By Prashant Mukherjee
Published: 19th July 2016 06:52 AM
NEW DELHI: The government is all set to crack down on duplicate and bogus accounts to which subsidies are being transferred.
In a major nation-wide drive for better distribution of target subsidies, the Finance Ministry has asked all states and Union Territories (UTs) to clamp down on various duplicate and fictitious accounts and submit an action taken report within three months on them.
“We have asked different states to weed out all fradulent beneficiaries claiming for various subsidies to ensure the entire distribution is without any leakage,” a senior finance ministry official said. The ministry has advised states to be more pro-active and use technology, as well as the Aadhaar database.
DBT allows the transfer of subsidies to bank accounts of beneficiaries, who then buy food from the open market. Automation ensures foodgrains are distributed via ration shops through point-of-sale (PoS) devices that authenticate beneficiaries and record the quantity of subsidized grains given to a family.
“The focus will be now on to the states to administer the intent of the policy, and through the use of technology and Aadhaar, they should weed out duplicate and bogus ration cards and accounts,” the official added.
The conventional subsidy bill - which includes fertiliser, food and petroleum subsidy - would be Rs 2.44 lakh crore or 1.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2015-16. “The rationalisation and re-priortisation of subsidies through better targeting would play a vital role in fiscal consolidation and in targeting expenditure towards inclusive development,” the Economic Survey said in its report.
The National Payments Corporation of India undertakes around 3.5 million transfers through the platform every day, out of which most are LPG transfers. The option of subsidy transfer through non-Aadhaar based channel is also available. Here the attached bank accounts get money through National Electronic Funds Transfer.
The government has already been successful in weeding out duplicated accounts in a limited way., saving around Rs 36,500 crore in the process. The Pahal-DBT scheme of oil ministry reportedly had 3.5 crore duplicate beneficiaries, which have since been identified and blocked.