In the last two financial years, only 329 claims for accident insurance cover provided to bank account holders under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) have been settled out of the 647 claims that were filed.
This information was revealed in a reply to an RTI (Right to Information) application filed by activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur. In August 2014, while launching the Jan Dhan Yojana which was hailed as an unprecedented step for financial inclusion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also announced accident cover for the account holders.
The accident insurance cover for death or permanent disability is extended to all the 48.65 crore account holders, out of which more than 50% are women. No premium is charged from account holders.
Under the PMJDY, a RuPay debit card is provided to account holders. The key condition to avail the accident insurance is that the beneficiary must have performed at least one successful transaction (financial or non-financial) using the card in the 90 days prior to date of accident. This condition can make filing claims difficult.
In financial year 2021-22, 341 claims were received, of which 182 were settled and 48 rejected. No details about the remaining 111 cases was provided by the Union Ministry of Finance. The total claim amount paid for the period was ₹2.27 crore.
In financial year 2022-23, 306 claims were received, of which 147 were settled and 10 rejected. Again no information was shared on the status of the remaining 149 claims. The total claim payout for the year was ₹1.88 crore.
Mr. Modi had first announced his government’s intention to offer zero balance accounts to the “unbanked” in his first Independence day address as Prime Minister in 2014 and he had formally launched the project on August 28 the same year.
Originally, an accident insurance cover of ₹1 lakh was offered and later enhanced to ₹2 lakh for new accounts opened after August 28, 2018.
In the original scheme, the government had also announced a life insurance cover of ₹30,000 to the PMJDY account holders. But the government’s reply to the RTI query stated that this facility had been discontinued since March 2020.
As of March 2023, these 48.65 crore PMJDY bank accounts have a total deposit of ₹1,98,844.34 crore. But 4.03 crore of these accounts hold zero balance.
Published - April 26, 2023 09:56 pm IST
