Only the other day I was talking to this young lady working in a bank. She was lamenting that due to Modi their work has increased tremendously. On enquiring she says ,”due to his new JAN DHAN YOJANA every one is coming to open an account, our work load has increased, all want an account even if they had one earlier and we are just opening accounts for all who are coming as it is easier than explaining to all who come.” My next question was “Why are you averse to new customers.” “They just add numbers”. I saw the light then,”oh you mean they are not good business” . “Yeah ,you see” she said. Later when I was thinking about this incident , I was reminded of a lady named Meena who was working for me when my younger son was born. As I do with all of people around me, I would tell her also about the necessity of having a bank account. She was a nice one, never complained , but over time I got to know about her husband’s drinking and that he would steal all she would save. I gave some money to her and told that you open a account and add thishere. She said who would open an account for me, have tried many times, without success. That was the first time I came to know about the difficulties of opening an account in a bank if one is poor. I asked my husband, as I was house bound in that condition. Finally , an account was opened in her account. She was so thankful, telling now she will be able to save for her daughter’s marriage( who was all of 10 year sonly at that time but with only a small saving it would take her not less than 10years to save the required amount). She named my son LUCKY as he was lucky for her in getting an account. And I never thought it was a big deal. What do you all think about who is right... the banks who will work only for profits or our PM Modi who wishes for every women to have an account, true in the process some confusion has also come up. I feel despite all our Govt should go ahead with this
Bank account has become almost mandatory for Government subsidies and nd other benefits like family pension, old age pension etc are credited in bank account. Though its a good scheme uneducated people might face problems. The other day when we were in a bank a housemaid who has Rs 100000 in her bank SB account was told by the manager that she should obtain a PAN card otherwise tax will be deducted from her account. She immediately told being uneducated she did not know all the procedures and she would prefer to withdraw her money. The manager told her not to be in a hurry and to wait till March. As you have said bank staff will not take responsibility for obtaining the PAN card. PS
Dear Pushpa Thanks for such a thoughtful response to my feelings. It so happens that in our country there are different type of socio economic groups and that too in different educational patterns. The needs of the people are so diverse that its difficult to fathom by just being there. There is a major requirement of the extension services wherein they educate people about what all facilities are available for the population.
