10579 - AADHAAR for DBT scheme saving Rs 36,000 cr: PM - Indian Awaaz

AADHAAR for DBT scheme saving Rs 36,000 cr: PM

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Published On: 07/11/2016 - 11:35 PM By INDIAN AWAAZ

AMN

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, introduction of AADHAAR for Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme has resulted in saving of thirty six thousand crore rupees. Addressing valedictory session of Vigilance Awareness Week in New Delhi this evening, Mr Modi said that the money saved from pilferage of LPG and Kerosene was diverted to targeted beneficiaries. He said, interview for appointment to grade 3 and 4 posts was also a major reason of corrupt practices in the country. He said, his government abolished the interview system for these category of posts.

The Prime Minister said that corruption has no place in India and common man is honest to the core of his heart. He also called for application of technology to bring transparency in the administrative and governance processes and thereby curb the menace of corruption. Mr Modi said, things cannot be left to the whims and fancies of individuals and government has to be policy driven. He also stressed on taking broad range of inputs for law and policy making.

10547 - 500 central schemes to go DBT way next fiscal year - TNN

500 central schemes to go DBT way next fiscal year

Sidhartha | TNN | Oct 19, 2016, 06:21 IST

NEW DELHI: The Centre is looking to move nearly half its 1,000-odd schemes to direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the next financial year in the biggest-ever thrust to track beneficiaries, improve efficiency and check leakages. 

At least 447 DBT-applicable schemes have been identified across 58 ministries after a rigorous exercise of scrutinising 1,061 schemes from 73 ministries. 

A decision on another 160 is expected over the next few weeks and ministries and departments are being asked to ensure that Aadhaar numbers of all beneficiaries are seeded and cash payments are made directly to bank accounts, sources told TOI. 

Schemes which do not involve cash transfers will only have a list of beneficiaries with Aadhaar numbers to ensure that the gains are not cornered by a handful, but are more evenly spread. 

The plan is to expand the coverage of DBT significantly -from education scholarships to atomic energy research, crop insurance to dairy schemes, besides including support to artisans, postal life insurance and awards for sportsmen. The list includes subsidy payments for fertilizer, interest on home loans up to Rs 1lakh from public sector banks and those for transport and freight, among others. 

Currently , 78 central government schemes are part of DBT although a bulk of the coverage is on account of transfer of subsidy on cooking gas cylinders and NREGA transfers with the the coverage estimated at around 80% and 74%, respectively . AICTE's fellowship schemes have over 99% coverage and the number of beneficiaries are estimated at around 21,500. However, there are several schemes in which DBT remains on paper and there is zero coverage.

"We have asked the departments concerned to begin the exercise to expand coverage. It will not just check leakages but also ensure better delivery of service," said an officer.

The entire scheme has been in the works for over six months now, starting with the an office memorandum issued by the DBT Mission in the cabinet secretariat on March 31. It expanded the scope of DBT beyond cash transfers to include "in-kind transfers" to individuals and processes with ministries and departments asked to set up DBT cells and identify schemes.

This was followed by a review by PM Narendra Modi in May, followed by a discussion at the council of ministers in the same month and a discussion with all states at the interstate council in July .

While ministries were a little slow, the appointment of 170 IAS probationers as assistant secretaries really speeded up matters. 

By September, they had identified schemes in every department, in which a switch to DBT mode was possible. Now, the departments have been asked to be ready with their MIS by March.

10525 - When will the Aadhaar based Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme be implemented? Find out here - Financial Express

When will the Aadhaar based Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme be implemented? Find out here

The government has set March 31, 2018 deadline to fully roll out Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for food, fertiliser and kerosene subsidies, which together account for more than 70% of the government’s annual R3-lakh-crore budget for various welfare payouts.

By: Prasanta Sahu | New Delhi | Updated: October 12, 2016 7:40 AM

Although the DBT transfers are gradually picking up, there is still a long way to go. The success would depend on integrating the subsidies on fertiliser, food and kerosene into the scheme.

The government has set March 31, 2018 deadline to fully roll out Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for food, fertiliser and kerosene subsidies, which together account for more than 70% of the government’s annual R3-lakh-crore budget for various welfare payouts.

Through the DBT platform, it has disbursed R32,141 crore benefits in the first five months of the current fiscal. This takes the total transfers via DBT since it was rolled out in a limited way in 2013 to close R1.4 lakh crore. Bulk of the transfers have been of LPG subsidy and the wage payments under the job guarantee programme.

Although the DBT transfers are gradually picking up, there is still a long way to go. The success would depend on integrating the subsidies on fertiliser, food and kerosene into the scheme. The government had earlier said welfare programmes other than the the above three subsidies would be linked to DBT by March 31, 2017. These include scholarship schemes, crop insurance, transfers related to skill development etc.

While DBT pilots are underway for food subsidy in several parts of the country since last year, the government rolled pilot on fertiliser subsidy in eight districts including four bordering Nepal and Bangladesh early this month. Kerosene DBT has been rolled out in four districts of Jharkhand on a pilot basis. The food subsidy, will be largely paid in cash in urban areas of the country while PDS’ will be automated by integrating Aadhaar of beneficiaries in rural parts of the country to give benefits in kind.

Beneficiaries getting subsidies through DBT into their bank accounts stood at 31.9 crore, out of which 23.24 crore or 73% were seeded with Aadhaar. However, the Centre transferred only 31% of R3,459 crore through the DBT platform in August 2016, using the Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB) while the rest were transferred through bank accounts not linked with the unique number. The monthly transfers through DBT has been largely uneven — R9,155 crore in April while it was R5,941 crore in July this year, partly due to delayed disbursements, accounting flexibilities and seasonal nature of demands.

Keen to utilise the DBT platform to plug leakages in delivery of sundry benefits and doles, the government has already put 74 schemes on the DBT platform. The DBT enabler, JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile), has resulted in cumulative savings of R36,500 crore for the Centre in subsidies such as on cooking gas, food, wages under the employment guarantee Act etc.

The Centre has advised the states to use Aadhaar-based DBT platform for delivery of state-level benefits as provided in Section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016. The section provides that the Centre/state may require individuals getting government benefits to undergo authentication or furnish Aadhaar number. The Act was passed by Parliament during the Budget session in the wake of the Supreme Court’s interim order against making Aadhaar mandatory for receiving such benefits. Out of the 128 crore population in the country, 83% or 1.06 crore are Aadhaar enrolled. The Centre is now making it mandatory to seed Aadhaar for government benefits.

The number of beneficiaries currently under different schemes are as follows: MGNREGS (11.02 crore), LPG-Pahal (17.48 crore), National Social Assistance Programme (2.94 crore), scholarship schemes (38.61 lakh) and others (34.66 lakh).

