pradhan mantri jeevan jyoti bima yojana is a government-backed life insurance scheme in india. it was originally mentioned in the 2015 budget speech by finance minister arun jaitley in february 2015. it was formally launched by prime minister narendra modi on 9 may in kolkata. as of may 2015, only 20% of india's population has any kind of insurance, this scheme aims to increase the number.