Utilising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet scheme, the Jan Dhan Yojna, the home ministry has asked all states to transfer the relief meant for distraught farmers to bank accounts opened under the scheme.
A 11-page letter written by the MHA to state governments on April 8 said under the State Disaster Response Fund, crop damage of even 33% would qualify for compensation. The family of a deceased farmer would now get Rs 4 lakh as relief. “The state governments are to take utmost care and ensure that all individual beneficiary-oriented assistance is necessary/mandatory disbursed through the bank account (viz. Jan Dhan Yojana etc) of the beneficiary,” the MHA letter, marked to all state chief secretaries and state relief commissioners, has specified.
A top home ministry official said direct disbursement of the compensation into the farmers’ bank accounts would check pilferage and ensure compensation does reach the affected.
“Lakhs of new accounts, mostly in rural belt, have been opened under the Jan Dhan Yojna since last August. Some farmers may have had bank accounts since earlier. States can use these accounts for effective disbursal to lakhs of farmers across India,” the ministry official said.
He added that the J&K government was also advised to disburse the compensation to the floodstruck people in the state through the Jan Dhan Yojna accounts. “But that was a one state-specific drive.
The utility of the Jan Dhan Yojna accounts to disburse compensation to farmers across India could be its biggest utility,” the official said. He added that the ministry had specified that the same template be followed by the states to disburse compensation in any case of natural disaster in the future.
