HYDERABAD / RAJAHMUNDRY: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday launched the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious national mission for financial inclusion Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) at Rajahmundry, while Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu launched the scheme in Hyderabad.
Both Chandrababu Naidu and Venkaiah said that PMJDY would help in bringing the poor to the mainstream of growth and channelising all the benefits of the government schemes to the beneficiaries.
Speaking after launching the PMJDY, Venkaiah Naidu said the scheme would not only help in taking the benefits of various schemes and programmes being launched by the Centre and State government to the people but it will also help in bringing down corruption.
Objective of PMJDY is to ensure access to various financial services like availability of saving bank account, access to need based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension to weaker sections and low income groups, he pointed out.
Chandrababu Naidu said the scheme would bring radical reforms in the country and help in eradicating poverty and make people financially independent.
He said the State was passing through a difficult phase and there was a need for schemes like PMJDY to support the State in taking up welfare programmes for the downtrodden.
Reiterating his government’s commitment to fulfil all poll promises, Naidu said though the banks were not cooperating with the state government he would see that all the crop loans taken by farmers are waived. He praised Prime Minister Modi for his initiatives and expressed the hope that he would extend help to the State in all initiatives.
Venkaiah Naidu said according to 2011 census only 54.46 per cent rural households and 67.68 per cent households were availing banking services in the country. In the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh total number of household holding bank accounts were 11163283 and financial inclusion was 53.1 per cent and as many as 9861251 households needed to open bank account, he said.
Exclusion of such large segments of the society from financial services affects the overall economic growth of a country hence the centre was making all out effort to bring these segment to the mainstream of growth, he remarked.
Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender urged the Centre to increase the insurance coverage being provided under the scheme from ` 1 lakh to ` 2 lakh and the overdraft amount from ` 5,000 to ` 10,000. Many people who opened their savings accounts with various banks were given bank kits on the occasion.