Daleep Pandita
Ordinary man entering the bank premises for opening a bank account was asked by the banker “which type of account is to be opened” probably meaning savings, current or recurring account. Neither knowing the type of account nor procedure for opening the same, the poor man wants to open a much heard “Modi account”. He only knows that now there is some benefit associated with opening of a new bank account. This is the ground level effect of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) recently launched by the Prime Minister of India. What is that underlying advantage of opening a new account under this scheme….wants a common citizen of India to know about?
Government has advised the banking and allied sectors to go all out for creating wide spread mass awareness of this PMJDY and open maximum number of bank accounts. Various camps are being organized, different days are being fixed and man power ear marked for accomplishing this task and achieving the targets within shortest possible time. Due publicity is being given to this new concept in banking operations. Accordingly by and large people have slowly started knowing and understanding various aspects of this scheme.
Still lot needs to be done to clearly and completely propagate the real benefits of this scheme. These advantages need to be effectively percolated down to the masses especially to the uneducated rural poor and women folk. Insurance coverage of the account holder constitute one of the important components of this Yojna. Although banking benefits of this scheme can be obtained directly from the banker itself at the time of opening the bank account but insurance advantages also need to be clarified subsequently. So who and how one is covered, payment of its premium, coverages of this policy, claim documents and procedure for claiming its compensation are some of the vital issues, which need to be explained under this scheme.
Under PMJDY , any bank account holder, who also gets a RuPay debit Card after opening the account, is entitled to an inbuilt Personal Accident Insurance cover for an amount of rupees one lakh. This insurance cover is effective through Government of India owned four Public Sector General Insurance Companies. Insurance of only account holder is covered under this scheme that is effective from the day of opening of bank account.
It is valid for 24 hours and all over India, be it at work place or at home. No document or any medical examination is required for taking this insurance policy. This insurance cover of rupees one lakh is fixed for all categories and can not be increased or decreased. There is no upper age limit for taking this insurance cover but it is not applicable for minors as they can not open a bank account. It is neither status oriented nor income based. Also it does not have any relation with the occupation of account holder.
Basically it is a benefit insurance policy having wider coverages. It covers death of an account holder, due to all types of accidents, be it a natural calamity like earthquake, flood, storm, lightening, landside, inundation or man made disasters like fire, terrorist attacks, civil commotion etc. It also covers any type of rail or road accident, snake bite, electric shock, drowning, roof fall and many more, only the causes of which should be classified under the ambit of an accident. It does not cover death arising out of any unlawful and criminal activity, suicide, intentional killing or as specified and excluded in this policy. It also does not cover any disability whether temporary or permanent in nature.
At the time of death of a beneficiary due to an accident, in addition to timely information to the bank, the main claim supporting document that is to be submitted is post-mortem examination report of deceased. It establishes the cause of death and is the main document to be provided by the nominee of the insured account holder in addition to other claim supporting papers, if any. Claim documents are to be deposited by the claimant with the concerned bank only, who in turn gets the compensation amount from the designated insurance company. This claim amount is transferred in to the nominee’s bank account by the bank itself. Normally the intimation of death and submission of claim documents are to be deposited with the bank within reasonable time period without unexpected delay. This claim amount is payable without any tax deductions. No medical or any other expenses incurred on beneficiary due to cause of accident are reimbursable under this scheme. Only one claim per person is admissible and payable under the provisions of this Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna. The existing bank account holders can seed their Aadhar Number with their banker to avail direct benefit transfer besides getting insurance cover and other advantages like payment of pension etc.