To reform the Public Distribution System (PDS) and Food Subsidy, it is targeting 100% Aadhaar-enabled ration cards for all beneficiaries for benefit transfers in kind. In the case of fertiliser, since subsidy components vary on different fertilisers, the government is looking at a seamless transfer to the DBT platform without altering the experience of farmers.

Kerosene subsidy, which is pegged to be about R7,000 crore in FY17, is deemed to be a dying benefit as consumers are being encouraged to shift to cleaner fuel such as LPG. Nonetheless, the benefit will be shifted to DBT platform as some far-flung areas where cooking gas is not yet available, may need it.

10514 - Direct benefit transfers will become the norm: Arun Jaitley - Live Mint

Last Modified: Mon, Oct 03 2016. 01 39 AM IST

Direct benefit transfers will become the norm: Arun Jaitley

If anyone wants benefit of public revenue through subsidies or any other form, the authorities can insist on production of the unique identity, says Arun Jaitley

Komal Gupta / Suranjana Roy

A file photo of finance minister Arun Jaitley. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday emphasized the importance of Aadhaar for cashless transactions and government schemes at a conference on digital payments.

“Eighty percent of people have mobiles in the country; we have crossed the one billion mark. Aadhaar card enrolment has reached close to 95% mark as far as adult population is concerned,” Jaitley said at the ‘Digital Payments: Inclusion, Growth and Opportunities’ meet.

The meet was organized by the Observer Research Foundation, a global think tank, in association with the Better Than Cash Alliance, a tie-up of governments and organizations that seeks to accelerate the transition from cash to digital payments to drive inclusive growth.

Direct benefit transfers, where subsidies and other benefits are directly paid to the benefiary’s bank account, will be the rule, Jaitley said.

“If anyone wants benefit of public revenue through subsidies or any other form, the authorities can insist on production of the unique identity,” added Jaitley.

Aadhaar will help rationalize, target and implement subsidies better.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was an exemplary programme with nearly 240 million people being enrolled within weeks, Jaitley said.

“No Indian can really today say that he didn’t have the facility of a bank account,” he added.

The Digital India initiative, along with the JAM, or Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile, Trinity, and Less-Cash India, are examples of such inclusive growth efforts.

Jaitley on 6 July released the ‘less cash campaign road map” of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which has launched a nationwide campaign to promote the usage of digital payments .

With over a billion a mobile connections, a quarter of a billion bank accounts (Jan Dhan) and a digital identity database (Aadhaar) of a billion, the aim is now to give a strong push to the digital future of the country.

Niti Aayog chief executive officer Amitabh Kant shared similar views in his speech during one of the sessions.

“Nothing is going to transform India other than the spread of Internet, in a rapid and fast manner. The habit of using cash has to do away,” he said.

With the help of four game changers namely Digital India, Unified Payment Interface (UPI), JAM and the expansion of Point of sale (PoS) terminals, India should move towards a completely digitized payments by 2025, Kant said.

“We have around 1.2 million PoS terminals in India. We need to take it to around 20 million in the next two years,” Kant added.

A lot of innovations in the payments landscape have happened such as doing away with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for transactions up to Rs10,000, exemptions of wallets from two-factor authentication and use of regional languages in payment gateways. ‘The right of way’ policy which will be finalized by the government soon is expected to be another game changer.

However, digital payments still constitute just 22% of all consumer payments. The aim should be to scale this Rs50 billion industry to Rs500 billion by the end of 2020.

Komal GuptaSuranjana Roy

10391 - Now, direct benefit transfer scheme updates are only a click away - Live Mint

Last Modified: Wed, Sep 07 2016. 02 33 PM IST

Now, direct benefit transfer scheme updates are only a click away

The direct benefit transfer portal will provide information about 74 government schemes and 17 ministries

Suranjana Roy

In 2016-17, the total number of DBT transactions stood at more than 63.15 crore and the value of these transactions were worth more than Rs.26,692.53 crore. Photo: Bloomberg

New Delhi: The recently launched direct benefit transfer (DBT) portal is a key platform for all administrators to access information on all Central and states’ welfare schemes. It will also give regular updates on the work being done in real time. It will also enable beneficiaries to eventually access details about the subsidies available to them. Although still not fully operational, Mint looks at some of the key features and information available on this website.

The website for the portal launched last month is dbt.bharat.gov.in.

It showcases information about the progress being made under each scheme (classified under their controlling ministry) in terms of the number of transactions under DBT and the value of those transfers. The portal also makes a demarcation between Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar-based transactions. All documents related to DBT and circulars on the various meetings by the government are also uploaded on the website.

This DBT portal will build in a feedback and grievance redressal mechanism.

According to the portal, a total of 74 schemes and 17 ministries are part of the DBT. In 2016-17, the total number of DBT transactions stood at more than 63.15 crore and the value of these transactions were worth more than Rs.26,692.53 crore.

However, the portal is still a work in progress as far as integration of all databases for all schemes and districts are concerned. Once that is done, tying up with the different state DBT cells will be the next step.

Since its inception in 2013, maximum contribution towards the transfers have come from PAHAL, or the DBT scheme for cooking gas subsidy and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) till June 2016, as per the portal. The total number of beneficiaries stood at 16.91 crore with disbursed subsidies amounting to Rs.39,682.03 crore under Pahal.

Under MGNREGS, there were 10.88 crore transactions involving Rs.61,275.58 crore of payments to workers.

West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh are the top six states making the highest transfers under the two schemes. The percentage of beneficiaries seeded with Aadhaar under all schemes stood at 68.41% for the mentioned period with PAHAL and MGNREGS again surpassing other schemes with 77.4% and 67.08%, respectively.

The DBT mission was started in 1 January 2013 with an aim to disburse the subsidies directly into the beneficiary’s account to avoid any duplications and also for plugging the leakages in the system. The Centre recently asked all states to set up their own DBT cells to ensure a smooth flow of disbursal and better targeting of beneficiaries.

Many states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan have already opened up DBT cells.

Suranjana Roy

10315 - HE MULTIPLE FACETS OF AADHAAR - Daily Pioneer

HE MULTIPLE FACETS OF AADHAAR

Monday, 08 August 2016 | Himanshu Lal | in Oped

The Government’s decision to link direct benefit transfers with Aadhaar can be a game-changer in a sense that it will empower not only various schemes but also numerous sections of the society. Sooner or later, Aadhaar has to become the aadhar of the country

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique   identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for all residents in the country on a voluntary basis. The number is stored in a centralised database and is linked to basic demographics and biometric information-photograph, 10 fingerprints and iris of each individual. It ensures uniqueness and there can be no space for duplicity in the future as per the present technology.

Initially, Aadhaar was used only for identification purpose, but now, it is being used as a device for direct benefit transfers (DBT) to the poor and needy under various Government schemes. Aadhaar is a real game-changer for this country. Till now, due to various cases in the Supreme Court, only a few schemes related to the poor and needy viz, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), the National Social Assistance Programme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, various scholarship programmes, LPG subsidy etc, could become Aadhaar-based.

