Chennai: Asserting that the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has eliminated middlemen and ensured that the money went directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan has claimed that over Rs.1,85,310 crore has been deposited into the accounts of beneficiaries during 2017 – 18.
The DBT has resulted in an estimated gain of Rs. 83,000 crore to the nation through savings.During 2013 – 14, about Rs. 7,367.7 crore was transferred while in 2016 – 17 about Rs. 74,607.55 crore was transferred.
The scheme, according to sources, involves the transfer of subsidies straight into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, and this has helped to save an additional Rs 25,956 crore in the 10 months to January 2018 by “plugging leakages,” thanks to the BJP-led government at the Centre. The overall savings amounted to Rs. 82,985 crore since the scheme was launched by the UPA government on January 1, 2013.
The number of DBT beneficiaries has increased to 118.3 crore, thus making every Indian now benefit from the scheme. The additional savings during the 10-month period came from bringing the public distribution system under DBT. The government has deleted 2.75 crore duplicate, fake or non-existent ration cards, including some due to migration and death, and the total cumulative savings due to PDS under DBT is Rs. 38,877 crore.
Further, the BJP government stopped subsidy for cooking gas to 3.85 crore duplicate, fake, non-existent or inactive consumers. In addition, 2.29 crore consumers stopped claiming subsidy, including 1.04 crore consumers under the ‘Give It Up’ campaign started by the government. The cumulative savings under DBT for LPG subsidy have been pegged at Rs 38,877 crore.
