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Saturday, April 6, 2013

Prime Minister approves expansion of Direct Benefits Transfers (DBT)

78 more districts, 3 more Pension Schemes under DBT
DBT will now cover 1/5th of the country 
The Prime Minister held a meeting of the National Committee on DBT to review the rollout of the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) system so far. The meeting was attended by all concerned Ministers including the Finance Minister, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and Chairman, UIDAI. Secretaries of all Departments were also present.

Major decisions taken: 

            After reviewing the progress in rollout of DBT in Phase - I, many important decisions were taken to expand the coverage of areas under DBT in Phase II of the rollout. These are:
1.      DBT will now be expanded to NPR states where biometrics are being collected under the National Population Register. These include Odisha, West Bengal, UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.   The collection biometrics in selected districts here will be accelerated to have a coverage of 70-80% by June 2013 and DBT will be rolled out from 1.7.2013.

2.      Additional districts: The next phase of the rollout will begin from 1 July 2013. A total of 78 districts have been identified for this phase based on the lists given by UIDAI and Registrar General of India. The list is annexed. 

a.     States Not covered in Phase I which are now covered:
                                                              i.     UP - 6 districts
                                                            ii.     Bihar - 3 districts
                                                          iii.     West Bengal - 2 districts
                                                          iv.     Odisha - 4 districts
                                                            v.     Gujarat - 4 districts
                                                          vi.     Himachal Pradesh - 6 districts
                                                        vii.     Tamil Nadu - 3 districts

b.     States covered in Phase I with more districts now - Kerala, Punjab, Delhi, MP, Rajasthan, AP, Maharashtra, Jharkhand.

3.      Additional schemes: DBT now covers 26 schemes. The three Pension Schemes managed by MoRD (old age, disability and widows) will now be covered under DBT in all the covered districts. DBT for pension schemes would be introduced from 1.7.2013 along with the rollout of Phase-II.

4.      Expanding to Post Offices: DBT will be expanded to include Post Offices and schemes run through Post Office accounts from 1 October 2013. By this time, the Post Offices will have the core banking system in 51 districts. They will accelerate CBS in other districts as well.

5.      LPG Subsidy through DBT: MoPNG is working on rolling out DBT of LPG subsidy in a phased manner. There will be a phased rollout beginning with one district and expanding to 20 districts by 15 May 2013. Rollout will cover more districts as Aadhaar enrolment expands. The total number of LPG consumers in the country is 14 crores and as the scheme rolls out, the subsidy amount will be transferred to consumers directly into their bank accounts. With the subsidy going directly, there will be only one price at which cylinders will be sold at a dealer`s shop. This will eliminate all ghost connections and diversion of cylinders.

1.      Nationwide Database digitisation: Departments will start the process of digitisation in all districts, irrespective of the rollout of DBT as this is a critical activity which need not wait and can be done in parallel.

2.      Mission Directorate: A full fledged DBT Mission Directorate consisting of  a Mission Director assisted by other officers is being created to have an institutionalized administrative arrangement to enable smooth rollout, early identification of bottlenecks, resolution of bottlenecks and handholding of Ministries/ departments wherever necessary. To facilitate a nationwide rollout of DBT, the Prime Minister has approved the creation of a post of Mission Director for DBT
Source : PIB release, 5 April, 2013

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