The total savings on behalf of leakages due to Aadhaar-based seeding, during the last five and a half years, tantamount to billions of rupees. A World Bank study which applaudes the Aadhaar-based seeding points out, “India’s fuel subsidy programme, implementing cash transfers to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, to buy liquefied petroleum gas cylinders, saved about one billion dollar per year when applied throughout the country.”

According to another report, the implementation of Aadhaar enabled four States viz, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Pondicherry and Delhi save a total amount of Rs 2346 crore.

On the other hand, the Government estimates to have saved over Rs 27,000 crore by cash transfers for payments to beneficiaries under various welfare schemes in the last two years. DBT has resulted in significant savings across welfare schemes. It has also resulted in weeding out of duplicate beneficiaries. For instance, over 1.6 crore (16 million) bogus ration cards have been deleted, resulting in savings to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore.

Similarly, 3.5 crore duplicate beneficiaries were weeded out in the PAHAL scheme, resulting in savings of over Rs 14,000 crore in 2014-2015 alone. Similar efforts in MGNREGS led to a saving of Rs 3,000 crore — roughly 10 per cent of the entire annual budget of the reform. Several States and Union Territories too have achieved significant savings through DBT.

On April 4, UIDAI generated the 100th crore Aadhaar. Also, the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016, was passed on the March 11 by the Lok Sabha.

The generation of the 100th crore Aadhaar and the passage of the Aadhaar Act will be remembered as two landmark events in the history of India. With this, Aadhaar has become the largest online digital identity platform in the world. Not only this, presently, it is the world’s one of the most secured data repository system too. Functionally, it is better than the digital identity system of Chile, Ghana, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey or Egypt.

Very few people are aware of the fact that Aadhaar-based identification system is more mammoth, more secure and more unique than the United States’ Social Security number-based identification system which does not cover the biometrics and iris of individual. It covers only the demographic data of an individual and hence, it cannot be unique and secure. It can be fudged, altered or manipulated which is not true for Aadhaar-enabled system in India.

The passage of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, will facilitate the formation of a statutory unique identification authority of India and the linkages of Aadhaar-enabled system to various schemes, programmes and services of Government of India, starting from taking benefit of a scheme to railway reservations, to income tax collections.   Every scheme and service in India can be connected to the Aadhaar network.

This new Act provides for several measures for the security and confidentiality of information. There are restrictions on sharing of information and there are punishments and penalties for misuse of information/impersonation in the Act.

Hence, the new Aadhaar Act, at one time, provides for the facilitation of the Aadhaar-based linkages with the different schemes/services of Government of India which will help save billions of exchange every year. At the same time, it has tried to secure the information provided by citizen in the best possible way by having various provisions to ensure the security of information.

The future of it lies in the speed with which the services and schemes are linked with Aadhaar in as little time as possible.  Every activity of business, enterprise or Government has a potential of being linked with Aadhaar-based system which, at this time, is one of the most well-secured information infrastructure of the world.

Even mobile companies can make their mobiles Aadhaar-enabled. This will help the citizens avail any service from a click of a mobile in a secured way. Also, the Government of India spends huge money in elections and in managing the election structure. Aadhaar-enabled voting system, if implemented in the future, will not only help the Government save billions of rupees, which are being incurred in providing EPIC cards, revision of electoral rolls, and eliminating duplicate entries from such lists, but will also help generate every individuals vote. Sooner or later, Aadhaar has to become the aadhar of the country.

This very Aadhaar programme,  ideally supports the motto of ‘maximum governance and minimum Government’, that was echoed by the NDA Government at the Centre. This will surely help in heralding a new age in India’s governance system which is badly in need of an immediate overhaul.

While bringing governance to the maximum use of people, through the medium of information and communication technology, Aadhaar can truly be regarded as one step ahead in an emerging global power like India. Indians having an identity

proving to be more than what they have in the past, Aadhaar needs to be promoted across the country through education campaign in schools and in news media in a massive way what it is done today.

(The writer is Additional Director General of UIDAI)

10302 - Nearly 58 lakh pensioners bank accounts to come under PMJDY - India.com

Nearly 58 lakh pensioners bank accounts to come under PMJDY

The move is being seen as a part of the Centre's plan of bringing all subsidies and welfare schemes under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) net by March 31, 2017.

By Press Trust of India on August 2, 2016 at 5:24 PM

New Delhi, Aug 2 :  About 58 lakh pensioners’ bank accounts may be subsumed under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), a national mission for financial inclusion. The move is being seen as a part of the Centre’s plan of bringing all subsidies and welfare schemes under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) net by March 31, 2017.

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has been asked to examine the possibility of converting pensioners’ accounts into PMJDY account, as per a communique issued by Cabinet Secretariat. All banks have earlier been directed to give priority to pensioners visiting their branches for seeding of Aadhaar numbers with their accounts. There are about 58 lakh central government pensioners. (ALSO READ: Jan Dhan has 21 crore accounts, mobilised Rs 32,000 cr deposits: Pranab Mukherjee)

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) issues Aadhaar–a 12-digit unique identification number–which acts as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in the country. The DBT Mission, which functions under the Cabinet Secretariat, has asked Department of Financial Services (DFS) to examine the possibility of seeding PMJDY account with the Aadhaar to be used as primary account (single account) for transfer of all government benefits, the communique said.

10296 - For DBT to be a game-changer, govt should not lose focus on these issues - First Post

For DBT to be a game-changer, govt should not lose focus on these issues

Seetha  Aug 1, 2016 16:42 IST

DBT (direct benefit transfer) has redefined the public service delivery system, cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha claimed at a workshop on DBT last week. It has, he said, increased trust in the government machinery, since people were now getting the welfare payments due to them without hassles or bribes.

The first part of the statement is, no doubt, true. DBT does bring about a paradigm shift in the delivery of welfare benefits. It does, as Sinha said, significantly bring down duplication and leakage and increases efficiency. But while it does bring huge gains to the government, is the beneficiary experience as painless as it is made out to be? That question needs to be asked as the government’s National DBT (direct benefit transfer) Portal is now up and running.

DBT payments for MNREGA have 40% failure rate. Reuters

This will bring together, on one platform, information relating to all DBT programmes by the central government. Right now, information is scattered across individual departments and there is little sense of the various benefits a family is getting. This portal will allow such mapping, down to the district level. It will also enable analytics – how many DBT payments are being made in one district, what kind of payments, and the like. What’s more, families and individuals can also keep track of their payments through this portal.

The portal will start with just information from central government ministries and departments. Over time, the centre hopes, states will also come on to this platform, which will help eliminate duplication and availing of the same benefits from different sources, which even insistence on Aadhaar may not do.

