Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMSBY), and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) completed 7 years of providing social security net.
The schemes were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9th May 2015 in Kolkata, West Bengal. These schemes have been successful in providing affordable insurance and security to people.
These three social security schemes are dedicated to the welfare of the citizens, recognizing the need for securing human life from unforeseen risks or losses and financial uncertainties. In order to ensure that the people from the unorganized section of the country are financially secure, the Government launched two insurance schemes – Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and introduced Atal Pension Yojana to cover the exigencies in the old age.
While celebrating the 7th anniversary of the Scheme, Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said, “One of the main objectives under the National Mission for Financial Inclusion announced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on August 15, 2014 was to expand the coverage of insurance and pension in order to provide the poor and marginalised sections of the society the much-needed financial security through affordable products.”
The schemes have seen significant growth in terms of the cumulative number of women enrolled in these schemes. Greater number of women beneficiaries are joining the demand-driven Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana with over 13.68 crore enrollment as of 2021.
A glance at the main features and achievements of the schemes which have acted as the pillars to provide easy access to security and insurance:
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)
PMSBY is a one-year accidental insurance scheme renewable from year to year offering coverage for death or disability due to accident.The scheme is administered through both public and private sector insurance companies in tie-up with scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks.
Individuals in the age group of 18-70 years having a savings bank or a post office account are entitled to enrol under the scheme. The premium amount is Rs.12 per annum per member and will be auto-debited from the account of the holder. The premium is a nominal amount to encourage the weaker sections to participate in the scheme.
Accidental death cum disability cover of Rs.2 lakh (Rs.1 lakh in case of partial disability) for death or disability due to an accident. As on 27.04.2022, the cumulative enrolments under the scheme have been more than 28.37 crore and an amount of Rs. 1,930 crore has been paid for 97,227 claims.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)
PMJJBY is a one-year life insurance scheme renewable from year to year offering coverage for death due to any reason. The scheme is administered through both public and private sector insurance companies in tie-up with scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks.
Individuals in the age group of 18-50 years having a savings bank or a post office account are entitled to enrol under the scheme. People who join the scheme before completing 50 years of age can continue to have the risk of life covered up to age of 55 years upon payment of premium.
Life cover of Rs. 2 Lakh in case of death due to any reason against a premium of Rs. 330/- per annum. The cumulative enrolments under the scheme have been more than 12.76 crore and an amount of Rs. 11,522 crore has been paid for 5,76,121 claims. The government has stressed heavily on the insurance sector as previously a larger section of the populace did not have access to insurance coverage. With the target to include the poor and the underprivileged section of the society, this social security scheme was envisaged to foster the spirit of inclusive growth tandem with the vision
of ‘Sabke Saath Sab ka Vikas’
Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) was launched to create a universal social security
system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged and the workers in the
unorganised sector.
It is an initiative of the Government to provide financial security and cover future exigencies for the people in the unorganized sector. APY is administered by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) under the overall administrative and institutional architecture of the National Pension System (NPS).
APY is open to all bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 40 years and the contributions differ, based on pension amount chosen. Subscribers would receive the guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs. 1000 or Rs. 2000 or Rs. 3000 or Rs. 4000 or Rs. 5000 at the age of 60 years, based on the contributions made by the subscriber after joining the scheme.
The minimum pension would be guaranteed by the Government, i.e., if the accumulated corpus based on contributions earns a lower than estimated return on investment and is inadequate to provide the minimum guaranteed pension, the Central Government would fund such inadequacy. Alternatively, if the returns on investment are higher, the subscribers would get enhanced pensionary benefits.
More than 99 lakh APY accounts were opened during FY2021-22, taking the number of subscribers to 4.01 crore at end-March 2022, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said. Around 71% of the enrolments are done by public sector banks (PSBs), 19% by regional rural banks (RRBs), 6% by private sector banks, 3% by payment and small finance banks (SFBs).
9 state-level banker’s committees (SLBCs) — Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Tripura achieved annual targets under APY. Around 44% of subscribers are female while 56 per cent are male subscribers. Further, 45% of APY subscribers are aged between 18 and 25 years.
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