Montek Singh Ahluwalia backs Govt.'s cash transfer scheme

The Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Thursday backed the government's cash transfer scheme.

Addressing a conference on 'Unconditional Cash Transfers' here, Singh said that the government has to do it on a larger scale.

"Cash transfers can be organised into banks. And I mean, obviously, if the government were to do a cash transfer system, it's a much larger scale. I mean they are doing two villages or three villages; we will have to do many more," said Ahluwalia.

"But the point is that it can be done and I think that's the sort of thing governments can do. So, that's a very important thing established," he added.

Ahluwalia further said that the government has already done whatever minimum was necessary for that.

"The government has done what is the minimum necessary for that. The RBI has introduced a system, where banks will open no frill accounts, either themselves or through banking correspondents providing, the individual has an 'Aadhar' number," he added.

'Aap ka paisa, aapke haath' (your money in your hands) is the slogan coined by the Congress-led UPA II Government to promote the "Direct Cash Transfer" scheme.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has described the Direct Cash Transfer to be a 'pure magic', and appealed to the banks to take the responsibility of making this scheme a success.

Almost Rs 3,20,000 crore cash transfer scheme will be launched in stages and cover the entire country by the end of 2013.

The scheme aims at providing benefits of several government welfare schemes directly to the beneficiaries" Adhaar-enabled bank accounts to plug leakages and reduce delays in their transfer.