For example, someone who has a ration card in his village in one state can apply for and get a ration card in another state where he is employed (the requirement of getting a no-objection certificate from the home state can be easily managed). Since the food departments of states are not connected with each other, the same Aadhaar card can be used for two cards in two states. If states come on to this portal, departments of different states can start talking to each other and to central government departments through this portal, reducing the scope for such duplication.

The portal is part of a massive DBT push that the government is driving. There is no doubt that the whole DBT initiative, the first feeble steps relating to which were taken during the last years of the United Progressive Alliance government, has really gone places under the Narendra Modi government.

A DBT cell in the finance ministry’s expenditure department has been converted into a DBT Mission under the Cabinet Secretariat. As many as 74 schemes run by 17 ministries have shifted to DBT payments. As much as Rs 1.2 lakh crore have been disbursed among 30 crore beneficiaries till now.

All ministries making welfare payments have been told to shift to DBT mode by September 30; they, as well as Union Territories, also have to set up DBT cells by then. All state welfare schemes where the centre is making payments will also have to shift to DBT mode by end-March 2017.

So that’s all the good news. But the DBT drive is not without its share of problems, and beneficiaries are not overwhelmingly enthused as Sinha would like us to believe.

At that workshop for states he spoke at, ground-level implementation problems did get highlighted.

Take the case of DBT payments for MNREGA wages. That has often been touted as a big success, but, according to accounts of some of the delegates, a representative of the rural development ministry pointed out to a 40 per cent failure rate in the Aadhaar-based bank transactions. Money goes into individual accounts through the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) platform and this, it was reportedly pointed out, is not linked to all banks, certainly not the destination banks.

Delegates also pointed out that even when funds get credited into a beneficiary’s account, getting the money in hand is still problematic. The banking correspondent model just does not seem to be working. There is an inter-operability issue – the banking correspondent of one bank is not always able to make payments to someone in a village who may have an account in another bank. At the valedictory session, there was frank admission that 70 per cent of the payments made through micro ATMs and banking correspondents are failing. There are rural internet connectivity issues as well, which put hurdles in authentication of biometrics as well as financial transactions.

But the government is not only alive to these issues, it is also working overtime to sort these out. The decision on India Post as a payment bank and on micro ATMs may have been delayed but has finally been taken. The rural optic fibre rollout is being fast-tracked.

If DBT has to be the game-changer it is being made out to be, the pace of all this should not slacken.

10283 - After a billion Aadhaar cards, UIDAI readies for next phase - Live Mint

After a billion Aadhaar cards, UIDAI readies for next phase

The next phase will involve constant data updates, ramping up of capacity to handle half a billion transactions a day, says UIDAI CEO AB Pandey

Aadhaar is now the mainstay of the government’s direct benefit transfer programme after the enactment of the money bill. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

New Delhi: With over a billion Aadhaar enrolments completed and empowered by a new law, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is looking to scale up operations and prepare for its next phase—one involving constant updates of data and ramping up capacity to eventually validate up to half a billion transactions daily, according to UIDAI chief executive A.B. Pandey.

As of Thursday, UIDAI has issued more than 1.03 billion Aadhaar cards, covering more than 85% of India’s population.

“Aadhaar is here to stay now that there is an Act. Earlier, when there was no Act, there may have been uncertainty over whether it will be continued with or not,” Pandey said in an interview.

Aadhaar is now the mainstay of the government’s direct benefit transfer programme after the enactment of the The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.

All state benefits will now be directly transferred to intended beneficiaries’ bank accounts linked to the 12-digit biometric identity number provided by UIDAI, a step that is aimed at plugging leaks.

The Act has also removed uncertainty over a Supreme Court judgment that restricted the use of Aadhaar to select government schemes, including the cooking gas subsidy and payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

“Constant updates on biometrics, photographs, demography will happen every year. These could be around 12-13 crore every year. New enrolments will be made every year as children get enrolled,” he added.

UIDAI anticipates that the larger move towards a cashless economy will increase the need for Aadhaar-based authentications wherein UIDAI will help the government and financial institutions identify a beneficiary using biometrics like fingerprint and iris recognition.

“Authentication will become a major job. Every day 40-50 lakh people are biometrically authenticated through Aadhaar and we have the capacity to scale it up to 10 crore authentications. But then tomorrow if we require 50 crore authentications, then we should be able to achieve it. This will become our major activity as payment banks come in. Then there will be ticket reservations, attendance, and Bharat Bill Payment System that will be depen- dant on this. It will become a very critical infrastructure,” Pandey said.

The UIDAI will not charge for authenticating these transactions till December 2017, but there may be a rethink after that.

“As of now, this entire authentication process is fully funded by the government. We have decided no institution will be charged anything for a service till December 2017. After this date, a decision will be taken regarding this by the chairman and the members,” Pandey said, pointing out that imposing fees on individuals will be equivalent to denying people the right to have Aadhaar.

In line with the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, a chairman and members will soon be appointed at UIDAI and the regulations will be notified in two parts to enforce the Act.

N.C. Saxena, a member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, said authenticating 10 million transactions daily may be a more realistic figure in the near term.

“Aadhaar has three major advantages. Firstly, it eliminates duplication. Secondly, benefits would become portable and lastly, the whole concept of dual pricing can be eliminated without any loss to consumers,” he said.

“Even if 99% coverage is achieved by Aadhaar, it is a satisfactory figure and UIDAI should continue to fund it on its own as charging institutions for enrolments may not work,” Saxena added.

Suranjana RoyKomal GuptaRemya Nair

10273 - Government fixes year-end target of 100 per cent Aadhaar-linked DBT - Economic Times

Government fixes year-end target of 100 per cent Aadhaar-linked DBT

By PTI | Jul 24, 2016, 11.24 AM IST

Till date, about Rs 1.2 lakh crore has been disbursed through the DBT platform to nearly 30 crore beneficiaries.

NEW DELHI: All Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) will be linked to Aadhaar by the end of the current calendar year. 

While setting the ambitious target, the Centre has also decided to bring all subsidies and welfare schemes under the DBT net by March 31, 2017. 

The DBT programme, a major reform initiative to check leakages of welfare funds, was launched on January 1, 2013 with regard to 24 selected schemes of eight ministries. At present, benefits under 74 schemes of 17 ministries are being reached to the targeted people through DBT. 

It has also been decided to have a DBT cell in all central government ministries and state governments. 

"An ambitious target of ensuring all centrally sponsored welfare and subsidy schemes are brought on DBT by March 2017, has been set," a senior official in Cabinet Secretariat said. 

Till date, about Rs 1.2 lakh crore has been disbursed through the DBT platform to nearly 30 crore beneficiaries. 

Through DBT, all cash benefits are transferred directly to the beneficiary's bank account. 

