PM Modi turns 70: Here are his 5 landmark economic policies that changed the life of ordinary Indians

New Delhi: The NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced umpteen policies since coming to power at the Centre in 2014. All these policies are aimed at providing the right opportunity to the ordinary Indian and also to make their lives better.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 70 on Thursday (September 17, 2020). Here's looking at 5 major economic policies that has changed the life of the common man.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana is one of the most remarkable schemes announced by PM Modi to provide financial inclusiveness and support to the marginalized classes. PMJDY was announced by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address on 15th August 2014.

PMJDY is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner. The basic Basic tenets of the scheme involves the following:

Banking the unbanked - Opening of basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) account with minimal paperwork, relaxed KYC, e-KYC, account opening in camp mode, zero balance & zero charges

Securing the unsecured - Issuance of Indigenous Debit cards for cash withdrawals & payments at merchant locations, with free accident insurance coverage of Rs. 2 lakh

Funding the unfunded - Other financial products like micro-insurance, overdraft for consumption, micro-pension & micro-credit

Atal Pension Yojana

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is another flagship social security scheme of the Modi Government. Launched on May 2015, APY completed five years of successful implementation this year. APY aims at delivering old age income security particularly to the workers in the unorganised sector.

APY can be subscribed by any Indian citizen in the age group of 18-40 years having a bank account. APY is a government scheme administered by PFRDA through NPS architecture. The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years. Therefore, minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more. First, it provides a minimum guaranteed pension ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 on attaining 60 years of age. Secondly the amount of pension is guaranteed for lifetime to spouse on death of the subscriber. Third, in the event of death of both the subscriber and the spouse, entire pension corpus is paid to the nominee.

APY has pre-defined monthly contributions. Under the APY, the subscribers would receive the fixed pension of Rs. 1000 per month, Rs. 2000 per month, Rs. 3000 per month, Rs. 4000 per month, Rs. 5000 per month, at the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions, which itself would vary on the age of joining the APY.

Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY)

Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was introduced in Union Budget for FY 2016. MUDRA, which stands for Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Ltd, is a financial institution being set- up by Government of India for development and refinancing micro unit enterprises.

MUDRA is responsible for refinancing all Last Mile Financiers such as Non-Banking Finance Companies, Societies, Trusts, Section 8 Companies, Co-operative Societies, Small Banks, Scheduled Commercial Banks and Regional Rural Banks which are in the business of lending to micro/small business entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and services activities. MUDRA would also partner with State/Regional level financial intermediaries to provide finance to Last Mile Financier of small/micro business enterprises.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

The Modi Government launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched on May 2016 with an aim to provide 8 crore deposit free LPG connections to poor households in the country.  The Scheme's aim was to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households and replace the unhealthy conventional cooking fuels such as firewood, cowdung, etc. However, the target was achieved much ahead of time. Three State owned Oil Marketing Companies i.e. IOCL, BPCL and HPCL have implemented the Scheme in all the States/UTs of the country in a mission mode and achieved the target of 8 crore connections, seven months ahead of the timelines set (March 2020).

Gold Monetisation Scheme

The Modi government had launched Gold Monetisation Scheme in November, 2015. The Gold Monetization Scheme provides different options to the people to monetize the gold, by modifying the existing two schemes, namely, the Gold Deposit Scheme and the Gold Metal Loan Scheme.

The scheme intends to mobilize the idle gold held by households and institutions in the country and to put this gold into productive use and in the long-run, to reduce the current account deficit by reducing the country’s reliance on the imports of gold to meet the domestic demand.