Launching the ‘Bima Sakhi Yojana’ of Life Insurance Corporation, in line with his commitment to women empowerment and financial inclusion in Panipat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the Union government has taken unprecedented steps for women empowerment in the last 10 years.

On the occasion, he also laid the foundation stone of the Main campus of Maharana Pratap Horticultural University, Karnal.

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Addressing the gathering, he lauded the people of Haryana for adopting the mantra of ‘Ek hain to Safe hain’, which had become an example for the entire country.

Lauding the women for having played a major role in providing banking facilities in every village, the PM said those who did not even have bank accounts are now connecting the villagers to banks as Bank Sakhi. He added that the Bank Sakhis have started teaching people how to save money in a bank, how to get a loan and lakhs of such Bank Sakhis are providing services in every village today.

Recollecting that women of India were not insured earlier, he remarked that today a campaign was started to make lakhs of women insurance agents or Bima Sakhi. He added that now women will also lead the expansion of sectors like insurance.

The PM stressed that the target was to provide employment opportunities to two lakh women under the Bima Sakhi Yojana. He added that girls who had completed their class 10 would be trained and given financial help for three years under the Bima Sakhi Yojana.

Citing data related to the insurance sector which showed that a LIC agent earns an average of 15 thousand rupees every month, Modi said, “Our Bima Sakhis would earn more than 1.75 lakh rupees every year which would give additional income to the family.”

Noting that the contribution of Bima Sakhis would be much more apart from earning money, he said ‘Insurance for All’ in India was the aim at the end of the day. He added that it was necessary for social security and to eradicate poverty from its roots. He further emphasised that the Bima Sakhis will strengthen the mission of Insurance for All.

Underlining that when an individual is insured, the benefit gained is immense, Modi said the Government was implementing Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojanas. He added that an insurance of Rs 2 lakh was provided at a very low premium under these schemes.

The PM noted that more than 20 crore people of the country who could never even think of insurance, have been insured. He added that under these two schemes, a claim amount of about Rs 20 thousand crore has been given so far.

He remarked that Bima Sakhis would be working to provide social security cover to many families of the country, a kind of a virtuous work.