Modi@8: Eight flagship schemes of PM Narendra Modi government and how they changed India

The last eight years of the Modi-government saw launch and successful implementation of the several schemes that are providing direct benefit to beneficiaries cross-sections of the society

Elaborate preparations are underway as Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the Centre completes its eighth year in office on 26 May. PM Modi has said that the tenure has been dedicated to the country’s balanced development, social justice and social security.

The last eight years of the Modi-government saw launch and successful implementation of the several schemes that are providing direct benefit to beneficiaries cross-sections of the society.

Let’s take a look at eight flagship schemes launched by the Narendra Modi-led government since 2014

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION

It was in 2014 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to eliminate open defecation from across India. Under the mission, toilets have been built by the government in more than 11.5 crore households. In the Union Budget 2022-23, the Centre has allocated Rs 7,192 crore for the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural), while Rs 1,41,678 crore will be spent during 2021-2026 for the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).

The second phase of Swachh Bharat mission was launched by PM Modi in October last year with an aim to make all cities ‘garbage free’, make all urban local bodies open defecation free and those with a population of less than 1 lakh as open defecation free, thereby achieving the vision of safe sanitation in urban areas.

The mission will focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilising the principles of 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), scientific processing of all types of municipal solid waste and remediation of legacy dumpsites for effective solid waste management.

JAN DHAN YOJANA

The flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech in 2014 from the ramparts of the Red Fort. The primary objective of the scheme has been to ensure access to financial products and services at an affordable cost.

Benefits include scholarships, subsidies, pensions, and COVID relief funds are credited to the bank accounts, including Jan Dhan Accounts, through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

Till 9 January, 2022, deposits in bank accounts opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana surpassed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark. As per the data by the Finance Ministry, the total balance in over 44.23 crore PMJDY accounts stood at Rs 1,50,939.36 crore at December end, 2021.

As per the data, of the total 44.23 crore accounts, 34.9 crore were with the public sector banks, 8.05 crore with regional rural banks, and the rest 1.28 crore with private sector banks. As per the data, 29.54 crore Jan Dhan accounts were held in rural and semi-urban bank branches. Nearly 24.61 crore account holders were women as of December 29, 2021. During the first year of the scheme 17.90 crore PMJDY accounts were opened.

It is worth mentioning that according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guideline, it is not mandatory to maintain minimum balance in Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts, including Jan Dhan accounts. Depending upon transactions carried out by a Jan Dhan account holder, the balance in any Jan Dhan accounts can vary on a day-to-day basis, and may even become zero on a particular day.

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INSURANCE & PENSION SCHEME

In a bid to expand the level of insurance penetration in the country and to make insurance cover accessible to common man, especially poor and the under-privileged sections of the society, the government in 2015 launched the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).

PMJJBY offers life insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh, while PMSBY offers accidental death or total permanent disability cover of Rs 2 lakh and permanent partial disability cover of Rs 1 lakh.

In December last year, the government informed the Parliament that 5,12,915 claims amounting to Rs 10,258 crore and 92,266 claims amounting to Rs 1,797 crore were disbursed under PMJJBY and PMSBY, respectively as of October 27, 2021.

The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is based on defined benefit for providing a guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000/ Rs 2,000/ Rs 3,000/ Rs 4,000/ Rs 5,000 at the age of 60 years based on the pension amount chosen.

The scheme is available to account-holders between the age of 18 and 40 and offers a minimum guaranteed monthly pension of between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000, depending on the customer’s contribution which starts at as low as Rs 42 per month.

In addition, the spouse gets a monthly pension after the death of the subscriber and the nominee gets the corpus amount of up to Rs 8.5 lakh in the event of the death of the subscriber and the spouse.

According to the APY rules, from the age of 60 years, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000 – Rs 5,000 every month, depending upon his contribution. The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.

