Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan Launch Nationwide Campaign to Boost Jan Dhan Yojana Awareness

Here is an interview with Mr Gaurav Dwivedi, the Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati. A seasoned Indian Administrative Service officer, Mr. Dwivedi took charge in November 2022 for a five-year tenure, leading India's public broadcaster with vision and purpose.

At the heart of the discussion is one of the Modi government's most transformative financial inclusion initiatives: the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. Launched in 2014, this flagship scheme has brought millions of unbanked Indians into the formal financial system, ensuring access to savings, insurance, credit and direct benefit transfers. Now, with a fresh campaign in collaboration with Doordarshan, the goal is to deepen outreach, spread awareness, and ensure that the last mile is truly covered.

Below is the conversation with Mr Gaurav Dwivedi.

OneIndia: Please share your views on this Jan Dhan Yojana to begin with. You have served in several states across the country, how does Jan Dhan Yojana empower the poorest of the poor?

Mr. Dwivedi: Well, Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana is the world's largest financial inclusion programme for those who don't have basic savings and deposit accounts in the country. The scheme ensures that poor and marginalised people must have a savings account with zero balance so that they can get remittances, credit, insurance, and pension in an affordable and transparent manner. As far as my experience is concerned, Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana has empowered the poorest of the poor of the country and as unbankable persons of the country have got savings accounts in the banks, they are being provided with government assistance directly through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). This has removed intermediaries in the system and made the process transparent and fast. With a click of a button, beneficiaries are getting assistance of pension, credit, loan, etc., quickly. It is noteworthy that under PMJDY, 67% of the accounts are opened in rural or semi-urban areas, and 56% of the accounts are opened by women, indicating how underprivileged individuals living in far-flung areas of the country have been brought into the formal financial sector. In my opinion, this scheme has brought dignity, empowerment and opportunity for underprivileged. PMJDY has also increased financial literacy in rural and semi-urban areas and has become a guiding light for inclusive growth and economic empowerment.

OneIndia: How significant is Doordarshan and All India Radio's role in taking the benefits to people far and wide?

Mr. Dwivedi: Doordarshan and All India Radio, through their vast network reaching almost 92 percent of the geographical area of the country, have worked as a medium to take this PMJDY scheme to every nook and corner of the country. The programmes and news capsules produced by Akashwani and Doordarshan have spread awareness for this scheme far and wide, making people aware of the scheme, its benefits in their upliftment and becoming a part of the formal economy to avail the benefits of gainful economic employment. Recently, in addition to the existing format of production of programmes for general awareness purposes, DD News has produced an animated film on PMJDY to convey the message and spread awareness among masses in a very simple, subtle, and innovative manner. Many more such initiatives by Doordarshan and AIR will come up in future on major policy initiatives taken by the Government to make informed citizenry in the country. It's heartening to note that the animated film on Jan Dhan Yojana of more than a minute has been viewed by a million people on X platform within a span of two days of its launch. I am confident that as the public broadcaster and a major stakeholder to make any scheme reach the ground level, Doordarshan and Akashwani network will put all its might for making schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana achieve its goal.

OneIndia: Jan Dhan Yojana is already a popular scheme...what are the goals that public broadcaster Doordarshan wants to attain with the campaign?

Mr. Dwivedi: The goal of all verticals of Doordarshan including DD News is to focus on more awareness and benefits saturation of the scheme. Over the last 11 years, since inception of the scheme, more than 56 crores Jan Dhan Accounts have been opened and more than 38 crore RuPay credit cards have been issued, which itself speaks about the success of the scheme. Doordarshan will keep pushing awareness campaigns utilising all its regional kendras to communicate with people in their local language till we help achieve 100 percent saturation in terms of providing savings accounts to unbanked persons. The animation film produced on Jan Dhan Yojana is the latest addition to all previous initiatives to communicate with people of the country to avail the benefits of the Government Schemes.

OneIndia: Are there any challenges that you have identified when it comes to taking this to the grassroots level of the Indian populace?

Mr. Dwivedi: Not at all, there is extensive reach and infrastructure of Doordarshan Kendra and Akashwani in the country. Every state of the country has regional offices of Doordarshan, which telecast programmes and news in regional languages. Moreover, Akashwani has extensive coverage in far-flung areas with a network of 262 stations and AIR is broadcasting in numerous languages and dialects. AIR also maintains the world's highest Radio Station in Kargil demonstrating its commitment to serve every citizen of the country by making them aware of policies and programmes being initiated by the Government and also providing entertainment content in their own language. I don't see any challenge in terms of reaching out to the last person in chain.

OneIndia: "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" has been the mantra of the Modi govt. What role do you foresee in the days to come for DD and All India Radio when it comes to presenting the true essence and benefits of such govt initiatives?

Mr. Dwivedi: DD and Akashwani have always been working on the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. We produce programmes and News Content for everyone in the country. Doordarshan produces programmes and news in all leading regional languages and as I have said Akashwani through its 262 stations produces programmes in 23 major languages and 182 dialects. We are in the process of strengthening our regional DD Kendras and AIR Stations in terms of engaging professional manpower, newer technologies, smart solutions, and processes to produce appealing programme and news content in a prompt manner which should be accessible to everyone across all media platforms including traditional channels.