Six lakh Haryana farmers covered under PMFB Yogna

CHANDIGARH, AUG 12

About six lakh farmers have been covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in Haryana up to August 5, 2016, and the state government has asked the bankers to take immediate steps to solve the problems faced by the farmers.

This was disclosed by the Chief Secretary, Mr D.S. Dhesi, while addressing the 137th meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), here today. The SLBC is convened to take stock of the schemes being implemented by banks and apprise the bankers about the various initiatives taken by the state government.

Mr Dhesi said the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, had taken up the agenda of financial inclusion as a national programme under which bankers, through the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), came in direct contact with the common man and the poorest of the poor.

     He disclosed that with de-duplication of Aadhaar numbers, the state government had been able to save Rs 304 crore. Presently, approximately Rs 471 crore is being disbursed every month through banks under the DBT.
          The state government has identified 73 schemes to be implemented through the DBT route under which funds to the tune of Rs 5,900 crore would be disbursed during 2016-17. He made special mention of the PMFBY for which the notification was issued on June 17, 2016 and has been implemented for Kharif 2016 season.

Though time was short, the bankers had provided insurance cover under PMFBY to about six lakh farmers up to August 5, 2016. Mr Dhesi asked the bankers to take stock of the difficulties and initiate corrective measures to build confidence among the farmers. 

There is a big gap in the seeding of Aadhaar numbers for disbursing payment to pensioners. The number of pensioners is quite large (approximately 23 lakh) and there is need to Aadhaar-link them to check leakages, he said.

Common Service Centres are being set up under the National Optic Fibre Network Programme of the Government of India to  facilitate services like payment of bills, applying for various certificates to be issued by the state government, online issuance of passports etc. The state is also setting up state residents’ data base which would provide information about every resident and benefits being availed by him will be available.

Mr Dhesi assured the bankers full support of the state government and promised to address the problems faced by them.

Speaking on the occasion, the Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Chandigarh, Mr Nirmal Chand, said that financial literacy programme had an important role to play in achieving financial inclusion and financial empowerment of people by creating awareness about the services and facilities being extended by banks. as many as 122 financial literacy centres run by banks are imparting such education to the public in the state.

Those present at the meeting included Additional Chief Secretary, Finance and Planning, Mr Sanjeev Kaushal, Deputy Director General, UIDAI, Mr Ram Subhag Singh, Principal Secretary, Social Justice  and Empowerment Department, Mr Amit Jha, Special Secretary, Finance, Mr C.G. Rajini Kaanthanan, Special Secretary, Electronics and IT Department, Mr A. Sreenivas, Managing Director, HARTRON, Mr Sunil Sharan and Chief General Manager, NABARD, Regional Office, Haryana, Mr P C Chaudhri.