Jan Dhan Yojana a ‘jumla’ by Modi government, says Congress leader P. Chidambaram

New Delhi: Congress leader P. Chidambaram said on Thursday that Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was a ‘jumla’ and “an exercise in self-deception” by the Modi government, alleging that the accounts were used to launder money after demonetization. Addressing a press conference, Chidambaram said financial inclusion did not begin with the Jan Dhan Yojana as Prime Minister Modi “would like us to believe.”

The former Finance Minister said the UPA government sowed the idea of financial inclusion and the RBI introduced the Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) which was also called the “no frills account” or “zero balance account”. “Until May 2014, 25 crore BSBD accounts had been opened and the average citizen began to enjoy the advantages of modern banking. Simultaneously, the Aadhaar programme was rolled out and 65 crore Aadhaar numbers were issued by May 2014,” he said. He said BSBDA and Aadhaar were “historic achievements” and were possible because Congress-led government created a financial architecture, including National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Universal Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the NPCI-launched Immediate Payment System (IMPS), BSBDA and NPCI — launched RuPay card. He said 12,748 rural branches and 303,504 rural banking correspondents (BCs) were appointed during 2010-2014 while only 4,679 rural branches and 177,639 BCs were appointed during the first four years of Modi government. “Under the NDA, the BSBDA scheme was renamed the Jan Dhan Yojana. Instead of pursuing genuine financial inclusion, the NDA government’s aim appears to grab headlines,” he said.

“When the NDA speaks of Jan Dhan accounts, it ignores the 25 crore accounts created before 2014. Jan Dhan Yojana is another ‘jumla’ and an exercise in mass deception by Modi and the NDA government,” he said. The Congress leader said that by December 2016, 24 percent of the accounts were zero balance accounts. “No data is available for the subsequent period. Of the remaining accounts, 15-20 percent have a ‘balance’ only because bank managers were encouraged to deposit Re 1 in the account.” He said 6.1 crore Jan Dhan accounts - or one out of five - were “inactive” and 33 percent of accounts were opened by persons who already had an account in their names. (IANS)

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