New Delhi, July 29: Narendra Modi has picked "younger sister" Smriti Irani to push the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, his cheap insurance plan and flagship social scheme, ahead of Rakhi next month.
"The idea is that this year, brothers will be encouraged to gift their sisters insurance and pay the premium, which is a small sum anyway," a BJP office-bearer who is part of Smriti's team said.
The choice of Smriti, the HRD minister, is symbolic. Modi had called her " chhoti behen (younger sister)" while campaigning for her in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi's constituency, in the run-up to last year's general elections. This followed remarks by Rahul's sister Priyanka Vadra dismissing Smriti by asking "who's she?"
Smriti and her team of other Union ministers and BJP office-bearers will push the scheme that offers a cover of Rs 2 lakh against accidental death and disability for those between 18 and 70 at an annual premium of Rs 12.
Billed as Modi's idea, the plan has been re-christened ahead of Raksha Bandhan on August 29 as Rashtra Suraksha Raksha Bandhan Samajik Suraksha Milan - which translates as "National Security Raksha Bandhan Social Security Bond".
The Prime Minister has insisted, though, that the concept should be projected as gender-neutral even before Rakhi, implying it should go beyond brother-sister ties. "On that day, if a brother feels like gifting a cover to a brother or a sister feels like doing it for her sister, it should be encouraged. Even a husband can do it for his wife or vice-versa or a parent for a child and the other way round," a BJP source said.
Smriti has been told to cover every Assembly constituency in the country, totalling over 4,000, and enlist at least 10,000 to 12,000 people in each. The majority should be women. She is expected to start the tours from August 1 to fulfil Modi's goal by Raksha Bandhan.
The Centre has allocated Rs 20,000 crore for the scheme to start with, and has set a target of insuring six crore people. All public sector insurance companies are offering the plan through collaborations with banks, but Modi is said to be keen to rope in private companies too.
Smriti's team includes ministers Harsh Vardhan, Jitendra Singh and Thaawarchand Gehlot, and BJP general secretary Anil Jain, besides party leaders Sudha Yadav, Vijaya Rahatkar and Jyoti Dhurve.
