Ready Money For AY

India Post Payments Bank visited the Ananda Yaan centres (a joint venture between Dignity Foundation and Rotary Club of Bombay). The Government of India, through the India Post Payment Bank, is giving under-privileged people access to banks at their doorstep.

Not only can one open an account from the comfort of home, one can avail other banking facilities too. This is especially needed for under-privileged and other house-bound invalid senior citizens. Not many senior citizens know about these facilities, though.

We, at Ananda Yaan, not only give senior an opportunity for a productive life but also provide access to information,
especially central and state government schemes and facilities. Ananda Yaan acts as a channel or forum to help under-privileged senior citizens avail facilities either from the private sector or the government.

Our senior citizens were amazed at the facilities with India Post Payments Bank. The day before we invited India Post representatives, we asked our members to get their Aadhaar cards. Some members were amused, others were curious and some simply annoyed. But when the presentation started, our members couldn’t believe what they were seeing and hearing.

The India Post representatives did a live demonstration of how Indians could withdraw money from our bank accounts through fingerprinting and the Aadhaar authentication machine carried by India Post Payments Bank. If one’s bank account is linked to the Aadhaar card, one need not go to the bank to withdraw money. One simply asks the local postman to carry the cash needed. Then one authenticates Aadhaar and finger-print on the device and the postman hands over the cash.

One need not even open an account with a Nationalized Bank and go through the cumbersome process of submitting documents. One can open a bank account with India Posts Payment Banks with just the Aadhaar card and a finger-print scan. One doesn’t need a single document. Many of our senior citizens hadn’t visited a bank in many years. Either it was too far or the access was difficult. They were always dependent on someone to withdraw money for them.

Many of our senior citizens are not educated enough to fill out a withdrawal slip and don’t know how to operate ATMs. It was a huge relief for them to know that such a facility exists. More than 20 senior citizens opened a zero-balance bank account with India Post during the demo. All they needed was Rs 100, to open it. Many others excitedly withdrew
money; it was hard for them to believe it was so easy. Our members were appreciative that they finally got to know about this facility which was started by the GOI almost two years ago.