| Updated: Aug 16 2014, 01:41 IST
SUMMARY
In his maiden Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which will provided a bank account
In his maiden Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which will provided a bank account with the facility of a debit card and a built-in insurance cover of R1 lakh to every poor family.
Similarly, in Rajasthan, chief minister Vasundhara Raje launched Bhamashah, a financial inclusion and government benefits delivery scheme. Under the scheme, bank accounts in the name of women of 1.5 crore families will be opened and all government benefits like social security and scholarships will be directly transferred to their accounts. In 2008, the state government had rolled out the Bhamashah programme. It collected biometric data of 44 lakh families and opened 26 lakh bank accounts and R160 crore was transferred to 10 lakh accounts. The programme was put on hold after the change of government in the state.
Both the schemes are aimed at financial inclusion and Aadhaar could play an important role in their implementation. These programmes will have to be scaled up to the level suggested by former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani to include all subsidies and government entitlements. A Barclays research estimates that Aadhaar-based direct transfer of benefits and subsidies could reduce leakage of over R30,000 crore in the central schemes annually by 2020.