Racing against time to make the ambitious Direct Benefits
Transfer (DBT) visibly effective before the 2014 general elections, the
government will bring money transaction through post offices under the DBT
ambit. This desperate move is aimed as a remedy to banks opening accounts of
DBT beneficiaries at snail’s pace.
Ahead of the Prime Minister’s review meeting with key
ministers, the government announced that post offices will also be included
from October 1 while three pension schemes — for old age persons, widows and
the disabled — would now be covered under DBT from July 1. The list would also
include districts where the beneficiaries’ biometrics were collected under the
National Population Register (NPR). They include Odisha, West Bengal, UP,
Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
Several complaints had poured in after the scheme was
launched from January 1 about the problems of the banks to open zero-balance
accounts of the beneficiaries, especially in rural areas.
The government also targets to expand the DBT to cover 78
more districts in the next phase of the DBT rollout which will begin from July
1.
To plug the loopholes, PM’s focus will be on digitisation
of databases and opening of more bank accounts. “There will be a thrust on
digitisation of data of beneficiaries 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,” said a press release.
“The
department of financial services will be asked to ensure coverage of all
beneficiaries with bank accounts. It will ensure that all Micro-ATMs that are
procured will have specifications such that they are inter-operable and are
Aadhaar enabled,” the release added.
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