Social Security Schemes in India | PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY Completes Seven Years

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Social Security Schemes in India- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes.

Social Security Schemes in India in News

Recently, the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) completed 7 years of providing social security net to the vulnerable sections of India Population.
PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY schemes have provided affordable insurance and security to people (Jan Suraksha) of India.

Key Points about PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY

Launch: PMJJBY, PMSBY andAPY were launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 9^th May, 2015 from Kolkata, West Bengal.
About: These three social security schemes are dedicated to the welfare of the citizens, recognising the need for securing human life from unforeseen risks/losses and financial uncertainties.
- PMJJBY and PMSBY provide access to low cost life/accidental insurance cover to the people,
- APY provides an opportunity for saving in the present for getting a regular pension in old age.
Mandate: In order to ensure that the people from the unorganised section of the country are financially secure, the Government launched-
- Two insurance schemes
  - Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and
  - Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)
- Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to cover the exigencies in the old age.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Beema Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojana (PMJJBY)

Features and Achievement of Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)

About PMJJBY Scheme: PMJJBY is a one-year life insurance scheme renewable from year to year offering coverage for death due to any reason.
PMJJBY Eligibility: Individuals in the age group of 18-50 years having a savings bank or a post office account are entitled to enroll under the scheme.
- People who join the scheme before completing 50 years of age can continue to have the risk of life covered up to age of 55 years upon payment of premium.
PMJJBY Benefits: Life cover of Rs. 2 Lakh in case of death due to any reason against a premium of Rs. 330/- per annum.
PMJJBY Enrolment: Enrolments under the scheme can be done by visiting the branch/ BC point or website of the bank of the account holder or at the post office in case of post office savings bank account.
- The premium under the scheme is auto debited every year from the subscriber’s bank account based on a one-time mandate from the account holder.
PMJJBY Achievements: As on 27.04.2022, the cumulative enrolments under the scheme have been more than 12.76 crore and an amount of Rs. 11,522 crore has been paid for 5,76,121 claims.

Atal Pension Yojana

Feature and Achievements of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)

PMSBY Scheme: PMSBY is a one-year accidental insurance scheme renewable from year to year offering coverage for death or disability due to accident.
PMSBY Eligibility: Individuals in the age group of 18-70 years having a savings bank or a post office account are entitled to enroll under the scheme.
PMSBY Benefits: Accidental death cum disability cover of Rs.2 lakh (Rs.1 lakh in case of partial disability) for death or disability due to an accident.
PMSBY Enrolment: Enrolment under the scheme can be done by visiting the branch/ BC point or website of the bank of the account holder or at the post office in case of post office savings bank account.
- The premium under the scheme is auto debited every year from the subscriber’s bank account based on a one-time mandate from the account holder.
PMSBY Achievements: As on 27.04.2022, the cumulative enrolments under the scheme have been more than 28.37 crore and an amount of Rs. 1,930 crore has been paid for 97,227 claims.

Features and Achievements of Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

Background: The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) was launched to create a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged and the workers in the unorganised sector.
- It is an initiative of the Government to provide financial security and cover future exigencies for the people in the unorganized sector.
- APY is administered by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) under the overall administrative and institutional architecture of the National Pension System (NPS).
APY Eligibility: APY is open to all bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 40 years and the contributions differ, based on pension amount chosen.
APY Benefits: Subscribers would receive the guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs. 1000 or Rs. 2000 or Rs. 3000 or Rs. 4000 or Rs. 5000 at the age of 60 years, based on the contributions made by the subscriber after joining the scheme.
Disbursement of the APY Scheme Benefits: The monthly pension is available to the subscriber, and after him to his spouse .
- After death of subscriber and his/her spouse, the pension corpus, as accumulated at age 60 of the subscriber, would be returned to the nominee of the subscriber.
Contribution by Central Government: The minimum pension would be guaranteed by the Government.
- This means, if, the accumulated corpus based on contributions earns a lower than estimated return on investment and is inadequate to provide the minimum guaranteed pension, the Central Government would fund such inadequacy.
- Alternatively, if the returns on investment are higher, the subscribers would get enhanced pensionary benefits.
Payment frequency: Subscribers can make contributions to APY on monthly/ quarterly / half-yearly basis.
Withdrawal from the Scheme: Subscribers can voluntarily exit from APY subject to certain conditions, on deduction of Government co-contribution and return/interest thereon.
Achievements: As on 27.04.2022 more than 4 crore individuals have subscribed to the scheme.