Programs of inclusive growth and social uplift promoting independence of a different nature

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana: Freedom from Financial Exploitation
Program Mission and Objectives: Launched on 28 August 2014, this is a national mission with the objective to provide access to various financial services like a basic savings bank account, needbased credit, remittance facility, insurance, and pension to those who have so far been away from any formal banking system, especially those living in rural areas or the urban poor.

The target is to provide at least one bank account per household across the country. Access to banking and financial services will provide households protection against exploitation by money-lenders.

The program envisages improving financial literacy among the disadvantaged sections of society. The beneficiaries also get a RuPay debit card with an inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh. Eventually all government benefits would be channelled to beneficiaries through these accounts.

The program entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the scale of program implementation.

Key Milestones (as on July 2016)
• Bank accounts opened: 22.6 crore
• Proportion of zero balance accounts: 24.49 percent
• Value of total deposits: Rs. 40750 crore

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Swachh Bharat Mission: Freedom from Indignity

Program Mission and Objectives: A project that is close to the heart of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on 2 October 2014. Being implemented by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, it has two sub-missions – for rural and urban India – and covers 4,041 statutory cities and towns. Within the broad objective of a clean India, the mission aims to construct 12 crore toilets and make the country open defecation free by 2019, as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.

The other objectives are: eradicate manual scavenging, introduce modern and scientific municipal solid waste management practices, enable private sector participation in the sanitation sector, and change people’s attitudes to sanitation and create awareness.

The program has roped in several celebrities as its brand ambassador such as cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar, filmstars Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan and Kamal Haasan, yoga guru Ramdev, and industrialist Anil Ambani. Citizens are being encouraged to take up challenges to clean their neighborhoods and invite others to accept similar challenges, turning it into a mass people’s movement.

Key Milestones

Swachh Bharat Mission – rural (as on July 2016)
• Household toilets built – 21,015,000
• Open defecation free villages – 71,844
• Open defecation free districts – 16
• Top five states with household toilets – Sikkim, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Mizoram
• Bottom five states with household toilets – Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Bihar, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, and Jharkhand
• Open defecation free district champions – Narmada, Lahaul and Spiti, Mandi, Udupi and Indore

Swachh Bharat Mission - urban (as on June 2016)
• Community and public toilets constructed – 89,455
• Wards with 100% door-to-door waste collection – 38,990 (out of 80,988 wards)
• Proportion of municipal waste processed – 17.45%
• Districts covered in sanitation intensive drives – 210

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Digital India: Freedom to Achieve Digital Empowerment
Program Mission and Objectives: The Digital India program under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, aims to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information technology. It envisages transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

The three vision areas: digital infrastructure as a core utility to each citizen,

governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens.

Key Milestones


Department of Telecommunications (as on February 2016)
• Total tele-density (the number of telephone connections per 100 people in an area) – 82.93%
• Rural tele-density – 50.63%
• Internet connections – 400 million
• Telephone connections – 1.052 billion
• Gram panchayats connected with optical fibre under BharatNet – 48,199
• Broadband users – 120.88 million

Department of Posts (as on April 2016)
• Postal ATMs – 910
• Accounts opened under the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (savings account for girl child till the age of 10) – 85 lakh
• Value of total deposits – Rs. 4,596 crore
• Post offices equipped with core banking facilities – 21,319

Department of Electronics and Information Technology (as on July 2016)
• Optical fibre cable laid under BharatNet for high speed connectivity – 112,871 km
• People registered under Aadhar program – 100.5 crore
• Users registered under myGov platform – 19.3 lakh
• People enrolled under Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (National Digital Literacy Mission) – 81 lakh
• Operational centers for e-services in rural areas – 1.66 lakh