Amravati, Maharashtra: In the scheme of things, students see path to a bright future

Tejaswini, a Class X student in the Amravati municipal school, wants to become a police inspector. She says she wouldn’t allow her parents to withdraw the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefits Transfer funds from the bank account for any other purpose but her education. Sayyed Rehan, studying in the zilla parishad school under the National Child Labour Project, is trying to convince his family his education alone would improve their finances. “The cash transfer scheme would be quite handy in meeting my objective,” he says.

For Mangla, mother of five-month-old Dharni, cash transfers of Rs 4,000 in three instalments under the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog would ensure access to medicines. Till recently, Dharni was in the news for a high malnutrition rate; Mangla claims the cash transfer scheme would change the situation.

These are a few of the 0.11 million beneficiaries of 11 schemes in Amravati. Jintendra Paphalkar, Amravati’s additional collector, says 33,000 have received Aadhaar cards. They also have bank accounts. Seeding of these beneficiaries is yet to be completed, he says.

In Amravati, Aadhaar-based transfers are applicable only to the National Child Labour Project and Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana for now.

“The district administration is working hard to complete the enrolment. Simultaneously, they are being guided to open bank accounts, as some of them have accounts only in post offices,” says Paphalkar. He admits complete coverage of the cash transfers in the district would take time. Various departments are working round the clock to tackle teething problems, he says.

Of the 957 beneficiaries under the National Child Labour Project, a large number are yet to receive Aadhaar cards. Sachin Inzalkar, project director, National Child Labour Project, says: “Searching for beneficiaries may take time even if they are registered as they may have migrated. In several cases, registration is again taking place due to wrong inputs into the system.”

The government needs to address issues such as lack of machinery, lack of uninterrupted power supply, low per day enrolment and the time taken to transport beneficiaries from remote areas to banks, he adds.

Sanjay Kharkar, a zilla parishad official, says: “We are convincing beneficiaries that though Aadhaar cards are necessary, credit transfers would take place even if they haven’t received Aadhaar cards.”

The State Bank of India branch at the heart of Amravati city is crowded with beneficiaries as well as non-governmental organisation and government officials, who help expedite account opening. “Two counters have been opened for this job alone,” says a bank official.