Guwahati:

 In an attempt to link the Aadhaar Card with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Assam government on Wednesday decided that all applications to get the unique identity card will be rejected if the applicant or the family had not applied in NRC.

The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting in view of an infiltration attempt by citizens of trouble-hit Bangladesh, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at a press conference here.

“Scores of infiltrators have been arrested by Assam Police, Tripura Police and BSF in the last two months. That is why infiltration from Bangladesh is a concern for us. We need to strengthen our system and that is why we decided to toughen the Aadhaar Card mechanism,” he added.

From now on, the General Administration Department of the state government will be the nodal agency to carry out the verification of the Aadhaar applicants and one Additional District Commissioner will be the concerned person in every district, Sarma said after the Cabinet meeting.

“After the initial application, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will send it to the state government for verification. The local Circle Officer (CO) will first check if the applicant or his parents or family had applied for inclusion in the NRC,” he added.

If there was no application for the NRC, then the Aadhaar request will be immediately rejected and a report will be submitted to the Centre accordingly, the CM said.

“If it is found that there was an application for NRC, the CO will go for field-level verification as per Supreme Court directives. After the officer is fully convinced, the Aadhaar will be approved,” he added.

Mr Sarma, however, said this new directive would not be applicable to the central government employees, who were working in other states and did not apply for the NRC.

“In this way, we will enforce a strict mechanism to strengthen our Aadhaar issuance system so that no doubtful people can get this identity card,” he added.

According to the new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) approved by the Cabinet, the state government will verify the submitted documents and return them to UIDAI online within 45 days of receipt.

The final NRC was released on August 31, 2019 by excluding 19,06,657 persons. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.

On the other decisions taken by the Cabinet, Mr Sarma said the manual system of accepting land revenue has been reintroduced in view of difficulties faced by small landholders in the state.

“We had made all land payments digital last year. However, farmers and many poor landowners faced difficulties in paying taxes online. So, the manual system will continue along with the digital mode,” he added.

The Cabinet also approved waiver of renewal fees under the Societies Registration Act to facilitate application for allotment of land under Mission Basundhara 3.0 scheme for social institutions like ‘Namghar’ (a place of worship for Vaishnavite followers), religious establishments, clubs and other centres, the CM said.

The Assam government in February launched the third phase of ‘Mission Basundhara, which will ease rules for providing land rights to indigenous communities, give land ownership to organisations and provide settlement of land acquired from religious institutions, among others.

“The requirement of chartered accountant certificate for audit of last three years is also waived in such cases,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) which completed ten years of its implementation on Wednesday has had a profound impact on every corner of the country.

The scheme launched in 2014, has proven to be the foundation stone in bringing over 80 per cent of Indian women under the ambit of financial inclusion. A significant boost in the bank account ownership of women in a decade, it has gone up from just 26 per cent in 2011 to 78 per cent in 2021.

Out of the total 53.13 crore Jan Dhan accounts over 30 crore are women’s accounts. Over 35 crore of the Jan Dhan account hail from rural or semi-urban areas. PM Jan Dhana Yojana has diminished the rural-urban divide in terms of bank accounts. The percentage of households that have a bank account or a post office account is now almost the same in urban and rural areas, 95 per cent vs 96 per cent respectively.

PM Jan Dhan Yojana has also bridged the gender gap in access to financial services. The gender gap in accessing financial services was 20 per cent in 2011, and it has been reduced to 6 per cent in 2017 which was less than the Global gap of 9 per cent.

PMJDY has other benefits as well in terms of financial inclusion. As of August 2024, over 36.13 crores of RuPay debit cards are issued without any cost to Jan Dhan account holders. The RuPay debit card is free of cost, it gives an insurance benefit of Rs 2 lakh along with an overdraft facility of up to Rs 10,000 to every cardholder.

The government’s focus on Digital Public infrastructure along with the trinity of Aadhar cards, mobile penetration and Jan Dhan accounts, the JAM trinity has propelled the financial inclusion rate from 25 per cent in 2008 to over 80 per cent of adults in the last 6 years.

PMJDY has been the foundation stone for many more people-centric economic initiatives. Whether it is direct benefit transfers, COVID-19 financial assistance, PM-KISAN, increased wages under MGNREGA, or life and health insurance coverage.

An SBI report in 2021 observed that states with higher PMJDY account balances saw a drop in crime rates and reduced alcohol and tobacco consumption, highlighting the program’s positive social impact.

The Jan Dhan Yojana has garnered global praise for its transformative impact on financial inclusion in India.

In 2023, a G20 report by the World Bank reveals that India has achieved its financial inclusion goals in just 6 years, a feat that would have taken 47 years without its advanced Digital Public Infrastructure.

India has surpassed China in financial inclusion metrics says the SBI report of 2021. Mobile and Internet banking transactions soared to 13,615 per 1,000 adults in 2020, up from 183 in 2015, while the number of bank branches per 100,000 adults rose to 14.7, exceeding those in Germany, China, and South Africa.

India’s account ownership more than doubled from 35 per cent in 2011 to 78 per cent in 2021. All these are because of the government’s various initiatives for financial inclusion.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)