VIKAS DHOOT & RAJEEV JAYASWAL, ET Bureau Jun 5, 2014, 04.00AM IST
NEW DELHI: A high-level committee on direct benefits transfers for LPG cylinders has castigated the UPA government for showing undue haste to garner political mileage from the 'cash in hand' element of a crucial programme that could have curtailed India's subsidy bill significantly, if it was instead carried out in a well-planned manner.
The committee, led by former IIT-Kanpur director Sanjay Dhande, has identified several reasons for the failure of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme in its report submitted to the government on May 31, said two members of the panel who spoke to ET. One of the key causes for the scheme's implementation problems was the decision to roll it out nationwide without adequate Aadhaar enrollments and banking penetration.
The DBT for LPG (DBTL) scheme was launched in June 2013 in 20 districts and later scaled up to 291 districts. It required consumers to pay the market price for LPG cylinders, with the government subsequently crediting the subsidy on the cylinder directly to their Aadhaar-linked bank account.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs had decided to suspend the DBT scheme for LPG cylinders on January 30, after a parliamentary panel led by a Congress MP had unanimously called for scrapping the scheme due to difficulties posed to users at the ground level. The UPA government had set up the committee to examine the issues plaguing the scheme.
According to committee members, the popular perceptions against the scheme were fuelled by the government's pressure on distributors to forcefully seek Aadhaar numbers of consumers and initially deprive non-Aadhaar holders from cylinders.
There was also widespread confusion among citizens about the necessity and eligibility for them to get an Aadhaar or Unique Identity (UID) number in view of Supreme Court cases questioning the legality of the Unique Identification exercise.
Moreover, the flip flop on the number of cylinders that will be available at a subsidised rate created more disenchantment - from an initial cap of six cylinders per year, this was raised to nine cylinders after an intervention from Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and subsequently raised to 12 after the party's vice-president, Rahul Gandhi championed, the issue.
This was done despite oil ministry mandarins pointing out that the national average consumption per household per year is just 7.2 cylinders of LPG, which the Dhande committee has also highlighted in its report. Officials said that giving 12 cylinders per household in any case encourages diversion as consumption isn't as high and the cost paid by users for each cylinder is less than the subsidy that the government bears on it.
The committee interacted with users and citizens in 8 to 9 cities and even conducted a survey to gauge their impressions of the DBT scheme, only to find widespread instances of harassment and confusion.
"We have recommended making the scheme more user-friendly, as the scheme is a good idea but must be pursued only after refinements and improvements in the system," said a committee member, requesting anonymity.
"The scheme was launched in haste, without enough coordination among different agencies including the banks who were non-cooperative. Enrollment and authentication should be made easier and people shouldn't be harassed," he added.
