#India- Prime Minister approves expansion of Direct Benefits Transfers (DBT)

April 5, 2013
New Delhi, PIB

78 more districts, 3 more Pension Schemes under DBT

DBT will now cover 1/5th of the country

The Prime Minister held a meeting of the National Committee on DBT to review the rollout of the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) system so far. The meeting was attended by all concerned Ministers including the Finance Minister, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and Chairman, UIDAI. Secretaries of all Departments were also present.

Major decisions taken:
After reviewing the progress in rollout of DBT in Phase – I, many important decisions were taken to expand the coverage of areas under DBT in Phase II of the rollout. These are:

1. DBT will now be expanded to NPR states where biometrics are being collected under the National Population Register. These include Odisha, West Bengal, UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. The collection biometrics in selected districts here will be accelerated to have a coverage of 70-80% by June 2013 and DBT will be rolled out from 1.7.2013.
2. Additional districts: The next phase of the rollout will begin from 1 July 2013. A total of 78 districtshave been identified for this phase based on the lists given by UIDAI and Registrar General of India. The list is annexed.
a.      States Not covered in Phase I which are now covered:
                                                         i.      UP – 6 districts
                                                         ii.     Bihar – 3 districts
                                                         iii.    West Bengal – 2 districts
                                                         iv.    Odisha – 4 districts
                                                         v.    Gujarat – 4 districts
                                                         vi.    Himachal Pradesh – 6 districts
                                                         vii.   Tamil Nadu – 3 districts
b. States covered in Phase I with more districts now – Kerala, Punjab, Delhi, MP, Rajasthan, AP, Maharashtra, Jharkhand.
3. Additional schemes: DBT now covers 26 schemes. The three Pension Schemes managed by MoRD (old age, disability and widows) will now be covered under DBT in all the covered districts. DBT for pension schemes would be introduced from 1.7.2013 along with the rollout of Phase-II.
4. Expanding to Post Offices: DBT will be expanded to include Post Offices and schemes run through Post Office accounts from 1 October 2013. By this time, the Post Offices will have the core banking system in 51 districts. They will accelerate CBS in other districts as well.
5. LPG Subsidy through DBT: MoPNG is working on rolling out DBT of LPG subsidy in a phased manner.There will be a phased rollout beginning with one district and expanding to 20 districts by 15 May 2013. Rollout will cover more districts as Aadhaar enrolment expands. The total number of LPG consumers in the country is 14 crores and as the scheme rolls out, the subsidy amount will be transferred to consumers directly into their bank accounts. 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.
6. Nationwide Database digitisation: Departments will start the process of digitisation in all districts, irrespective of the rollout of DBT as this is a critical activity which need not wait and can be done in parallel.
7. Mission Directorate: A full fledged DBT Mission Directorate consisting of a Mission Director assisted by other officers is being created to have an institutionalized administrative arrangement to enable smooth rollout, early identification of bottlenecks, resolution of bottlenecks and handholding of Ministries/ departments wherever necessary. To facilitate a nationwide rollout of DBT, the Prime Minister has approved the creation of a post of Mission Director for DBT.

Prime Minister’s Closing Remarks

In his closing remarks, the PM said that the meeting was productive and everyone’s views were heard. This program will transform the way in which government benefits are delivered to our people. He said that we have come some distance since DBT was rolled out in January. In these 3 months, we have learnt a lot about the challenges in implementing a program of this sort. It has not been as easy as departments envisaged. We have run into many operational issues which were resolved along the way. I am heartened by the progress and am hopeful about the future. But the journey has just begun and we have a long distance to go. This is not the time to rest.

He said that DBT is not conceptually difficult. It consists of just a few simple steps. In the field, it is all about digitising data, enrolling in Aadhaar, opening bank accounts and seeding these accounts. More importantly, he said that DBT requires process re-engineering at the government level. He emphasised the need to change the way we transact business, the way we release funds, the way we track funds and the information we have on beneficiaries. All these are important in themselves. He urged everyone to apply themselves to this exercise as that is one of the biggest benefits that will come out of DBT.

He mentioned that the exercise of DBT has revealed the poor nature of tracking and monitoring systems we have in departments. If we need to ensure that the money we spend delivers outcomes, it is necessary that we have a robust monitoring system in place. That is what DBT does, in addition to making the process simpler for beneficiaries and rooting out fraud, corruption and wastage.

He concluded by saying that as DBT expands, DBT will become more visible with a larger footprint, both in terms of area and in terms of number of people covered. This is a program on which the implementation capacity of the government will be tested. We will soon be covering over 120 districts and even more in a few more months. We cannot afford to fail. We need to show that we can deliver results and benefits. He asked all Ministries and Departments to apply themselves with dedication to this major initiative and the challenging task in rolling out the DBT program.

