The government's ambitious Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) subsidy programme is set to be extended to 78 more districts by July 1, which would take the number to 121 districts, covering one-fifth of the country.
Three pension schemes for old people, widows and the disabled would now be covered under the scheme from July. A final decision on this is to be taken tomorrow when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reviews the progress of the programme launched on January 1 this year, providing for transfer of subsidy in cash directly to the beneficiaries through banks.
The DBT covered 43 districts and 26 schemes when it was rolled out and the entire country is to be brought under it in a phased manner. "The PM is holding a meeting of the National Committee on DBT to review the roll out of the system so far and the approaches and strategies being adopted for expansion into new districts and schemes," an official statement said here today.
With the extension of the scheme to 78 more districts, altogether 121 districts will be covered by it, making one-fifth of the country. It said the DBT system is falling into place. "While there were teething troubles initially, Ministries have become familiar with the concept and the processes involved. There is a large process re-engineering exercise that is going on within Ministries and Departments to facilitate this switch to DBT," the statement said.
The meeting tomorrow will review progress on the digitisation of databases, the opening of bank accounts, the enrolment in Aadhaar and the seeding of databases with Aadhaar numbers.
"DBT will now become more visible with a larger footprint, both in terms of area and in terms of number of people covered," the statement said, adding "the positive benefits of DBT will also be more visible."
Most importantly, DBT will be expanded to cover districts in those states which have been allocated initially to Registrar General of India (RGI) for collecting biometric data under National Population Register (NPR). These are states with large numbers of poor and hence, beneficiaries. They include Odisha, West Bengal, UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. MHA and the Registrar General of India (RGI) will work towards accelerating biometric collection in selected districts in NPR states so that a coverage of 70-80 per cent is achieved by June 2013 and DBT could be rolled out from July one.
Post Offices will also be included from October one this year. There will be a thrust on digitisation of data of beneficiaries in all districts, irrespective of the roll out of DBT as this is a critical activity which need not wait and can be done in parallel, the official statement said.
The department of Financial Services will be asked to ensure coverage of all beneficiaries with bank accounts. It will ensure that all Micro-ATMs that are procured will have specifications such that they are interoperable and are Aadhaar enabled. Ministries will be asked to quickly complete their process re-engineering exercise to eliminate redundant layers, to ensure flow of authenticated lists, to make electronic payments through APB and to utilise the feedback loop to obtain proof of transfer for record keeping, it said.
