Govt set to tweak social security schemes to make them more appealing to masses

The government, which is looking to push the social security schemes under the Jan Suraksha umbrella, could bring in changes in these programmes to make them more saleable. The Prime Minister’s Office along with the finance ministry is looking into the matter,a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified, told HT.

Besides, it is also focussing on increasing financial literacy, especially among the unbanked population, through new programmes. Until now, over 6,58,000 individuals have participated in these financial literacy programmes held under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and the Jan Suraksha plan.

“We have asked banks and insurance companies to undertake a massive drive to increase financial literacy among the unbanked population..until that is done, the social security programmes will not yield the kind of results they can,” said the official quoted above.

The government has also directed banks and insurance companies to speed up claim settlements for all insurance schemes linked to such plans.

“The government is monitoring the schemes and banks have been advised to fix settlements at the earliest with minimum documentation,” an executive director with a public sector bank told HT.

A few of these schemes have had some teething problems. The Atal Pension Yojana, for one, has not taken off the way it was anticipated. The scheme will be made available for a larger section of the society as the government is set to raise the upper age limit for people to 50 years from the current 40.

Besides, sources also said that the maximum pension a subscriber is entitled to receive could also be increased from the current Rs 5,000.

Social Security Schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, besides APY, were launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2015.