Tamil Nadu Government today objected Centre's decision to implement the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) in the State. The state administration stated that the manner its operationalisation is clearly intended to bypass democratically elected State Governments.
In a letter to the Prime Minister today, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said that the Government of India has decided to operationalise the Second Phase of the Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme from June 1, 2013 and three Districts of Tamil Nadu including Ariyalur, Pudukottai and Tiruchirappalli are proposed to be included in Phase I of the rollout of the DBT.
“I wish to convey my strong objections to certain aspects of the Direct Benefits Transfer and the manner of its operationalisation since they are clearly intended to bypass democratically elected State Governments,” said the Chief Minister in the letter.
She added, they fly in the face of federalism and democratic decentralisation and insidiously seek to secure for the Government of India unnecessary influence and authority over the finances of the States.
The state government opposed the move to monetise and transfer in cash the subsidy element under the Public Distribution System, and fertilizer, kerosene and LPG subsidies etc, where not just the quantum of subsidy, but the access to and timely availability of commodities is a critical concern.
“This is neither an administratively sound practice nor in keeping with the spirit of federalism and democratic decentralisation enshrined in the Constitution” said the Chief Minister.
The releases done directly by the Centre will result in divorcing authority from responsibility and accountability. This model also violates a basic tenet of sound administration, which is that authority, responsibility and accountability have to be fused together at the same level in order to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. Hence the proposed mechanism will not lead to sound outcomes.
She noted, the Union Planning Commission has issued a series of instructions and guidelines on a number of conceptual and operational issues relating to DBT, with virtually no consultation with the State Governments.
“We also have a number of reservations about the scheme design of the 25 schemes currently identified for the Phase II roll-out. We find that many of them are either pilot schemes implemented only in a few blocks or Districts in each State, or the amount of benefit sought to be transferred is very small and insignificant”.
Some of the schemes identified for the roll-out are schemes wherein the Centre and States share the cost and the respective shares are released to a Special Purpose Vehicle, which in turn releases it to the beneficiaries.
In such cases, if the Centre insists on DBT for its share, it will lead to more confusion and accountability is bound to suffer. The Janani Suraksha Yojana scheme is a clear case in point, said Jayalalithaa.
Direct release by the Centre will laso lead to duplication and waste of resources and fall far short of the scale and range of benefits of the State scheme. In such circumstances, it would be administratively prudent to leave the implementation to the State, as is being done now, instead of trying to run a parallel and inadequate scheme directly by the Government of India in the name of DBT, said Jayalalithaa.
It would also lead to lack of accountability. If the intention of the Government in introducing DBT into the bank accounts of beneficiaries is to ensure efficient delivery, then the Government should route its funds through the State Government, which is already progressively switching over to the bank mode of disbursement for all its beneficiary oriented schemes.
The Government of India should confine its role to monitoring implementation, said Jayalalithaa.
“I also strongly urge and reiterate that the Centre should also give up its intention of moving to Direct Cash Transfer of subsidy for crucial schemes like the Public Distribution System and fertilizer and kerosene subsidy,” she said.
Until the concerns are addressed, clarity is provided and a consensus is reached on the manner of transfer of resources to the State Government for disbursement to beneficiary bank accounts, the implementation of the DBT in its present form should not be operationalised in Tamil Nadu, said Jayalalithaa.