In order to give further fillip to the programme, DBT Mission was last year shifted to Cabinet Secretariat and its implementation is being monitored by the Prime Minister's Office. 

The scope of DBT has been expanded to include cash transfer to individual beneficiaries through (Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labha or Pahal), transfer of LPG subsidy to individual consumers, wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and National Social Assistance Programme. 

All ministries have already been requested to examine various programmes and schemes implemented by them or their attached offices, public sector undertakings, autonomous organisations and implementing agencies, the official said.

10227 - PM Modi talks internal security, Aadhaar, education at inter-state meet - Live Mint

Last Modified: Sat, Jul 16 2016. 10 05 PM IST

PM Modi talks internal security, Aadhaar, education at inter-state meet

Narendra Modi reiterates commitment to cooperative federalism with the union and state governments working as a team for the development of the country

File photo. PM Narendra Modi urged chief ministers to share intelligence with central agencies and to coordinate among state police departments in view of the threats India faces vis-a-vis terrorism. Photo: Bloomberg

New Delhi: Internal security, effective implementation of direct benefit transfers to the poor through Aadhaar, improving the quality of education using technology and building stronger centre-state relations dominated Saturday’s inter-state council meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state chief ministers which met for the first time in a decade.

In his closing remarks, Modi urged chief ministers to share intelligence with central agencies and to coordinate among state police departments in view of the threats India faces vis-a-vis terrorism.

“Terrorism should be put down with an iron hand,” an official statement from the home ministry said after the conclusion of the talks, quoting Modi. It said that the prime minister emphasized the need for smart policing and the training required including in tackling cyber crimes.

A person familiar with Saturday’s meeting said “the Council discussed the importance of maintaining internal security by better intelligence sharing between the States and Central agencies....The need for modernizing the police force with better equipment and training was also emphasized.”

On Aadhaar, state representatives assured Modi full support in completing enrollment for the programme and in setting up special cells to promote its use in directly transferring state benefits to the poor. Modi asked his officials to collect data from states on the extent of savings achieved in curbing subsidy leakage on account of using Aadhaar linked benefits transfer.

The council decided that recommendations of justice M.M. Punchhi, retired chief justice of India, on centre-state relations will be taken forward for implementation.

Modi also urged states to reduce consumption of kerosene, in light of the higher number of LPG cylinders being distributed and improvements in village lighting. He promised to transfer three-fourth of the subsidy savings from reduced kerosene usage to states. “The government of Karnataka, while moving swiftly on this initiative, has sent its proposal to the Petroleum Ministry. This has been accepted and the grant has been disbursed to the state government,” said Modi. If all states reduce kerosene consumption by 25%, they can receive about Rs.1,600 crore as grant this year, the prime minister said.

Saturday’s inter-state council meeting had many firsts, said the person cited above.

“Notable among them is that, for the first time a meeting of the Inter-State Council has covered a wide ranging topics of common interest to the Centre and the States. Previously Inter-State Council meetings focused on just one or two sectors. It is also important to add here that this meeting has been held after a gap of 10 years.”

Besides remarks from the prime minister and the participating chief ministers, there were also presentations by secretaries of the Departments of Electronics and IT, School Education and Literacy and the ministry of home affairs.

“The consensus view that emerged in the Council with regard to improving the quality of education and learning outcomes was that there has to be an improvement in the pupil-teacher ratio and in the training of teachers,” the person cited above said.

“Besides, focus also needs to be there on improving classroom processes and in the quality of school infrastructure. All these should be achieved in a time-bound manner,” the person said.

The prime minister said that “in addition focus on the quality of education and learning outcomes also. Technology can greatly help in this. We should proactively take steps to bridge the disparities in the standards between the better endowed and poorly endowed schools,” the person cited above quoted the prime minister as saying.

Earlier, inaugurating the inter-state council meeting on Saturday, Modi reiterated his commitment to cooperative federalism with the union and state governments working as a team for the development of the country.

Modi said that the meeting was beneficial because it not only helps improve relations between states but also centre-state relations.

“There are not many opportunities when leaders of union government and state governments are able to meet. This meeting is to strengthen cooperative federalism. The meeting will not only help formulations of policies, it will also help in execution of those policies. I hope the discussion will be with an open mind,” said Modi.

Modi quoted former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said that debate, deliberation and discussion can help in the development of the country and also to focus on formulation and execution of policy decisions taken by the union and state governments.

“Development is possible only if centre and state governments work together for the country. Any government may not be able to work alone. The meeting of the inter-state council has not been held since 2006 and I happy that home minister Rajnath Singh has called this meeting,” Modi said.

“The meeting is an attempt to ensure that union and state governments hold debate and discussion to serve the people better and provide a secure future to the people of the country,” Modi added.

The inter-state meeting comes exactly two days before the start of the monsoon session of Parliament where the government is keen to push its reform agenda forward. Senior leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have been meeting Congress leaders to build a consensus on the passage of the constitutional amendment bill to roll out the goods and services tax (GST).

10219 - Aadhaar will ensure DBT reaches real beneficiaries: Jaitley - Business Standard

Aadhaar will ensure DBT reaches real beneficiaries: Jaitley

IANS  |  New Delhi 

July 15, 2016 Last Updated at 23:56 IST

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday that the Aadhaar law will ensure that all genuine beneficiaries are covered under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme and will help in reducing leakages.

"DBT scheme is a very important scheme as it transfers the benefit to the intended targeted beneficiaries," Jaitley said while chairing the third meeting of Consultative Committee on DBT. attached to his ministry, a finance ministry release said.

"He (Jaitley) said that Direct Benefit Transfer ensures that benefits reach the targeted population and helps in reducing leakages," the statement said.

According to the statement, some members of the Committee suggested that the Banking Correspondents scheme should be further strengthened to ensure that there is last mile coverage of beneficiaries.

Responding to the queries raised by the members, Jaitley said that Parliament has passed the Aadhaar Act and "there are provisions in the legislation to take care of the issues raised".

As on May 31, 74 schemes of 17 ministries and departments were being reported on DBT, the statement added.

--IANS

10166 - Govt strikes out 1.6 cr bogus ration cards, save Rs 10k cr - Business Standard

Govt strikes out 1.6 cr bogus ration cards, save Rs 10k cr

DBT on LPG helped weed out Rs 3.5 crore duplications, helping save Rs 14,982 cr in annual fuel subsidy

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi 

June 26, 2016 Last Updated at 12:40 IST

Government has eliminated 1.6 crore duplicate and bogus ration cards that will help save about Rs 10,000 crore in subsidy bill annually, said Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa.

In addition, the government has saved Rs 14,872 crore by offering subsidy on cooking gas (LPG) directly to consumers and direct benefit transfer (DBT) is planned to be extended to 150 schemes by the end of this year, he said.

