NEW DELHI, May 8: The Centre has asked all its departments and state governments to widen the scope of Direct Benefit Transfer scheme to include all monetary and in-kind transfers to beneficiaries, like NGOs and others assisting in implementation of the ambitious DBT programme.
It has been realised that the scope of the DBT can be expanded to include all welfare or subsidy schemes operated by the ministries and departments of government of India, directly or through implementing agencies, which involve transfer of benefits in cash or kind to individuals, a communication sent by the Cabinet Secretariat under which the DBT Mission functions, said.
“Ministries and departments are requested to examine various programmes and schemes implemented by them or their attached offices, public sector undertakings, autonomous organisations and implementing agencies in the light of the expanded scope of DBT and may establish internal DBT cell to take advantage of information and communication technology to improve government to people interface,” it said.
Ministries should develop information technology-based applications to capture real time information about the DBT status of various programmes and schemes on their respective websites so that issues of efficiency, transparency and accountability are effectively achieved, the Cabinet Secretariat said in a communique to secretaries of all central ministries and chief secretaries of state governments.
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 for re-engineering the existing delivery systems and process-flows to reach out to end beneficiaries directly using modern technology.
DBT, since then, has been universalised to cover all central sector and centrally-sponsored schemes, where cash benefits are transferred to individual beneficiaries. In order to give further fillip to it, 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 an individual beneficiary through (Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labha or Pahal), transfer of LPG subsidy to individual consumers, wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGS and National Social Assistance Programme.
There is also in-kind transfer to beneficiaries through an intermediate agency. For example, Fair Price Shops are provided with Point of Sale or POS devices that enable authentication of beneficiary details and disbursement of subsidised foodgrains to the targeted population.
While Department of Food incurs internal expenditure for providing subsidised foodgrains, biometric authentication ensures targeted disbursement of such in-kind subsidies, the Cabinet Secretariat said.
The DBT programme also includes other transfers within the programme design, like those made to the various enablers of government schemes like community workers and NGOs, in the form of honorarium or incentives, for successful implementation of the schemes, it said citing processes which can be included in the scheme.
For example, ASHA workers under National Health Mission, Aanganwadi workers under Integrated Child Development Services, teachers in aided schools and sanitation staff in urban local bodies who are not the beneficiaries but are given wages, training, incentives for their service to the beneficiaries or community. (PTI)
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