9043 - India better off today: Modi - Hindu Businessline

India better off today: Modi

K. R. SRIVATS

Asks experts ideas for reforms that will transform nation

NEW DELHI, NOV 6:  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that economic reforms should be inclusive and broad based, and called on policymakers and economists to come up with ideas for “reforms to transform” the country.

Inaugurating the 6th Delhi Economic Conclave ‘Realising India’s JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) vision’, Modi said JAM should be all about achieving maximum value for every rupee spent, maximum empowerment for the country’s poor, and maximum technology penetration among the masses.

This is the first time a Prime Minister has addressed the Delhi Economic Conclave.

Modi said that before becoming Prime Minister he had received many inputs about reforms from many experts. “However, none of them touched on the issue of cleanliness and sanitation,” he revealed.

“Our Swachh Bharat or Clean India campaign will impact not only health and sanitation but also uplift the status and security of women and above all create a powerful sense of well-being. If this reform succeeds, as I am confident it will, India will have been transformed,” he said.

Stating that India’s reforms are far broader and deeper than is recognised, Modi said that the country was doing better on all macro-economic indicators today than before he took office.

On the government’s financial inclusion initiative he said: “Accounts opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana today have a total balance of almost ₹26,000 crore or nearly $4 billion.”

Jaitley bats for Aadhaar

Addressing the concluding session, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: “You cannot have a situation where Aadhaar is accepted for some schemes and not for others. A universal system should be there.” (The Supreme Court has allowed Aadhaar numbers to be used only for a few social development schemes).

“Aadhaar and the JAM Trinity are here to stay. We have two options either to pursue it in the Court or pass an executive order. The draft UIDAI legislation is almost ready,” Jaitley added.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said: “We soon hope to bring kerosene under the direct benefit transfer scheme. There may be a ₹4,000-₹5,000 crore annual reduction in subsidies.”

Srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in

(This article was published on November 6, 2015

8640 - Government launches portal for booking LPG connections online - Media Nama

Government launches portal for booking LPG connections online

By Sneha Johari ( @thejunebug ) on August 31, 2015

The Government has launched a portal called Sahaj on MyLPG.in to let citizens book an LPG connection and make payments for the connection online. This service will be available for citizens in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Pune for now, and will be launched across the country in the next few days. Note that the portal states that it is maintained by the ‘respective oil marketing companies’. 

Dharmendra Pradhan, state minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas said that the Petroleum Ministry’s initiatives in the last 7 months had extended LPG coverage. According to the PIB release, 2.5 million Indians had given up LPG cylinder subsidy, and that 2.2 million new LPG connections had been issued to BPL (below poverty line) households from January to July this year.

Through the MyLPG portal, which is available on a phone, tablet and computer, users can book their cylinders, register for a new connection, track cylinder booking and delivery dates, choose the distributor, Aadhaar linking status, monitor LPG subsidy transferred to bank and surrender their connection online. It has been created by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas along with oil marketing companies like Indane, Bharat Gas and HP Gas.

A TOI report states that after a new application for an LPG connection is received, the system will automatically detect a dealer best suited for the user and email or message them the customer ID number, within 48 hours of application. Once this number is received, the user can pay online, after which the the system makes a duplication check. Post that, the dealer will deliver the regulator, cylinder and rubber pipe to a new user. Apparently, the whole process will take 6-7 days.

Transparency portals of oil marketing companies became MyLPG
Way back in 2012, state owned oil marketing companies Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum setup LPG transparency portals, offering data on the last mile delivery of domestic LPG cylinders supplied by them to nearly 14 crore households in the country. The portal could be accessed through the official website of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and  through respective oil marketing company websites. These transparency portals were later renamed to MyLPG.

10 crore Aadhaar cards linked to bank accounts
In December last year, the Planning Commission said that 10 crore Aadhaar numbers had been linked to bank accounts of said card holders as a part of the government’s Digital India mission. According to the agency, this would help it identify genuine beneficiaries and send government welfare subsidies directly into their bank accounts. Once Aadhaar linked, it would be used by the government to pay various subsidies like for LPG cylinders, MNREGA workers, PDS, scholarship and remittance.

Bharatgas subsidy list and its privacy concerns
In May, as part of its initiative to encourage LPG users to pay market price and not avail the LPG subsidy provided by the government, Bharatgas put up a list of customers who opted out on a ‘Scroll of Honour’ on its website. However, this move compromised consumer privacy as one could simply select a state and district to get a list of Bharatgas customers who opted out of the subsidy scheme and their addresses.

Our Digital India coverage here.

Image Credit: Flickr user Pranav Prakash

8233 - NDA govt kicks off PDS reforms with direct cash transfers - Live Mint

NDA govt kicks off PDS reforms with direct cash transfers

Starting September, govt will usher in direct cash transfers to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of beneficiaries in Puducherry, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli

 Asit Ranjan Mishra 

Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

New Delhi: The government has decided to bite the bullet on public distribution system (PDS) reforms.

Starting September, it will usher in direct cash transfers to the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of beneficiaries in Puducherry, Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In Daman and Diu, PDS benefits will be provided on the basis of Aadhaar-linked biometric verification.

“We are taking the measure on the request of members of Parliaments of these Union territories. While initially, Rs.500-700 per household will be transferred to the bank accounts of beneficiaries as food subsidy, at a later stage, kerosene will also be brought under DBT (direct benefit transfer). There will be no option of availing foodgrain through PDS. It will be totally based on cash (transfers),” Peeyush Kumar, joint secretary in charge of DBT in the finance ministry, said.

