NEW DELHI: About 58 lakh pensioners’ bank accounts may be subsumed under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), a national mission for financial inclusion.
The move is being seen as a part of the Centre’s plan of bringing all subsidies and welfare schemes under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) net by March 31, 2017.
The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has been asked to examine the possibility of converting pensioners’ accounts into PMJDY account, as per a communique issued by Cabinet Secretariat.
All banks have earlier been directed to give priority to pensioners visiting their branches for seeding of Aadhaar numbers with their accounts. There are about 58 lakh central government pensioners.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) issues Aadhaar–a 12-digit unique identification number–which acts as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in the country.
The DBT Mission, which functions under the Cabinet Secretariat, has asked Department of Financial Services (DFS) to examine the possibility of seeding PMJDY account with the Aadhaar to be used as primary account (single account) for transfer of all government benefits, the communique said.
The objective of PMJDY is to ensure access to various financial services like availability of basic savings bank account and need-based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension to the excluded sections i.E., weaker sections and low income groups.
In addition, PMJDY beneficiaries get RuPay debit card having inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs one lakh. The plan also envisages channelling all government benefits (from Centre, state or local body) to the beneficiaries accounts and pushing the DBT scheme.
So far, 22.65 crore PMJDY accounts have been opened across the country with the total balance of about Rs 40,750 crore, as per a Finance Ministry data.
The Centre is also looking into the possibility of payment to multiple accounts through Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB), the matter may be taken up with the DFS, UIDAI and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)–which is an umbrella organisation for all retail payments system in the country.
The present design of NPCI mapper provides for all payments to single bank account seeded to Aadhaar
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