Pradhan urges Odisha to review decision to pay social security pension in cash

The Odisha government on May 20 took the decision to provide the monthly assistance under the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) in cash citing difficulties beneficiaries faced in withdrawing money from their bank accounts. The MBPY covers 28.5 lakh elderly, differently abled, widows and transgenders, while 15 lakh of them were receiving the assistance through the DBT.

Under the MBPY, eligible individuals including those between 60-79 years of age, widows, transgenders, persons with disabilities and the destitute are provided Rs 500 per month, while those above 80 years get Rs 700 per month.

The Naveen Patnaik government’s decision assumed significance following certain incidents including one in Nabarangpur where the video of a 70-year-old woman from Jharigaon village had gone viral, in which she was seen walking barefoot using a broken plastic chair for support, to collect her pension.

“Adoption of DBT has resulted in massive savings to the exchequer, by removal of fake/ghost beneficiaries and reducing need for intermediaries/middlemen. This has immensely helped in plugging leakage and diversions and has eliminated scope of corruption. It promotes transparency by cutting down discretionary decision making and opacity in processes,” said Pradhan in his letter.

The Union minister said the total disbursal for central and state scheme in Odisha through the DBT in FY 2022-23 was Rs 8,135 crore, benefitting around 1.95 crore people. He said that the DBT resulted in saving Rs 459 crore through elimination of ghost/duplicated beneficiaries.

On state government’s claim that people face difficulty in withdrawing money, Pradhan said there are 82,261 banking correspondents available with different banking institutions in Odisha.

“Apart from it there is a wide network of 8491 post offices in Odisha which are fully capable and trained to provide financial services in remote and rural areas,” said Pradhan.

He added that as many as 6,772 of 6,798 gram panchayats in Odisha are covered through more than 22,000 functional common service centres.