DBT makes use of Aadhaar or the unique identification number to identify beneficiaries, under which benefits are transferred directly to their bank accounts, thus preventing diversion and misuse. This has resulted in removal of duplicate beneficiaries, which has led to significant savings across welfare schemes.

"That (the total savings made from using DBT) estimate differs from scheme to scheme. We are yet to compile that. There are some indications about weeding out of bogus ration cards. So, more than 1.6 crore ration cards have been weeded out," Lavasa, who also holds the charge of the Department of Expenditure, said

"And on this account alone, the estimation is about Rs 10,000 crore savings," he added. 

As on March 31, 2015, there were 11 crore households with public distribution system (PDS) ration cards.

Similarly, DBT on LPG, code named PAHAL, has helped weed out Rs 3.5 crore duplications and bogus users, helping save Rs 14,982 crore in annual fuel subsidy.

"Same is the response in MNREGA, about 10% savings have been reported in 2015-16 because of elimination of bogus job cards," he said.

Citing an example, the secretary said Haryana has informed the Centre that it has wiped out 6 lakh fake beneficiaries for kerosene.

The government intends to extend DBT to other schemes for better targeting and stamping out bogus users, thus checking diversion to non-intended beneficiaries, he said.

"The intention of the government is that by the end of this year, we have about 150 schemes which we want to cover under DBT. Till April this year, we have extended it to about 65-odd schemes. So, more than doubling," he said.

Nearly 31 crore beneficiaries, Lavasa said, have been covered by DBT and more than Rs 1.9 crore disbursed to them directly under various schemes like MNREGA and PAHAL.

DBT for kerosene was to be rolled out next with a pilot project to be soon launched in 33 districts, he said, adding that a similar test run for food and fertiliser is in the offing in select districts this year.

A national scholarship portal is being created that will integrate all scholarship schemes handled by different departments to make it more transparent and easy to administer.

"The intended beneficiaries will have access to all the data through our portal. It avoids duplication of work," he said, adding that pension payment would be integrated too.

According to Lavasa, DBT is a way of rationalisation, systematising and computerising schemes. "Once you start systematising things, these are the unintended benefits and these benefits are there for everybody," he added.

10091 - Modi cracks whip, tells ministries to link DBT to Aadhaar by Dec 31 - New Indian Express

Modi cracks whip, tells ministries to link DBT to Aadhaar by Dec 31

By Yatish yadav

Published: 02nd June 2016 05:12 AM

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving speech at Davangere on a Sunday | (File Photo/D. Hemanth) 

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has drawn strict timelines for the implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for Central ministries and departments which run welfare schemes. The Cabinet secretariat sent a letter to all ministries directing them to create internal DBT cells by June 30, 2016, and to link all DBT disbursal with Aadhaar by December 31.

“Prime Minister has reviewed the progress of DBT and Aadhaar on May 9, 2016, wherein stiff lines for implementation of DBT were laid down. These include — DBT Cell in all Ministries and States by June 30, 2016, all DBT disbursal to be Aadhaar linked by December 31 and all subsidies and welfare schemes to be brought under DBT by March 31, 2017,” SK Srivastva, Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat wrote.

He said that to meet the timelines, each Ministry or department would have to constitute Internal DBT Cells. These Cells may be headed by an officer of joint secretary-rank or above and comprise of IT experts, coordinating with respective programme divisions for the DBT transition.

The government has also decided to institute a live portal under each scheme to capture real-time information about beneficiaries and underlying transactions at the Central Ministry-level.

A number of Ministries like the department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fishing, Ministry of Environment & Forests & Climate Change, Department of Sports, Department of Science & Technology, Department of Agriculture Research & Education and Ministry of Home Affairs have already constituted such cells.

“Now the scope of the DBT has also been expanded to include in-kind transfers as well as transfers made to various enablers of government schemes,” the letter said. Earlier, the government claimed over 1.6 crore bogus ration cards had been deleted due to DBT, yielding savings of Rs 10,000 crore.

It said in 2015-16, over Rs 61,000 crore was distributed to over 30 crore beneficiaries, using DBT. This includes over Rs 25,000 crore in MGNREGS and over Rs 21,000 Crore in PAHAL (for LPG).

10084 - Centre plans direct transfer of benefits for most schemes - TNN

Centre plans direct transfer of benefits for most schemes

Mahendra Singh | TNN | Jun 1, 2016, 12.15 AM IST

New Delhi: Buoyed by impressive savings such as Rs 15,000 crore under Pahal due to Aadhaar-based transfers, the government is planning a major push to bring most welfare schemes-around 123-under UID-based direct benefit transfer (DBT) within a year. 

This means all entitlements and subsidies under the Centre's social sector schemes worth around Rs 3 lakh crore would begin to directly reach beneficiaries through Aadhaar-enabled DBT. The mode of transfer is expected to reduce ghost accounts and leakages substantially so that funds are directly credited to beneficiary accounts. 

The ambitious DBT scheme received crucial momentum with the passage of the Aadhaar Act which gave legal backing to the UID programme and allowed usage of the numbers for providing subsidies from central funds. 

The plan to shift all schemes on Aadhaar-enabled DBT platform was speeded up as the government is sure of providing Aadhaar numbers to nearly every Indian by March 2017, reducing fears of exclusion.

The immediate plan is to bring 56 welfare programmes, including individual beneficiary schemes such as Janani Suraksha Yojana, PM's employment generation programme, Integrated Social Protection scheme and stipend to children in special schools under child labour project.

The strategy is also to bring schemes such as Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan under DBT and exploring the ways to link the funding with beneficiary numbers.

The government's hopes that using Aadhaar as a tool to authenticate the identity of people will improve the efficacy of social sector schemes and deliver political benefits to the NDA. PM Narendra Modi has also asked for integration of all land records with Aadhaar at the earliest.

10075 - Cut out middlemen: Modi is right in backing technology to choke corruption in welfare benefits - TNN

Cut out middlemen: Modi is right in backing technology to choke corruption in welfare benefits

May 31, 2016, 2:00 AM IST TOI Edit in TOI Editorials |

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Middleman Mukt Bharat resonates, for a simple reason. All political parties see themselves as ‘pro-poor’ and plough enormous funds into social welfare schemes. However, the bulk of those funds are siphoned off by middlemen. Almost three decades after then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi famously argued that only 17 paise of every rupee spent on the poor actually reaches them, the ghost of corruption and inefficiency still hangs over the sarkari system of social welfare.

However, the overlapping potential of technology and the universalisation of banking – through the trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile technology (JAM) – now makes it possible to eliminate middlemen from the delivery of welfare schemes. 

Any political party that succeeds in doing this while in government will transform India’s democracy and win the gratitude of the electorate for a long time to come.

Social welfare schemes have always been a boon for middlemen who have exploited various loopholes to profiteer. The system of delivering welfare such as food grains at highly discounted price has provided incentives for large scale pilferage. Ghost beneficiaries are one symptom of this flawed approach. 

