Announcing that the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) will be rolled out in a phased manner, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said benefit of 7 central schemes will be directly credited into the bank accounts of beneficiaries across 20 districts from January 1.
"We are proceeding with a great degree of caution... We will look at transferring all subsidies and benefit through this scheme but we have to do it slowly. We are not going to rush into anything and then find that the system cannot cope with it," he said.
The minister said that DBT, which will check leakages and corruption in subsidies distribution, will be rolled out in 43 districts of 14 states by March 1 -- 20 districts from January 1; 11 from February 1 and remaining 12 from March 1.
The government had earlier proposed to launch the scheme in 43 districts from January 1.
Chidambaram said the direct cash benefit transfer will be rolled out in whole country by the end of 2013.
"This (DBT) is indeed a game-changer for governance, the manner in which we govern. This is a game-changer in which we account for money. It is game changer in the manner in which the benefit reaches the beneficiary without any intermediation by any human being," he said.
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Chidambaram said, however, that at this stage "there is no intention" to transfer the subsidies for food, fertiliser, diesel and kerosene through DBT.
"These are complex issues. They have to be studied carefully and only when we are completely satisfied that they are amenable to transfer through DBT, we will think of that," the minister said, adding that subsidy on LPG too would not be provided through DBT in the first phase. MORE