10 Policy Initiatives That Matter

- Sutanu GuruC

1: JAN DHAN YOJANA

ONE of the most used and abused terms in liberal circles is “inclusive growth”. A corollary to this is the concept of financial inclusion. Gandhi family loyalists in liberal circles still sing praises in the name of Indira Gandhi for her bold 1969 policy move to “nationalise” banks as a master stroke that would help the poor. The same set of liberals prefer to maintain a thundering silence when there is any talk of arguably the most game changing policy initiatives of this regime: the Jan Dhan Yojana, which is basically a scheme to encourage poor Indians to open no-frills savings accounts in banks. For two years and more, after it was launched in 2014, most liberals scoffed at the policy. Newspapers, magazines and TV debates harped on about how the disproportionately high percentage of accounts with zero balances made a mockery of the scheme. Many suggested that the poor illiterate and ignorant Indians were hoodwinked into opening these accounts because they were promised bags of free cash. That is just an odious example of how liberals who claim to think and work for the poor actually look down upon the poor and think they are collectively stupid. Drop the partisan lens and you will see, the Jan Dhan Yojana has been a spectacular success. Close to 30 crore new accounts have been opened. Millions of poor Indians have realised much to their delight that money from social welfare schemes has started flowing directly into their accounts instead of being looted by middlemen. Once the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) push becomes a reality in due course, this policy will become a milestone in contemporary Indian discourse.

2: UJJWALA