NITI Aayog to assess four flagship insurance and entrepreneurship programs

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Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Stand-up India Scheme (SUPI) will come under an assessment exercise by the NITI Aayog soon, The Economic Times has reported. The Development, Monitoring and Evaluation office of the Centre’s think tank will begin evaluation of these four schemes that function under the aegis of the department of financial services of the ministry of finance.

The PMJDY was rolled out in 2014, the PMJJBY and PMSBY in 2015 and SUPI was launched in 2016.

The central objective of this exercise is to find out the reach and extent of benefits to the targeted population. The NITI Aayog will also try to find out whether the government should increase the benefits under the insurance scheme.

Significantly, the government has set out a goal of insurance for all by 2047, whereby every citizen should have a proper cover for life, health and property by the centenary year of the nation’s independence.

The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office has already invited bids for undertaking the evaluation of the schemes. The time allotted for the job is six months after the project has been awarded.

The studies have to extend back to the year of rolling out of each project. The data will be based on both primary field-level research as well as secondary stage study.

The Jan Dhan Yojana has more than 50 crore beneficiaries which is more than the entire population of the US and Russia combined.

As of June 28, 2023, the number of beneficiaries of PMJJBY was more than 16.92 crore, and that of PMSBY 36.17 crore.

Loans were disbursed to more than 1.8 lakh accounts till March 21, 2023 under the SUPI scheme.

The idea of evaluating PMJDY includes assessment of the scheme in terms of access, usage and quality of banking services to the targeted population, assessing the role of financial service providers such as banks and their correspondents. The exercise will also identify gaps in design of the schemes, implementation, output, etc. from the perspective of the beneficiary and service providers.