Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said the Jan Dhan Yojana was a UPA-era scheme that was “renamed” by the Modi government, and asserted that several million accounts were opened between 2005 and 2014. The former finance minister’s remarks came a day after the government marked completion of 10 years of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana with Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing the scheme.
Chidambaram said the RBI governor who conceived of the idea was C Rangarajan. In 2005, when the ‘No Frills Account’ or ‘Zero Balance Account’ was rolled out, the governor was Dr Y V Reddy, he said. “Dr Reddy was succeeded by Dr Subba Rao. All the past governors deserve credit for introducing the scheme. It was renamed as Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) in 2012,” he said in a statement.
The UPA-era scheme was renamed as Jan Dhan Yojana by the Modi government, Chidambaram said. Several million accounts were opened between 2005 and 2014, he said. As the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana completed 10 years, Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday said the scheme personifies dignity, empowerment and the opportunity to participate in the economic life of the nation.
He also hailed those who worked to make the Jan Dhan Yojana a success, and said the scheme has been paramount in boosting financial inclusion. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is a national mission on financial inclusion encompassing an integrated approach to bring about comprehensive financial inclusion of all the households in the country.