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Journalism of Courage
The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Mission under the Cabinet Secretariat has written to all ministries to examine widening the scope of DBT for all welfare and subsidy schemes, implemented directly by them or through implementing agencies. Apart from the direct cash transfers and in-kind transfers to individual beneficiaries, the scope of DBT has been expanded to include transfers to community members and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which help in implementation of government schemes.
Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers under National Health Mission, Aanganwadi workers under Integrated Child Development Services(ICDS), teachers in aided schools, who are not the beneficiaries but are given wages, training, incentives for their service to the beneficiaries have been brought under the ambit of DBT.
Direct cash transfers to individual beneficiary under schemes such as PAHAL, MGNREGS, or through state treasury account to beneficiaries, for example, old age pension scheme in Uttar Pradesh have been included in DBT along with schemes where in-kind benefits are given by the government to individuals through an intermediate agency.
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The DBT Mission has also asked the ministries to establish internal DBT cell along with developing IT application to capture real-time information about the DBT status of various schemes in respective websites to ensure transparency and accountability. The progress of DBT implementation will be monitored through e-Samiksha portal of the Cabinet Secretariat.
DBT, started in January 2013, covers all central sector and centrally sponsored schemes, plan and non-plan, where cash benefits are transferred to individual beneficiaries implemented through Centre or states or implementing agencies or NGOs. Planning Commission was the nodal point for the implementation of the DBT programmes.
The DBT Mission was then transferred to the Department of Expenditure in July, 2013 and subsequently to Cabinet Secretariat from September 2015.
During the financial year 2015-16, up to December 31, around 29.59 crore beneficiaries in various government schemes were paid around Rs.44,035 crore through 103.43 crore transactions on DBT platform.
