Finance Minister K.M. Mani has asked all government departments to submit lists of beneficiaries eligible for assistance under various Central schemes and upload them on the Union Finance Department’s portal as part of the move to implement the Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) scheme.
All user departments and implementing agencies of Central schemes have been directed to register their details with the Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS) being established by the Planning Commission along with the beneficiary data in the prescribed format.
The Finance Minister said that 34 schemes would be covered in this phase. Accordingly, 12 schemes of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, four and two schemes of the Higher Education and School Education Departments respectively under the Human Resource Development Ministry, five schemes each under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Labour & Employment, three schemes under the Ministry of Minority Affairs, two schemes under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and one under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare would be brought under the new system.
Most of these schemes relate to payment of scholarships and fellowships to various sections of society.
Housing subsidy for beedi workers, permanent disability benefits, dependency benefits, sickness benefit from State Insurance Corporations to insured persons and their families, pension withdrawal of Provident Fund, premature withdrawal of pension and payment related to employees’ deposit-linked insurance come under the scheme.
Besides, two other schemes, domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) subsidy and PDS (public distribution system) kerosene, have also been listed as schemes amenable to direct cash transfers.
The CPSMS, under the Planning Commission, is being implemented by the Office of the Controller General of Accounts, New Delhi.
Online management
According to a government order issued in this regard, the scheme aims at establishing a suitable online management information system and a decision support system for Plan schemes of the Central government.
The system also envisages tracking of fund disbursement of plan schemes from the Centre up to the last beneficiary and ultimately report on fund utilisation at different levels of implementation in real- time basis.
The office of the Controller General of Accounts has developed a web-based application. All government departments are required to register the details of the agencies receiving grants on the portal.
Sanction ID
The plan funds released from Union Ministries and departments are to be mandatorily routed through the CPSMS with a unique sanction ID. The agencies are also required to provide their bank account details.
Sources said that reports on geographical distribution of scheme-wise, agency-wise, and sector-wise funds would be available on real-time basis.
The CPSMS will also be used in the implementation of the DCT scheme. It is in this context that Mr. Mani has written to all State departments to comply with the procedures laid down with regard to agency registration and beneficiary data.
