DBT - DIRECT BENEFIT TRANSFER

A decision was taken in the meeting of the National Committee on Direct Cash Transfer held by Hon'ble Prime Minister that Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) will be rolled out from 1 January 2013 in 43 identified districts. The purpose of Direct Benefits Transfer is to ensure that benefits go to individuals' bank accounts electronically, minimising tiers involved in fund flow thereby reducing delay in payment, ensuring accurate targeting of the beneficiary and curbing pilferage and duplication. 28 schemes were identified for DBT rollout in 43 identified districts from 1.1.2013. It was further decided that future benefits under all the 28 schemes would be transferred in the following phased manner - (a) in 20 of the 43 districts, from 1.1.2013 (b) in 11 of the 43 districts after 1.2.2013, and (c) in the remaining 12 of the 43 districts after 1.3.2013.

Structure

The primary aim of this Direct Benefit Transfer program is to bring transparency and terminate pilferage from distribution of funds sponsored by Central Government of India. In DBT, benefit or subsidy will be directly transferred to citizens living below poverty line. Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), being implemented by the Office of Comptroller General of Accounts, will act as the common platform for routing DBT. CPSMS can be used for the preparation of beneficiary list, digitally signing the same and processing of payments in the bank accounts of the beneficiary using the Aadhaar Payment Bridge of NPCI. All relevant orders related with the DBT are available on the CPSMS website

History

The program was launched in selected cities of India on 1 January 2013. It was launched in 20 districts, covering scholarships and social security pensions initially.
Former Union Minister for Rural Development of India Jairam Ramesh and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Kiran Kumar Reddy inaugurated the scheme at Gollaprolu in East Godavari district on 6 January 2013. The government has decided to review the progress on regular basis.
The first review is scheduled to be undertaken on 15 January 2013. According to P. Chidambaram, former Union Minister of Finance of India, the scheme will be rolled out across 11 more districts by 1 February and 12 more districts by 1 March 2013.
In April 2013 the government decided to extend the DBT scheme in 78 more districts of the country from July 1, 2013. The decision was taken by then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh after a review meeting. The 78 new districts will include 6 districts each from Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, 3 each from Bihar and Tamil Nadu, 2 from West Bengal and 4 each from Odisha and Gujarat.
In a review by the Prime Minister's Office on 5 August 2013, the minutes reported that two schemes dominated transfers through CPSMS - 83% of all transfers were for the Janani Suraksha Yojana and scholarships. Lack of computerized records for schemes to be linked to DBT was hindering rollout. The minutes show that out of 39.76 lakh beneficiaries who ought to have been covered under various schemes, only 56% had bank accounts, 25.3% had both bank accounts and aadhaar numbers, but only 9.62% have bank accounts seeded with aadhaar numbers.

Programs part of DBT

• National Child Labour Project
• Student Scholarship
• LPG subsidy DBT