Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday proposed an effective alternative to the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme initiated by the Central government and reiterated her strong opposition to the Scheme. Stating that direct release by Centre would lead to duplication of efforts and wastage of resources, she said it would be administratively prudent to leave implementation to the States as is being done now.
“I would like to put forward an alternative win-win proposal on the assumption and the hope that the intention of the Centre is to ensure efficient delivery of benefits to the people,” the CM said during her discussions with Deputy Chairman of Union Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, in New Delhi.
She said the Government of India should route its funds through the State government, which had been progressively switching over to the bank mode of disbursement for all beneficiary-oriented schemes.
“The Centre can monitor implementation rigorously because the data will be seamlessly available for scrutiny. This would not only make the roll out of DBT faster but will also enable the inclusion of large schemes like the disbursement of social security schemes,” the Chief Minister added.
She also emphasised that the Centre should treat the State governments as equal partners in the march towards inclusive growth and development. The Chief Minister charged that the Union Planning Commission had issued a series of instructions and guidelines on a number of conceptual and operational issues relating to the DBT scheme with virtually no consultation with the State governments.
“Clearly, the Union Planning Commission is overstepping its advisory and allocational mandate and taking on an executive role. State governments are expected to place their field machinery at the disposal of the Centre and are reduced to becoming mere bystanders. The entire approach divorces authority from responsibility and accountability and is violative of the spirit of federalism and democratic decentralisation,” the Chief Minister added.