, pension and ex-gratia directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries in a leakage free mode.
Jan Dhan has helped deliver micro-credit to women-led self –help groups and loans to women entrepreneurs thus empowering women and making them self-sufficient;
It also helped small businesses and farmers keep track of their money;
However, in order to ensure that the contemplated benefit passes on, a few measures must be taken.
I have noticed that interaction with the bankers can be difficult for daily wagers as they have to leave their days’ work and hang around Banks to sort out issues. Infact, I have seen Members of my family run to Banks to assist our house-helps. Hence, a little sensitization among the staff in the Banks would help the process. It would also help if the staff is accordingly trained to be forthcoming to assist our weaker section in this journey.
Since this may be a first time effort for many, more hand holding may be required and therefore staff just to assist the financially weaker section can be identified.
Increasing digital literacy so that rural customers can avail of digital banking facilities like UPI, may be a good idea. As keeping debit cards functional at all times for digital banking can be a challenge.
Perhaps, there could be a better grievance redressal mechanism to ensure more people are confident that there is something for them to approach if things go wrong or if they wish to lodge a complaint.
Finally we must remember that this remains a PSU bank spearheaded initiative and private banks still remain obsessed with the creamy layer. This also needs to change.
To conclude, there are many Gopals in our country and then there are many Shylocks from Shakespeare but to try and give hope and light to every individual is a noble thing. Rome was not built in a day and nor can I climb Everest if I chose to today but every step towards that journey – a step to make life better for another individual; a step to make this place a better place for everyone to live, is a journey that matters. The Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojna is a step in that direction and like the Prime Minister said it truly needs to be celebrated.