He was addressing a conference on DBT organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday.

A high-level committee on the state-owned Food Corporation of India’s (FCI’s) restructuring, chaired by former food minister Shanta Kumar, had recommended an overhaul of the FCI-managed PDS earlier this year. The panel estimated that cash transfers could save the exchequer Rs.30,000 crore annually. For 2014-15, the central food subsidy bill is estimated at Rs.1.15 trillion.

So far, DBT had been rolled out for transfer of cooking gas (LPG) subsidies. Called the Pahal scheme, it has covered 11.89 crore of the 14.54 crore active LPG consumers till March, according to petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement in Parliament.

But unlike Pahal, where the cash transfer to the Aadhaar-linked bank account of the beneficiary is based on consumption, in the case of PDS, the amount will be transferred each month irrespective of the beneficiary’s past consumption history.

Earlier, chief economic adviser to the finance ministry, Arvind Subramanian, speaking at the conference, described DBT as a “game changer” for India. He pointed out how DBT in the case of LPG subsidy had resulted in a 24% reduction in the sale of subsidised LPG, as “ghost beneficiaries” had been excluded. The savings to the government were to the tune of Rs.12,700 crore in 2014-15, he added.

Kumar said the centre has directed state governments to fully digitize their Aadhaar enrolment sheets and link them to the PDS database by the end of December, failing which their PDS supplies would be stopped. “We have also told the state governments that by December you identify one district and start a pilot project for PDS through biometric identification so that you are aware of the issues that come up,” he added.

Once states link Aadhaar numbers with the PDS database, biometric devices will be made available at fair-price shops, so that verification of beneficiaries can be done within seconds.

“At present, 89% of the Aadhaar database is digitized. But unfortunately, Aadhaar seeding is on the lower side, only around 10-15%. In Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, it is 100%,” he said.

In Delhi, 25,000 fair price shops have been entirely digitized and linked to Aadhaar. In Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, PDS is completely based on biometric authentication since May.

“The initial results of one month are quite encouraging. Savings in the first month itself is Rs.8 crore, meaning almost Rs.100 crore in savings from one district in a year,” Kumar said.

On taking DBT beyond the Union territories, Kumar clarified that the central government could not take a decision on rolling it out in states as the matter is a state subject.

Dipa Sinha, fellow at the Centre for Equity Studies, a Delhi-based research and non-profit advocacy group, and convenor of the steering committee of the Right To Food campaign, said at a time when the coverage of PDS is improving, the government is sending confusing messages by pushing for cash transfers, shutting down PDS.

“PDS plays multiple roles by ensuring basic food security for the poor and support for farmers. Dismantling PDS will mean foodgrain procurement and, in turn, production will go down, which could be dangerous for the country,” she added.

The National Sample Survey Office data released last week showed that more rural households are buying from PDS, and their purchases of subsidised food have doubled in the past seven years. Nearly 28% of rice eaten by all rural households in 2011-12 was from the PDS, more than double the share of 13.2% in 2004-05. Also, nearly 46% of rural households across India bought subsidised rice from PDS in 2011-12, up from 24.4% in 2004-05 and 39% in 2009-10.

FIRST PUBLISHED: FRI, JUL 03 2015. 12 39 AM IS

5562 - Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan proposes pro-poor approach on fuel, gas price hike - DNA India

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan proposes pro-poor approach on fuel, gas price hike

Sunday, 1 June 2014 - 11:29am IST | Agency: ANI

Hinting at pro-poor approach in dealing with rise in fuel and gas prices, new Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that he would consult Finance and Law ministries before taking a call on price hike. "That issue has many aspects, angles and questions. There are many departments associated with it. Law ministry and finance ministry are associated with it. We are analyzing the whole matter, we will talk to the top supporters in our government before we take the decision," he said.

In January, the previous government had notified the new gas pricing formula that could double the prices of locally produced gas from April 1, but the poll regulator stopped the government from raising the prices until the elections are over. Reliance Industries and its partners BP and Niko Resources earlier this month issued a notice of arbitration to the government seeking implementation of higher gas prices. 

The BJP-led government may review the formula on the lines suggested by a senior party leader last year and announce the date of implementation of new prices. The oil minister on Saturday also hit at the failure of massive biometric project that was earlier undertaken by the Congress party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government.

Pradhan also said he has instructed his officials to draft a detailed presentation on the critical issues facing the sector in a bid to understand the challenges of the petroleum ministry.

 "There is a big question mark on Aadhar by the court, but we will have to accept that the 160 million consumers, customers have to be provided with a technology friendly transparent distribution system without any obstacles. I have instructed the officials of my department. They will look for a solution into this matter. There have been a few improvements but we will look for a better solution which will help us win the hopes of the people," he said.

UPA in its second tenure had taken the flagship programme of setting largest biometric database in the world with the aim of providing most of its 1.2 billion citizens a Unique Identification (UID), named "Aadhaar".

Even country's apex court ruled last year that such cards were not mandatory even though state governments had been making it compulsory for a range of formalities to avail various social security benefits.

Putting the country's technological prowess to work to bring the entire 1.2 billion population within the reach of government, the widely feted unique identity (UID) project was set up by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani.

In a more ambitious version of programmes that have slashed poverty in Brazil and Mexico, the government had begun to use the UID database since May 2012 to make direct cash transfers to the poor, in an attempt to cut out frauds who siphon billions of dollars from welfare schemes.