Dr Daleep Pandita
Witnessing a scene of an ordinary man entering the bank premises calling for opening a ” Modi Account ” honestly not knowing the purpose and procedure of opening a bank account, but has a faith that now there is some benefit associated with opening of a new bank account. This is the ground level effect of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna recently launched by the Prime Minister of India. What is that underlying benefit . . . haunts the mind of a common citizen of India?Government has instructed the banking and allied sectors to go all out for creating wide spread mass awareness of this Jan Dan Yojna and open maximum number of bank accounts. Various camps are being organized, different days are fixed and man power ear marked for accomplishing this target within shortest possible time. Accordingly by and large people have slowly started knowing and understanding this scheme.
But lot needs to be done to clearly explain the benefits of this scheme and effectively percolate these down among the masses especially among the uneducated rural poor and women folk. Insurance of the account holder constitute one of the important components of this yojna. Who and how one is covered, payment of its premium, coverages of this policy, requisite claim documents and procedure for claiming its compensation are some of the vital issues, which need to be explained and clarified under this scheme?
Under his scheme, any bank account holder, who also gets a Ru Pay Card, is entitled for a Personal Accident Insurance cover for an amount of rupees one lakh. This insurance cover is effected through Government of India owned four Public Sector General Insurance Companies. Only account holder is entitled for this insurance that is effective from the day of opening of bank account. It is valid for 24 hours all over India be it at work place or at home. No additional document or any physical or medical examination is required for undertaking this insurance policy. This insurance cover of rupees one lakh can not be increased and is fixed for all categories.
This wider benefit insurance policy covers death due to all types of accidents, be it a natural calamity like earthquake, flood, storm, lightening, inundation or man made disasters like fire, terrorist attacks, civil commotion etc. It covers all types of rail or road accidents, snake bites, electric shocks, drowning, roof falls and many more, the causes of which can be classified under the ambit of an accident. It does not cover death arising out of any unlawful and criminal activities, suicide, intentional killings or as specified and excluded. It does not cover any disability whether temporary or permanent in nature.
There is no upper age limit for taking this insurance cover but it is not applicable to minors since they can not open a bank account. It is neither status related nor income based or linked with any occupation.
At the time of death of a beneficiary by any cause of accident, in addition to relevant information or claim supporting documents, the post-mortem examination of deceased which establishes the cause of death, is the main document to be provided by the nominee of the insured account holder. Claim documents are to be deposited by the claimant with the concerned bank only, who in turn gets the compensation amount from the designated insurance company. This claim amount is transferred in to the nominee’s bank account by the bank itself. Normally the intimation of death and submission of claim documents are to be deposited with the bank within reasonable time period. This claim amount is payable without any tax deductions. No medical expenses incurred on beneficiary due to cause of accident are reimbursable under this scheme. Only one claim per person is admissible and payable under the provisions of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna.
(The author is Divisional Manager with Government General Insurance Company based at Jammu )
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