According to the latest decision of the government, the job guarantee scheme card will be accorded the equal status of passport, PAN card, driving licence and voter identity card under the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms of banks.

“If a person has a job card distributed under MGNREGS, he can produce this as identity proof for opening an account in any bank,” Rural Development Minister C P Joshi told Deccan Herald. The government’s intention is to encourage more number of people from the rural areas to start banking operations, he said.

Centre’s note

To ensure that the job card has all the details like any other identity card and it remains tamper proof, the rural development ministry has written to the state governments to ensure that cards must contain the signature of the registering authorities, photographs and signature of the cardholders so that they meet the KYC norms.

According to the Reserve Bank of India rules, while opening a bank account, the customer will have to prove his identity by giving his address proof and other details. The rules were framed in 2005 to prevent money laundering and to combat terror financing. This meant that the rural poor, who donot have any identity card with them, are denied access to banking facilities.

“Henceforth, any person can approach any bank by showing the job guarantee card,” Joshi added.  Though the Centre has instructed all state governments to distribute wages under the scheme through banks or post offices only, in many places it is still not being followed.

So far around 7.5 crore NREGS accounts have been opened and half of them are bank accounts.