Aadhaar-enabled cash transfer scheme helped save government Rs 45,000 crore in pandemic year

-

Aadhaar-enabled Direct Transfer Benefit (DBT) payments during the last financial year that was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic helped save the government nearly Rs 45,000 crore, taking total savings since 2014, when the scheme was expanded, to Rs 2.2 lakh crore, the Modi government has said.

The official government data has been reviewed by News18 for the financial year April 2020 to March 2021.

According to officials, this was achieved by cutting leakages in government programmes, weeding out fake or non-existing beneficiaries of government schemes and sending money directly into Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of genuine beneficiaries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has earlier said this was a departure from the past.

Speaking two days ago at the ‘Aadhaar 2.0’ conference, MEITY secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney said Aadhaar had “acted as a saviour” during COVID-19. “Aadhaar-enabled DBT payments increased by up to 140 percent in April 2021 from March 2020. It again shot up by more than 200 percent in May 2021 from the April 2020 levels, signifying DBT payments by the government in times of Covid,” Sawhney said.

Official data reviewed by News18 confirms the big rise in DBT payments in cash and kind through which the government had also sent benefits such as free rations to the poor. The government has transferred Rs 5.5 lakh crore to people through DBT in financial year (FY) 2020-21, up 40 percent from FY20 when total payout under DBT was Rs 3.8 lakh crore. For this financial year so far, Rs 3.4 lakh crore have been already sent to the beneficiaries.

The government figures also show that 98 crore people got cash benefits last financial year through DBT, which is the highest ever.

Sawhney also said the usage of Aadhaar had also risen exponentially in the pandemic time. “Aadhaar was given by residents about 1,400 crore times during FY 2020-21 for availing services under various schemes through online Aadhaar authentication,” he said, describing it as a “yeoman service” rendered utilising the Aadhaar platform during COVID.

It was the UPA government, which had started the DBT on a pilot basis in 2013-14 before the Modi government adopted the same and expanded it to cover all government schemes in which cash or benefits in kind are given to people. PM Modi in the past had extolled the virtues of DBT while citing the statement of former PM Rajiv Gandhi that out of 100 paise released by the government towards the welfare of poor and needy, only 15 paise reaches to the beneficiaries due to leakages and corruption. Modi propagated the ‘JAM’ (Jan Dhan Bank Account, Aadhaar and Mobile) for DBT.

At present, over 300 central government schemes are on the DBT-Aadhaar platform including PM-KISAN, PM Aawaas Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, LPG-PAHAL and MGNREGA among others. The biggest payout under DBT presently is under the Public Distribution Scheme (PDS).

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3xrTLdK
Aman Sharma

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

120 flights delayed, 30 trains running late; Delhi fog & cold wave continue to give shiver to travellers

-
Arrival and departure of 120 flights, both domestic and international, to Delhi airport were affected due to dense fog and cold wave conditions on Wednesday, according to Delhi Airport FIDS (Flight Information Display System). As per the Delhi Airport FIDS, a total of 53 flights, including 21 domestic arrivals, 16 domestic departures, 13 international departures and three international arrivals scheduled are cancelled and not operating due to fog and other operational reasons from and to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in the national capital on 17 January. #WATCH | Delhi: Several flight operations delayed at IGI airport due to low visibility amid fog. pic.twitter.com/hG1DUKllEt — ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2024 Visuals from the Delhi airport showed passengers waiting outside, checking update of their scheduled flights. There were also some people waiting for flight of their families, friends and loved ones to arrive, which got delayed due to fog. #WATCH | Delhi | Pas
Read more