More benefits under Jan Dhan yojana

The Central government has decided to double the overdraft facility in Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana to Rs 10,000 and the accident insurance to Rs 2 lakh, in a move to bring more persons into its financial inclusion schemes. “To make the scheme more attractive, the government has decided to double the overdraft facility from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000,” finance minister Arun Jaitley told reporters. He said the scheme has been a “runway success”, and the government has now decided to make it an open-ended one, meaning it will continue indefinitely. The PMJDY was launched in August 2014 for a period of four years as a national mission for financial inclusion to ensure the access of financial services such as bank accounts, insurance and pensions to the masses. The move is based on a report submitted by the steering committee of the National Financial Inclusion Mission that had suggested to the government to modify the overdraft facility so that more people avail themselves of the scheme and the per head overdraft amount goes up substantially. Meanwhile, accident insurance under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana after August 28 has been doubled and will have a limit of Rs 2 lakh.