add_main_image New Delhi: The second phase of the ambitious direct cash transfer of subsidies scheme of the government will begin in July and will be expanded to cover around a fifth of the country. The scheme was flagged off in January this year in a phased manner to cover 43 districts and 26 schemes.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold a meeting on Friday to review the progress of the scheme that has been pegged as the key poll plank of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ahead of the 2014 general election, the government said in a statement.NextMAds
The second phase of the scheme will also see a focus on states such as Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, where the Registrar General of India (RGI) has the primary responsibility of collecting biometric information of residents.
“These are states with large numbers of poor and, hence, beneficiaries,” the statement said.
The home ministry and RGI will accelerate collection of biometric information in selected districts in these states so that a coverage of 70-80% is achieved by June and the scheme can be rolled out from July, said the release issued on Thursday.
The 150,000-strong post office network will also come on board from October. The post offices are currently being connected up through a core-banking network.
While 78 new districts will be added in the next phase, three pension schemes under the ministry of rural development for old people, widows and the disabled will also be added.
The government also acknowledged that there were “teething troubles” initially.sixthMAds
“Progress will be reviewed on the digitization of databases, the opening of bank accounts, the enrolment in Aadhaar and the seeding of databases with Aadhaar numbers,” the release said.
These numbers refer to the unique identity initiative of the government.
The statement said that digitization of data of beneficiaries in all districts will be fast-tracked.
The department of financial services will be asked to ensure coverage of all beneficiaries with bank accounts, it said.
