New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said on the completion of 10 years of ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ that this scheme is a symbol of respect, empowerment and opportunity to participate in the economic life of the nation. Modi also praised those who worked to make Jan Dhan Yojana a success and said that this scheme has been important in promoting financial inclusion.
The Prime Minister wrote on his official account on the social media platform ‘X’, “Today is a historic day … Jan Dhan Yojana has completed 10 years. Best wishes to all the beneficiaries and many congratulations to all those who worked day and night to make this scheme a success.” He said that Jan Dhan Yojana has been at the forefront of promoting financial inclusion and giving respect to crores of people, especially women, youth and deprived communities.
The Prime Minister later wrote on the professional platform ‘LinkedIn’, “Today marks a decade since the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and this initiative is not just a policy. It is an attempt to build an India where every citizen, regardless of his economic background, has access to the formal banking system.”
Modi said, “Many of you, especially the youth, must be thinking… why is this so important? After all, in this day and age, having a bank account is a very basic thing and is considered a normal thing. However, when we assumed power in 2014, the situation was very different. It had been nearly 65 years since independence, but access to the banking system was a distant dream for almost half of our families.” He said that their world was such where savings were kept at home, which was prone to being lost or stolen.
Modi said, “Access to loans was at the mercy of ‘moneylenders’. Many dreams could not be fulfilled due to lack of financial security.” He said, “When the Jan Dhan Yojana was started, I remember that there was a state of doubt about it too. Some people had asked – is it really possible to bring such a large number of people into the banking system? Will this effort bring any concrete change? Yes. The challenges were quite extensive but the determination of the people of India to make it a reality was equally great.” Modi said that the success of the Jan Dhan Yojana has two aspects. One aspect is that more than 53 crore people had never thought that they would be able to join the banking system but now they have bank accounts.
He said that more than Rs 2.3 lakh crore is deposited in these accounts. The Prime Minister said that more than 65 percent of the accounts are in rural or semi-urban areas, due to which the process of financial inclusion is not limited to metros. Direct transfer of about Rs 39 lakh crore has been done.
He said, “But the other aspect is far beyond the impressive figures. As far as women empowerment is concerned, Jan Dhan Yojana has proved to be transformative. Nearly 30 crore women have been brought into the banking system.” Modi said that similarly, the benefits of this scheme and other benefits received through a bank account have positively impacted crores of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class families.
The Prime Minister said that Jan Dhan has become an important pillar of the ‘JAM’ trinity – Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, launched on this day in 2014, is a national mission on financial inclusion. The scheme aims to ensure access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every family, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension facilities. Modi said that those who doubted the relevance of a scheme like Jan Dhan are once again mocking the need for digital payments in a country like ours.
He said, “But, once again, he underestimated the collective resolve of our people. Today the whole world knows the success story of India’s digital payments. More than 40 percent of the world’s instant digital payments happen in India.” Foreign Minister S Jaishankar shared this post of Modi on ‘X’ and praised the completion of 10 years of the scheme. Jaishankar said, “The world’s largest financial inclusion initiative ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ has completed 10 years of success. The transformative impact of this scheme on financial inclusion, women empowerment, access to credit, UPI and digital services are important steps in the journey of developed India.”