Bhubaneswar: As part of 5T initiative for maintaining transparency, the Department of Finance facilitated smooth disbursement of Rs 18,708 crore through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode under different schemes and programs.
Vishal Dev, Principal Secretary Finance held a review of DBT Operations and it came to fore that the amount was distributed to the beneficiaries through 6.84 crore transactions till November of the current financial year 2023-24.
The fund transferred to the beneficiaries through 25 programs and 61 schemes including Central schemes.
During the financial year 2022-23, a total of Rs 25,903 crore was transferred through DBT while Rs 20, 096 crore was disbursed in 2021-22.
During the current year, the highest fund of Rs 5,075 crore disbursed to 3,46,1,301 beneficiaries through DBT under MGNREGA scheme followed by Rural Housing scheme, under which Rs 5,181 crore DBT was made to 2,74,6,754 beneficiaries.
Similarly, Rs 2,809 crore directly transferred to the account of 1,66,0,079 farmers under paddy procurement, Rs 1,989 crore transferred under Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY), Rs 1,786 crore under KALIA scheme, Rs 218 crore under Kendu Leaf programme, and Rs 197 crore under farm mechanization subsidy.
The Government has transferred Rs 285 crore to students under SC, ST scholarship schemes, Rs 428 crore under National Social Assistance Program (NSAP), Rs 199 crore under National Health Mission (NHM), Rs 179 crore under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Urban.
The others schemes under which DBT was made during this fiscal includes Biju Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana (Rs 51 crore), Mukhyamantri Kalakar Sahayata Yojana (Rs 39 crore), Higher Education Department scholarship (Rs 20 crore), Input Subsidy (Rs 25 crore), Women and Child Development (Rs 139 crore), Fisheries Development State Plan (Rs 23 crore), Animal Resources Development State Plan (Rs 44 crore), Swachh Bharat Mission (Rs 9 crore), and DAY-NULM (Rs 3 crore).
DBT was started on January 1, 2013 in the country with the aim of reforming the government delivery system by re-engineering the existing process in welfare schemes for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and to ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de-duplication and reduction of fraud.
First phase of DBT was initiated in 43 districts and later 78 more districts were added in 27 schemes pertaining to scholarships, women, child and labour welfare. DBT was further expanded across the country on December 12, 2014.
The benefits of DBT have focused on its impact on curbing corruption or reducing leakages, or increasing coverage.
