Jan Suraksha Schemes: An innovative tool for securing the masses in India

Developing countries like India need affordable and sustainable basic financial services to be extended to poor people. Poverty which is conceived in terms of financial constraints, lack of services and capability deprivation requires welfare-oriented and subsidised programmes to ensure improvement in the quality of life. Recently, the introduction of social security schemes in 2015 under ‘National Mission on Financial Inclusion’ has been a great move towards securing the masses and presenting an inclusive framework for universal social security in India. The schemes constituted of two life insurance schemes and a pension scheme. The two life insurance schemes-Pradhan Mantri Suraksha BimaYojna (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti BimaYojna (PMJJBY) have so far achieved a praiseworthy performance of 21.39 Cr gross enrolments till Dec 2019. However, the paper attempts to assess the performance of these two schemeswith respect to Jan-Dhan accounts. The paper has further attempted to assess the levels of participation of banks in the execution of schemes. It recommends the need for insurance companies to play some direct role and more active role of banks to expand Jan Suraksha schemes outreach among poor and workers in informal sectoras a prerequisite for inclusive growth.