Govt calls meet on DBT scheme, may take it forward

The meeting, to be chaired by Secretary, Expenditure, will be attended by representatives of other concerned ministries, including Rural Development, Human Resource Development, Minority Affairs, Tribal Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas, among others. DBT was rolled out in over 25 schemes in 2013.

The sources say after giving a definite push to Aadhaar and drawing up a roadmap wherein a 100 crore enrolment target by 2015 has been set, the government is now keen to work on DBT, after assessing the current statues. The Modi-led government, sources say, is considering expanding the scheme’s rollout from 121 to 300 districts.

In July, the PMO had directed the Planning Commission to gather information about Aadhaar with respect to five key government schemes — MGNREGA, pensions, scholarships, Public Distribution System and LPG in 300 priority districts. The 300 priority districts are those where Aadhaar enrolment is currently 60-70 per cent or more.

It is in these 300 districts the government plans to expand the coverage of DBT.

The DBT scheme, launched by the UPA with much ado, had failed to take off owing to gaps in implementation and inadequate monitoring.