Want quick roll-out of LPG subsidy via direct benefits transfer scheme ... - NDTV

The government if planning for a quick rollout of the subsidy on cooking gas via the direct cash benefits transfer (DBT) scheme, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday. "Me and Veerappa Moily (Oil Minister) are trying to decide when we can transfer LPG benefits. We are moving forward and are trying to do it as soon as possible," he said at a press conference, adding that a decision will be taken in the next few days. The government expects 14 lakh crore beneficiaries to be included under the policy. "We feel there will be a lot of duplicate consumers," Mr Chidambaram added. Explaining its plans of rollout further, the finance minister said, "Money will be directly given to the consumer once we have a record that he has bought a cylinder. It is possible that we may give him an advance on one cylinder so that he does not have bear it out of his pocket. Mr Moily and I will discuss it." He said that it does not matter if a non-beneficiary has his bank account linked to Aadhar. "But since everyone, be it rich or poor, would want to avail subsidy on LPG, linking of bank accounts will be required," he added. The Prime Minister on Friday decided, that the subsidy on cooking gas or LPG will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries in 20 districts by mid-May, with more areas being added gradually at a time. A statement from the Prime Minister's Office said that eventually, "With the subsidy going directly, there will be only one price at which cylinders will be sold at a dealer's shop. This will eliminate all ghost connections and diversion of cylinders." This is part of the Direct Cash Benefits Transfer policy, introduced in January, sees the poor receiving cash payments directly in their bank accounts for pensions and scholarships. The aim is to stop the vast leakage and siphoning of welfare schemes worth thousands of crores. Eventually, the plan is fo r all subsidises on fuel, food and fertilizers to be deposited directly in the accounts of beneficiaries, using the Aadhar scheme, which assigns a unique biometric identity number to every citizen. Only those with a UID and a bank account are able to receive direct cash transfers from the government for their entitlements. According to the Finance Minister, the rollout of the policy needs convergence of three systems. "One is the digitized list which is dynamic because beneficiaries keep changing. The next is opening of bank accounts for the beneficiaries and the third is biometric capture," he said. Dr Manmohan Singh also decided on Friday that the scheme to transfer social welfare money directly to the poor will be introduced in another 78 districts, starting July. The idea is that by the end of July, one-fifth of the country's needy will be covered by the policy, which the government hopes to use as a major vote-winner. According to Mr Chidambaram, the r ollout of the scheme all over the country will be completed by end of 2013-14. "This is a revolutionary re-engineering of governance, the way the benefits are transferred. There will be some problems but we are completely confident which is why we have rolled out in 78 districts." With inputs from agencies via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHRK_H3TOJl_kIs4lja0Zmo7Eto_Q&url=http://profit.ndtv.com/news/economy/article-want-quick-roll-out-of-lpg-subsidy-via-direct-benefits-transfer-scheme-chidambaram-320557

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