Rakesh Kumar K., CEO, zilla panchayat, said all job card holders under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the district, would be brought under the purview of social security insurance schemes launched by the Centre.
Awareness of the schemes — including Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana — is not on expected levels. Financial literacy centres (FLCs) established by nationalised and regional rural banks should disseminate information on the same. There are around 1.90 lakh job card holders under MGNREGS in the district. The ZP would enrol all beneficiaries of MGNREGS for the schemes, he said at a meeting of the review committee of District Lead Bank on Friday.
An awareness programme for elected gram panchayat members and Panchayat Development Officers would be held on the schemes. It should be made mandatory for banks to display information on insurance schemes at their premises. Expressing displeasure that, of the 2.25 lakh accounts opened in the district under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, around 15% have become inoperative, he directed bankers to motivate account holders to conduct financial transactions.
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Regarding the onset of Southwest Monsoon in the district, he said bankers should strive to bring more farmers under the purview of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Weather Based Crop Insurance Schemes. Referring to the losses suffered by arecanut growers in 2013 owing to fruit rot disease, locally known as koleroga, he said the crop on more than 20,000 hectares of land was affected by a fungal infection in that period. As the district has received above average rain this year, the arecanut crop has again become vulnerable to fungal infection. The bankers should brace for the situation and bring more farmers under the purview of crop insurance schemes to mitigate the losses, he said.