A new jargon – JAM Trinity – has become the buzzword in the Narendra Modi Government. The jargon, coined by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, was first used on Friday in the Economic Survey.

The JAM Trinity — Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile — is a “game changing reform” that will allow transfer of benefits in a leakage-proof, well-targeted and cashless manner, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, reiterating the sentiments expressed by Subramanian.

Tackling leakages

Pointing out that well-intentioned schemes introduced in the past had often been ill-targeted, riddled with leakages and delivered with inefficiency, Jaitley said JAM will help the Government stop leakages, while continuing with subsidies.

“Subsidies are needed for the poor. What we need is a well-targeted system of subsidy delivery. We need to cut subsidy leakages, not subsidies themselves,” he said.

Direct benefit transfer

The direct transfer of benefits, started mostly in scholarship schemes, will be further expanded with a view to increasing the number of beneficiaries from the present 1 crore to 10.3 crore.

Similarly, ₹6,335 crore has so far been transferred directly, as LPG subsidy to 11.5 crore LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) consumers.

“I am sure that those who are genuinely concerned for the welfare of the poor, such as the members of this House, will give up their LPG subsidy voluntarily,” Jaitley said, throwing a challenge at his fellow Parliamentarians. Asked when the Government will extend the JAM facility to other subsidised commodities such as kerosene and food, he said: “Our general approach to subsidies has been stated. At this stage, we are working on LPG. We are also trying to make sure that many non-deserving people go out.”

According to the Economic Survey of 2014, there are about 125.5 million Jan Dhan bank accounts,17,757 million Aadhaar numbers, and 904 million mobile phones.

Helping the poor

“It is possible to envisage that when the JAM trinity becomes linked, the goal of periodic and seamless financial transfers to bank accounts after identification through the Aadhaar number can be implemented with immeasurable benefits to helping the lives of the poor,” the survey said.

Providing bank accounts

The Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana has been a success story when it comes to providing bank accounts to the people who were out of the financial network.

Within 100 days of launch of the scheme over 12.5 crore people have been provided a bank account. However, just opening an account does not solve the problem.   

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