Ø Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a record
1.5 crore bank accounts across the country on Thursday to mark the launch of
the Pradhan
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) aimed at
financial inclusion of all Indians. The scheme aims to ensure that every
household has at least two bank accounts. Each of the 1.5 crore bank accounts
opened comes with a RuPay debit card, Rs.1 lakh accident insurance cover and an
additional Rs. 30,000 life insurance cover. These benefits will apply to all
accounts opened before January 26, 2015. Never before would insurance companies
have issued 1.5 crore accident insurance policies on a single day. Never before
in economic history would 1.5 crore bank accounts have been opened on a single
day. Never before has the Government of India organised a programme of such
scale. Opening a savings bank account just got easier and faster. With the
launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, customers can walk into a public or
private sector bank with their Aadhaar card and open a zero-balance SB account
instantly. But Aadhaar is not mandatory. A National Payment Corporation of
India platform is being built to enable customers to access their accounts on
mobile devices.
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| PM Jan Dhan Yojana |
Ø India has “great expectations” from Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi’s five-day visit to Japan
from Saturday, his first bilateral trip outside the subcontinent. Underlining
the importance of the East Asian region, Mr. Modi’s visit to Japan will be
followed by a Vietnam trip by President Pranab Mukherjee in September. External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj just concluded a visit to Vietnam. Top
business leaders, including Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Kumar Mangalam
Birla, will travel separately to Japan in visits timed to coincide with
high-level business interactions Mr. Modi will initiate with his Japanese
counterpart, Shinzo Abe.
Ø Vinod Kumar Duggal resigned as Manipur Governor, becoming the
ninth Governor appointed by the UPA regime to quit since the NDA govern-ment
came to power in May this year. Mr. Duggal arrived here and called on President
Pranab Mukherjee where he handed over the resignation.
Ø Mridula Sinha (72) will be sworn in as Goa Governor.
Ø An Indo-Japanese team has already identified 15
possible stations along the proposed 534-km Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed train
corridor, said Katsuo Matsumoto, deputy director general of the South Asia
Department of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Speaking
to The
Hindu from
Tokyo, he said in all likelihood it would be a new line as there is “heavy
congestion” on the existing rail corridor. “The proposal is to link the
high-speed line with the existing rail network at select stations in order to
ease transfers,” Mr. Matsumoto said. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi
scheduled to visit Japan shortly, JICA, which is doing the feasibility study
for the project, submitted a mid-term report recently. We’ve made a
detailed technology comparison of the pros and cons of several international
high-speed train systems, including the French and Italian. Although Japan’s
Shinkansen trains are the safest, it’s up to the Indian government to decide
what technology suits their needs. The current speed of long-distance
trains in India averages around 70-80 kmph. The train systems that are under
consideration can reach a speed of 300-350 kmph, which would be a radical leap.
At present, China has over 12,000 km of high-speed train lines, which is the
world’s largest network, although the Chinese began construction only in 2007.
The U.S. also has major plans, having earmarked $11 billion in investments.
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