MUDRA YOJANA

The flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), provides loans of up to Rs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs. The loans are being given by banks, small finance banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and microfinance institutions. The scheme aims to strengthen forward and backward linkages for robust value chains anchored by industries, aggregators, franchisors and associations.

On 8 April, 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said more than 34.42 crore beneficiaries have received Rs 18.60 lakh crore loan under the scheme. More than 68 per cent of the loan accounts have been sanctioned to women and 22 per cent of the loans have been given to new entrepreneurs who had not availed any loan since the inception of the scheme, she further said.

PRADHAN MANTRI AWAS YOJANA

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) aims to ensure “housing for all by 2022”. In Budget 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced allocation of Rs 48,000 crore for completion of 80 lakh houses under the flagship scheme, both rural and urban, during the next fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the Economy Survey 2022 highlighted that 33.99 lakh houses were completed in 2020-21 and 26.20 lakh units as on November 25, 2021 under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) programme.

For the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U), the survey noted that 14.56 lakh houses were completed in FY21. In 2021-22, 4.49 lakh houses were completed till December 2021.

UJJWALA YOJANA

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, the scheme that assures free LPG connection, was launched in 2016. Under the flagship scheme millions of households have got access to cooking gas cylinders without consumers having to pay a deposit to fuel retailers. Such is the success of the scheme that it has enabled 80 million Indian women to lead healthy lives as they no longer have to use smoky chullha or stoves.

At the time of the launch of the scheme, the government had set a target of providing LPG connections to 5 crore women from below poverty line (BPL) households. In April 2018, the scheme was expanded and included women beneficiaries from seven more categories including SC and ST communities and forest-dwellers.

The target was also revised to eight crore LPG connections, achieved seven months ahead of schedule in August 2019.

Last year in August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Ujjwala 2.0 in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, This assures 1 crore additional connections to low-income families who could not be covered under the earlier phase of PMUY.

Along with a deposit-free LPG connection, Ujjwala 2.0 will provide first refill and hotplate free of cost to the beneficiaries. The enrolment procedure will require minimum paperwork and in Ujjwala 2.0, migrants will not be required to submit ration cards or address proof.

It is believed that the BJP’s second consecutive win, with a thumping majority, in 2019 Lok Sabha elections was largely attributed to the Ujjwala scheme and the yojana also played a pivotal role in historic return of the party to power in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls 2022.

AYUSHMAN BHARAT

In September 2018, PM Modi launched healthcare scheme named Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) Ayushman Bharat. It is being recognised as the the biggest government-sponsored healthcare scheme in the world and it aims at providing health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family every year to more than 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families. The beneficiaries of PM-JAY belong to the most deprived 40 per cent of the Indian population.

Though the scheme is fully funded by the Central government, implementation costs are shared between the Centre and state governments. The scheme also covers three-day expenses pre-hospitalisation and 15 days post-hospitalisation, including the costs of tests and medicines. PM-JAY services include around 1,393 procedures and all the pre-existing conditions are covered from the very first day.

Last year, on the third anniversary of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana rollout, PM Modi had also launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, under which a digital health ID will be provided to people that will contain their health records.

In March 2022, the government told Parliament that no beneficiary of the scheme has been denied treatment due to lack of funds and that the scheme’s revised budget was slashed due to lower requirement from states. The budget estimates for the scheme for 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 wad Rs 6,400 crore each year against which the revised estimate was Rs 3,200 crore, Rs 3,100 crore and Rs 3,199 crore, respectively.

KISAN SAMMAN NIDHI

The government scheme for farmers, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), was announced in February 2019 Union Budget. It assures financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year to the eligible farmer families, payable in three equal installments of Rs 2,000. The money is transferred directly to the bank account of the beneficiaries.

On 1 January, 2022, PM Modi released over Rs 20,900 crore to more than 10.09 crore farmers across India as the 10th installment of the financial aid under the scheme.

With the released latest tranche, the total amount provided under the scheme has touched about Rs 1.8 lakh crore.

With inputs from agencies

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