DBT rollout: Key department shifted from Planning Commission to Finance Ministry

Keen to hasten the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has shifted a key department overseeing its implementation from the Planning Commission to the Finance Ministry for "better coordination" and "resolution of inter-ministerial issues".

The DBT programme has covered over 2.8 million LPG transactions valued at Rs 116 crore in the seven weeks since it was launched, the Prime Minister's Office said in Delhi on Wednesday.

"In order to improve inter-ministerial coordination and hasten the rollout" of the DBT programme, "the Prime Minister has approved the shifting of the Mission Director and his officers from Planning Commission to the Ministry of Finance. This shift will enable direct supervision of the rollout of BT across the country and resolution of inter-ministerial issues", it said.

The full-time 'Mission Director' had been appointed for DBT to manage the extensive work involved in rolling out the programme across the country. The Mission Director is supported by a Joint Secretary and additional officers.     

"The Prime Minister decided to place the office of Mission Director (DBT) and his officers within the Ministry of Finance. This would improve the coordination between the DBT programme and the Department of Expenditure and Department of Financial Services. This would make the DBT rollout far more effective and quicker," the Prime Minister's Office said.

It said the location has been shifted because "the bulk of the work in DBT at the moment is in digitisation of databases, re-engineering government processes for automating financial transactions, enrolling in Aadhaar and ensuring that every recipient has bank accounts seeded with Aadhaar".

"The re-engineering and automation of financial transaction processes have to be facilitated by the Department of Expenditure. The opening of bank accounts and seeding them is the responsibility of Department of Financial Services."

The DBT programme was rolled out on January 1 this year,  eginning with 43 districts and expanding to 121 districts from July 1.

Transfer of LPG subsidy through DBT was rolled out from June 1 and now covers 20 districts. In LPG, over 2.8 million DBT transactions valued at Rs. 116 crore have taken place in 7 weeks, the PMO said.

While approving the DBT programme, Mr Singh had ordered creation of an overarching architecture consisting of a National Committee chaired by the Prime Minister and an executive committee chaired by the Principal Secretary to PM.     

At the time of creating this architecture, the DBT programme was initially housed in the Planning Commission.     

Secretary, Planning Commission was made the Convenor of the Executive Committee and the Planning Commission supported the initial phase of the DBT rollout.

The two government departments which have the maximum interface with DBT are the Department of Expenditure which is in-charge of all government funds being transacted through DBT and the Department of Financial Services which is responsible for financial inclusion and managing the cash transfer process through the Aadhaar Payment Bridge.

The other two departments which have a common role are UIDAI, which does Aadhaar enrolment, and DIT, which provides technical support.