Maharashtra government contemplating partial Direct Benefit Transfer rollback?

MUMBAI: Maharashtra government is probably contemplating a partial rollback Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes and switch over to the old system of procuring things from the contractors. If officers are to be believed, this is being done in wake of the difficulties that the beneficiaries are facing due to DBT.

Recently state government set up a committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary to review the various schemes brought under the DBT. According to the government resolution proclaiming formation, the committee would review around 62 items for which money is being directly transferred to the beneficiaries and decided which of then needs to be dropped from the list.

It has come to notice that the banks force beneficiaries to maintain minimum balance, at time up to Rs 5000 in their accounts, and charge them with fine in case of failure even though individual beneficiaries are unlikely to be able to maintain this much of balance in their accounts. Also, though the Chief Minister has powers only to add items to the DBT list and not to delete any item from the list. Hence, a review committee is formed to ponder over various aspects of the schemes and items under DBT, said a senior official from the planning department explaining why the committee has been formed.

Currently, state government has 62 items under the DBT. It means money is transferred to the beneficiary’s accounts under DBT for these 62 items under various schemes. However, it has been observed that items like books, educational material, specs, agricultural tools, fodder and accessories for disabled etc. are available at a small price that is not sustainable for the DBT scheme. Hence, the committee is likely to debate the pros and cons of keeping and deleting any of such items from the list, the officer added.

Another senior official from the tribal welfare department said that the DBT schemes are still being run on ‘pilot project’ basis and it is not being implemented at all in far-off areas like the Gadchiroli and Nandurbar districts where the banking network is weak. The middlemen and the lobby of corrupt officers have been trying to bring hurdles in implementation of DBT. Yet, the scheme is being implemented widely and is likely to extended to city-based tribal hostels from the next academic year, the officer added.