Building on Direct Benefits Transfer initiated by its predecessor, NDA has managed to weed out 3.5 crore bogus beneficiaries saving over Rs 21,000 crore under the LPG Pahal scheme in 2015 and 2016. The use of Aadhaar in Public Distribution System (PDS) by states like Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry has already yielded results with Rs 10,000 crore as savings in the kitty. As many as 1.6 crore bogus ration cards were culled from the list of beneficiaries. UPA’s flagship programme – MGNREGA – too has managed to save Rs 3,000 crore in 2015.

The drive to loosen the hold of middlemen needs to extend to other areas. Millions of small farmers are in the grip of middlemen linked to agricultural mandis or markets. Eliminating the monopoly of agricultural mandis on sale of farm produce will introduce competition and help farmers get a better deal. If NDA wants to make good its promise of doubling farmers’ income, it should free them from the clutches of middlemen. 

Today, it is possible to directly transfer cash or food coupons to poor households. The time is ripe for the country to move away from the traditional mai baap sarkar towards a vibrant social democracy that thrives on innovation.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

10072 - At IDFC's Bharat Banking, micro ATMs hold key to govt subsidy and micro finance business - Busniess Standard

At IDFC's Bharat Banking, micro ATMs hold key to govt subsidy and micro finance business

Nearly 32,000 pensioners will be using the IDFC Bank Micro ATM infrastructure to access their benefits in coming days

Jyoti Mukul  |  New Delhi 

May 30, 2016 Last Updated at 12:57 IST

With focus on mass rural market, IDFC Bank’s Bharat Banking division is eyeing government business like disbursal of subsidy and scholarships in a big way. It has started tying up with state governments for various schemes and is also looking to provide micro financing.

Ravi Shankar, Head- Bharat Banking, told Business Standard, IDFC Bank has partnered with Andhra Pradesh government in Krishna district for direct benefit transfer through Aadhaar-enabled payment system (AEPS). Besides, going forward, the bank would look at micro financing schemes for purchase of motorcycles, equipment and even low-cost housing.

The Andhra Pradesh government initiated DBT transfer from May 1, starting with social security pension. It will be extended to other government entitlements and finally to Public Distribution System (PDS), making PDS payments cashless.

Shankar said the bank uses interoperable micro ATMs that enhance last mile financial access through digitisation. The Micro ATM functions like a ‘Bank-in- a-Box’. The first interoperable social security pension was drawn through an IDFC Bank AEPS Micro ATM on May 1 at Ganapavaram, Mylavaram mandal in Krishna district.

Nearly 32,000 pensioners will be using the IDFC Bank Micro ATM infrastructure to access their benefits in coming days. The bank estimates over time, concentrated coverage of banking services would touch the lives of 46 lakh citizens in the Krishna district alone.

The bank’s Micro ATM is owned and operated by women members of self-help groups (SHGs), approved for financial support by the government of Andhra Pradesh. This is helping in promoting entrepreneurship in the Krishna district, the bank said.

The Micro ATM agent would cater to customers at Panchayat offices (in the first few days of every month) and later from their respective residences/ work areas. These Micro ATMs offer all basic banking services to customers of any bank, including deposits, withdrawals and transfers.

In the Krishna district, people can draw their entitlements in their neighbourhood itself, by transacting on any of the 500 Micro ATMs deployed by IDFC Bank across villages.

The full package of fund disbursal under government’s MNREGA, pension, scholarships and cashless PDS would also be carried to other districts, said Shankar.

These ATMs work like tablets which have applications developed internally and have biometrics and printer attached to them. They are available at fixed outlets which could be kirana stores where the shop owner is the operator. The applications loaded on it allow deposits and withdrawal facilities and service requests. Retailer has a current account with the bank. He dispenses and accepts cash even as the customer does not need to have an account with IDFC Bank.

The micro ATMs also provide instant account opening and activation, working on multiple identifiers including Aadhaar-based authentication, mobile numbers, debit cards and bank account numbers.

Shankar said IDFC Bank’s Bharat Banking branches would be set up in semi urban and rural areas. “They have a catchment area of 25-30 km. We have a vision of creating large low-cost banking infrastructure.”

He said their business model was different from banks. “It is an outreach model. Officers reach out to customers and offer services at doorsteps. We are closer to micro finance organisations. Besides, we also offer customised savings products to people. We layer it with new technology.”

Some 35 such branches have already been set up in around nine districts of Madhya Pradesh. Besides, it has started building bank network in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, where it has 10 branches.

9962 - Govt saves over Rs 27,000 crore through DBT and Aadhaar - Hindu Businessline

Govt saves over Rs 27,000 crore through DBT and Aadhaar

OUR BUREAU

A Banking Correspondent makes pension and MNREGA payments to beneficiaries in Dohakatu village in Ramgarh district adjoining Ranchi. Photo-Manob Chowdhury

DELHI, MAY 10:  

The Government is estimated to have saved over ₹27,000 crore by cash transfers for payments to beneficiaries under various welfare schemes in the last two years.

The issue was discussed at a review meeting by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the progress of Aadhaar and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) programmes.

“It has also resulted in weeding out of duplicate beneficiaries,” said an official release on Tuesday.

Over 1.6 crore bogus ration cards have been deleted, resulting in savings of about ₹10,000 crore. Similarly, 3.5 crore duplicate beneficiaries were weeded out in the PAHAL scheme, resulting in savings of over ₹14,000 crore in 2014-15 alone.

In Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) too, a saving of ₹3,000 crore (roughly 10 per cent) has been estimated in 2015-16.

“Several States and Union Territories too have achieved significant savings through DBT,” said the release.

The Prime Minister was also informed about the progress in Aadhaar and DBT. In 2015-16, fund transfers worth ₹61,000 crore was done through DBT to over 30 crore beneficiaries. This includes over ₹25,000 crore in MGNREGS and over ₹21,000 crore in PAHAL (for cooking gas).

The Government is now also working on a unique identifier for non government organisations (NGOs). Over 71,000 NGOs are now registered with the NGO Darpan portal maintained by NITI Aayog.

The Prime Minister stressed on making the DBT and Aadhaar platform error-free to ensure that targeted beneficiaries receive their benefits in time.

He also cautioned that beneficiaries should not be inconvenienced in the implementation of DBT and Aadhaar for various schemes. Further, officials must test their systems carefully before rolling them out on a large scale.

