Business Desk, ETV Bharat: India as a country is known for its savings culture. But most at the bottom of the income pyramid still don’t save in a way that would secure their future and reap inflation-beating returns.
Keeping that concern in mind, India Post on Thursday launched a new scheme called “Five Star Villages” to ensure universal coverage of flagship postal savings schemes in rural areas of the country.
The scheme essentially seeks to increase the awareness and reach of postal products and services, which are known for providing highly secured deposits and higher return of interest with low risk. It will focus especially on interior villages where formal banking is still not popular.
Read on to understand how one can avail the benefits of this new scheme.
What exactly is Five Star Villages scheme?
Under the Five Star Villages scheme, all postal products and services will be marketed, publicized and made available and at the village level. Branch offices of the Department of Posts will function as one-stop shop to cater all post office- related needs of villagers.
Which schemes are covered under Five Star Villages scheme?
The schemes covered under the Five Star scheme have been categorised as under:
i) Savings Bank accounts, Recurrent Deposit Accounts, National Savings Certificate/ Kisan Vikas Patra certificates
ii) Sukanya Samridhi accounts/ Public Provident Fund (PPF) accounts
iii) Funded Post Office Savings Account (POSA)-linked India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Accounts
iv) Postal Life Insurance Policy/Rural Postal Life Insurance Policy
v) Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana Account/Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana Account
If a village attains universal coverage for three schemes from the above list, then that village gets three-star status; similarly, if a village completes four schemes, then that village get four-star status and so on.
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Has the scheme been rolled nationwide?
The scheme has been being launched on pilot basis in Maharashtra; based on the experience there, it will be implemented nation-wide.
For now, the entire state of Maharashtra will be covered under the scheme. To begin with, two rural districts/areas for each region have been identified: Akola and Washim in Nagpur Region; Parbhani and Hingoli in Aurangabad Region; Solapur and Pandharpur in Pune Region; Kolhapur and Sangli in Goa Region; and Malegaon and Palghar in Navi Mumbai Region.
A total of 50 villages in each district will be covered during the current financial year 2020-2021. Regional offices will identify the villages to be covered.
How will the scheme be implemented?
The scheme will be implemented by a team of five ‘Gramin Dak Sevaks’ who will be assigned a village for marketing of all savings and insurance schemes of the Department of Posts.
This team will be headed by the Branch Post Master of the concerned Branch Office. Mail overseer will keep personal watch on progress of the team on a daily basis. The teams will be led and monitored by concerned Divisional Head, Assistant Superintendents Posts and Inspector Posts.
The team of Gramin Dak Sevaks will conduct door-to-door awareness campaign on all schemes, covering all eligible villagers. Wide publicity will be given by displaying the information on notice board of Branch Office. Prominent places of targeted villages like Panchayat Offices, schools, village dispensaries, bus depots, markets will also be used for advertising and pamphlets will be distributed.
Villagers can contact these Gramin Dak Sevaks and seek their help in signing up for the desired schemes and opening the accounts with required documentation.
