IMPHAL, August 23: A PIB statement has said that under the ‘Direct Benefits Transfer’ or ‘DBT’, the entitled benefit from several schemes of the central government in the form of subsidy, stipend, scholarship or other monetary benefits will be directly transferred to the beneficiary’s bank account which will eventually be linked to an ‘Aadhaar’ number.
The scheme has been rolled out presently for even the beneficiaries who do not have an Aadhaar number, it said.
DBT aims to target the beneficiaries accurately and reduce corruption. It will eliminate waste in subsidy transfer and covers 121 districts presently, it said.
The DBT was launched on January 1, 2013 in 43 districts in 16 states and union territories and the second phase was launched on July 1, 2013 when 78 more districts were added, it said.
Thus in all, 121 districts are covered under DBT. Soon, all districts will be covered under this scheme, the statement said.
DBT currently covers 26 schemes which include 17 scholarship schemes and various other schemes like IndiraGandhi Matritiva Sahyog Yojana, Dhanlakshmi scheme, Janani Sureksha Yojana, housing subsidy for Beediworkers, stipend for SC/ST for coaching, guidance and vocational training, stipend to trainees under the skill development scheme in left extremism affected 34 districts, the statement said.
Three pension schemes for old age, disability and widow pension schemes have been included under DBT from 1 July, 2013. The benefits of MGNREGA will also be deposited directly in the bank accounts of beneficiaries from 1st October, 2013, it said before adding that the DBT will be expanded to include post office and schemes run through Post office Accounts from 1st October, 2013. Beneficiaries can then get DBT transferred to their postal account as well.
For those areas where there is no bank and the post office is yet not ready, the Central Government is deputing ‘banking correspondents’ who are representatives of banks to help villagers open bank accounts, the statement said.
Such Banking Correspondent carries a small machine called ‘Micro ATM’ and the villager gives his/her thumb impression and his or her account is opened after verification and money can be withdrawn thereafter, the statement said.
The Government has launched Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG scheme from June 1, 2013, it said in order to avail of this benefit, the beneficiary must have an LPG account and a bank account which are linked with the Aadhaar number.
All Aadhaar linked domestic LPG consumers get an advance subsidy amount of Rs.435/- in their bank account as soon as they book the first subsidized cylinder even before delivery. Once the first cylinder is delivered to such consumers, subsidy eligible on date of delivery will again get credited in the bank account, which will then be available for the purchase of the next cylinder at market rate, it said and added that Public Sector Marketing Companies that provide the cylinders also provide the facility on their web-sites to check whether the Aadhaar number has been attached to LPG consumer number/bank account, it said.
There is a toll free number 18002333555 for the same, it said.