Districts in phase I and phase II

S.No.	Name of State/UT	43 districts included in first phase		To be included in II phase		Recommended by
1	Karnataka	1	Tumkur
		2	Mysore
		3	Dharwad
2	Kerala	4	Pathanamthitta	1	Palakkad	RGI&UIDAI
		5	Wayanad	2	Kottayam	RGI&UIDAI
				3	Ernakulam	UIDAI
				4	Alappuzha	UIDAI
				5	Idukki	RGI&UIDAI
				6	Thiruvananthapuram	UIDAI
				7	Kozhikode	UIDAI
				8	Thrissur	UIDAI
				9	Kannur	RGI
3	Puducherry	6	Puducherry	10	Yanam	RGI
4	Chandigarh	7	Chandigarh
5	Harayana	8	Ambala
		9	Soniput
6	Punjab	10	SBSNagar/Nawanshahar	11	Jalandhar	UIDAI
		11	Fatehgarh Sahib	12	Barnala	UIDAI
		12	Gurdaspur			UIDAI
7	Delhi	13	North East Delhi	13	Central Delhi	UIDAI
		14	North West Delhi	14	East Delhi	UIDAI
				15	North Delhi	UIDAI
				16	South West Delhi	UIDAI
				17	West Delhi	UIDAI
				18	South Delhi	UIDAI
8	Madhya Pradesh	15	Hoshangabad	19	Burhanpur	UIDAI
		16	East Nimar (Khandwa)	20	Bhopal	UIDAI
		17	Harda	21	Jabalpur	UIDAI
9	Rajasthan	18	Ajmer	22	Jhunjhunu	UIDAI
		19	Udaipur	23	Pali	UIDAI
		20	Alwar	24	Kota	UIDAI
10	Sikkim	21	West	25	South	UIDAI
		22	East	26	North	UIDAI
11	Tripura	23	Khowai
		24	Dhalai
		25	North
		26	West
12	Andhra Pradesh	27	Hyderabad	27	Srikakulam	RGI&UIDAI
		28	Anantpur	28	Krishna	UIDAI
		29	Chittoor	29	Guntur	UIDAI
		30	East Godavari	30	Adilabad	UIDAI
		31	Ranga Reddy	31	Cuddapah (YSR Kadapa)	UIDAI
				32	Vizianagram	RGI
				33	Kurnool	RGI
				34	Nalgonda	RGI
13	Daman & Diu	32	Diu
		33	Daman
14	Goa	34	North Goa	35	South Goa	UIDAI
15	Maharashtra	35	Wardha	36	Aurangabad (MH)	UIDAI
		36	Mumbai + Suburban	37	Gondiya	UIDAI
		37	Amravati	38	Jalgaon	UIDAI
		38	Pune	39	Jalna	UIDAI
		39	Namdurbar	40	Latur	UIDAI
				41	Ratnagiri	UIDAI
16	Jharkhand	40	Saraikela-Kharsawan	42	Khunti	UIDAI
		41	Ranchi	43	Lohardaga	UIDAI
		42	Ramgarh	44	Bokaro	UIDAI
		43	Hazaribag			UIDAI
17	Himachal Pradesh			45	Hamirpur	UIDAI
				46	Una	UIDAI
				47	Bilaspur	UIDAI
				48	Mandi	UIDAI
				49	Kullu	UIDAI
				50	Solan	UIDAI
18	Gujarat			51	Mehsana	UIDAI
				52	Valsad	UIDAI
				53	Bhavnagar	UIDAI
				54	Anand	UIDAI
19	Tamil Nadu			55	Ariyalur	RGI
				56	Pudukottai	RGI
				57	Tirucherrapalli	RGI
20	West Bengal			58	Coochbehar	RGI
				59	Howrah	RGI
21	Odisha			60	Bolangir	RGI
				61	Puri	RGI
				62	Cuttack	RGI
				63	Sonapur	RGI
22	Lakshadweep			64	Lakshadweep	RGI
23	Uttar Pradesh			65	Etawah	RGI
				66	Chitrakoot	RGI
				67	Sant Kabir Nagar	RGI
				68	Shrawasti	RGI
				69	Rae Bareilly	RGI
				70	Amethi	RGI
24	Uttarakhand			71	Bageshwar	RGI
				72	Champawat	RGI
				73	Tehri Garhwal	RGI
25	Chhattisgarh			74	Dhamtari	RGI
				75	Koriya	RGI
26	Bihar			76	Arwal	RGI
				77	Sheohar	RGI
				78	Sheikhpura	RGI