(This article was published on May 10, 2016

9947 - Two years of NDA… a lot better than UPA - Financial Express

Two years of NDA… a lot better than UPA

Social sector schemes led by Jan-Dhan and crop insurance, along with efforts to resolve knotty issues like spectrum availability, show a clear change from the UPA’s time, but a forward movement on retrospective tax and multi-brand retail FDI is still pending

By: Santosh Tiwari | Updated: May 8, 2016 9:02 AM

Take the case of Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM). It is a refined and much better form of the UPA’s Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme that was launched in January 2013 – the difference is, while the former failed, the latter is progressing well. (Reuters)

Two years is a good enough time to judge performance of a government, especially one that has come to power promising to completely change the way its predecessor worked. In that sense, with the NDA government, led by its star campaigner in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, completing its two years in office on May 26, the UPA sympathisers have reason to ask ‘what has changed from 2014’, if more or less the same policies are being pursued. But, on the ground, the reality is that the government functioning, especially in furthering social sector schemes and policy reforms, is a lot better than the UPA’s last few years, even though in terms of investments and the economy picking up to usher in so called ‘achhe din’ promised by PM Modi, a lot of distance still needs to be covered.

This makes the setting perfect for a Congress-NDA battle on the achievements of PM Modi government as the ongoing Parliament session ends. While the government machinery is all set to blow its trumpet of the successes through punch lines like ‘Zara Muskara Do’, as reported by The Indian Express, which will be the theme of a grand event to showcase NDA success stories, the opposition ranks will cry ‘nothing has changed’. That may be an unending debate, but net-net, the policy paralysis and despondency witnessed during the UPA regime due to the scams like 2G, coal and Commonwealth Games, among others, has taken a back-seat. And though it is a fact that the NDA government has focused predominantly on fine-tuning and better implementation of the already existing policies and schemes under a repackaged brand to make them attractive and look new, the exercise has been fairly successful and has yielded good results.

Take the case of Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM). It is a refined and much better form of the UPA’s Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme that was launched in January 2013 – the difference is, while the former failed, the latter is progressing well. The core of the NDA’s DBT model to disburse subsidies and all social sector entitlements such as scholarships and pension, Jan Dhan scheme, launched on August 28, 2014, boasts of 21.68 crore bank accounts now with Rs 36,796 crore of deposits in them along with 9.42 crore Suraksha Bima policies and 2.96 crore Jeevan Jyoti Bima policies. Facing the threat of being left in the lurch as a scheme not to be touched because it was touted as a game-changer by the UPA regime, when it left office, Aadhaar has in fact been pursued by the NDA government with the zeal that is required for pushing such a scheme. The number of Aadhaar enrolments surpassing the 100-crore mark last month, along with the enactment of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits, and Services) Act, 2016, has no doubt created one of the biggest reform platforms in the country. Going by the success of the DBT in LPG, which helped government save Rs 21,000 crore in the last two financial years, the implementation of Aadhaar-based DBT across all government social spending, including those on food and fertiliser, is expected to ensure substantial savings by curbing leakages that could be as high as 40-50% in some areas.

Another significant measure that will help farmers across the country far more than any of the vote-catching loan waivers is the liberal crop insurance schemes, as only 5% of them are covered by it because of higher premiums. Under the new scheme announced by the government now, in which it will bear a major chunk of the premium, farmers will have to pay a uniform premium of only 2% for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops. For commercial and horticultural crops, the premium will be only 5%.

If the steps taken for improving the returns on the government’s social sector spending are looking impressive, in case of dealing with some of the pending issues in areas like telecom also, such as the handling of spectrum shortage to improve telecom services and support Digital India and other government flagship schemes, there is a clear change visible in the approach.

Though the UPA government did the groundwork for releasing 3 carriers of 5MHz each in the 2100MHz band, it could not happen because the agreement with the defence ministry could not be worked out, that led to high bids in the 2015 auctions. Not only the defence ministry has now been brought on board making this spectrum available in the July auctions, the permission to allow spectrum trading and sharing has ensured the optimum use of the available spectrum by telecom operators through tie-ups.

While these are bright spots and big hits, among others, including those in the power sector, such as promotion of LED bulbs and streamlining of the coal block allocation and linkages, there are quite a few concern areas. Despite PM Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley hinting at the scrapping of the 2012 retrospective tax amendments a number of times, it is still in the statute, and the two top cases, Vodafone and Cairn, are no way near any resolution. Unless these two cases are resolved, the ghost of retro tax will be around, even if the government doesn’t take up any new cases.

Not being able to pass the Land Act changes to improve the land acquisition environment crippled by the 2013 Act and also the critical goods and services tax (GST) because of lack of majority in the Rajya Sabha is another big dampener for reforms, and the NDA dispensation has failed to build enough pressure on the Congress for co-opting the party to support these Bills. If it succeeds in getting the Bankruptcy Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, its score card on this will improve to a certain extent, as the Real Estate Bill has already been passed with the Congress support earlier in the session.

Indeed, the two years of the NDA government are more of a mixed bag in terms of results, but the overall atmosphere is far better than the UPA period – foreign direct investment in the country touching an all-time high of $51 billion in FY16 (till February) is an indication of that. The biggest concern, however, of the investment not picking up still remains, and the situation is unlikely to improve at least in the next two years in any significant manner – private sector investment slowed down to 29.4% of GDP in FY16 from 38% in FY08, and capacity utilisation in factories is 71-74% for the past two years. In the absence of any betterment of the global growth scenario in the near future, the government needs to target big reform measures like opening up multi-brand retail window for foreign investment and the passage of the GST and labour reform Bills in Parliament by finding ways to ensure Congress support to the reform legislations.

The road ahead in the next three years for the NDA government is going to be no less bumpy, even though with a GDP growth of around 7.5%, India is being considered a bright spot globally.

9894 - PMO asks NITI Aayog to widen ambit of DBT - Business Standard

PMO asks NITI Aayog to widen ambit of DBT

The PMO has asked the NITI Aayog to explore all government services and delivery schemes for this purpose

Sanjeeb Mukherjee  |  New Delhi 

April 26, 2016 Last Updated at 23:49 IST

The government is considering expanding the ambit of Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT). The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked the NITI Aayog to explore all government services and delivery schemes for this purpose.

The idea is to try and provide all subsidies through an Aadhaar (the citizen identification scheme)-enabled DBT by 2017-end. At present, about 30 per cent of DBT is through Aadhaar; about Rs 4,000 crore is paid monthly for 57 such schemes. The government has met success in using the mechanism for transfers in cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG) and foodgrain.

DBT in LPG has enabled the Centre to eliminate duplication in these accounts. For beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System in foodgrain, there’s an option of getting the allotment directly or being paid cash directly into their accounts, especially the new accounts under the Jan-Dhan Yojana. DBT encompasses various other government schemes as well, such as directly crediting Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme payments directly to bank accounts. Some new transfers, such as those for kerosene, are also planned to be through DBT, this financial year.

The Lok Sabha has already passed the Aadhaar Bill, to provide a statutory basis for the scheme to give each citizen a unique identity number, and to give legal teeth for ensuring subsidies and services directly reach the beneficiaries.