Technology helped to plug leakage in benefit transfer to poor: FM

Technology adoption by the government for the benefit transfer to targeted people has plugged leakages and ensured good governance, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

Delivering the NT Rama Rao Memorial Lecture on Friday, she said, "What Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi has done is by adopting technology he has contained the leaky bucket process. There are no leaks, the beneficiary who must get that money gets it".

Technology has become a big instrument through which human folly and temptation are contained, she said at the Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM).

"Today, the way we have adopted technology is ensuring that benefits reach the common public, one of the goals of good governance has been achieved," a press release by GITAM quoted Sitharaman as saying.

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister had said that the government has so far transferred Rs 25 lakh crore through direct benefit transfer (DBT).

"I am not saying this is foolproof. Ingenuity will have some element in which people will know to hack even this but now, it is for sure that who should get what is going absolutely without any kind of pilferage. Good governance is about looking for instruments with which you are able to implement the objectives," she said.

Stressing the government mantra -- Minimum Government, Maximum Governance, she said there should be an adequate presence of a government where required, and no more.

Building trust in people is crucial for good governance, she said.