Days before the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme was scheduled to rollout, this Union Territory got its first beneficiary in Maheswari, who lives in Bahour. On December 23, when the scheme was first tested at a micro level, she got `700 direct in her bank account.
Maheswari was among the five candidates who were supposed to be the first recipients, but the others couldn’t make it because they were not on the Aadhar platform. She, however, not only had an Aadhar card, she also got her UCO Bank account at Bahour linked to the card.
Maheswari got the fund from the Janani Suraksha Yojana, a safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Under the scheme financial assistance is given to BPL women to reduce maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among the poor pregnant women. While `700 is given to women from rural areas, those in urban areas get `600.
At the Rajiv Gandhi Women and Children Hospital where she delivered her baby, her Aadhar number and bank account details were collated and `700 transferred through the Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS) maintained in Delhi, Director of Health and Family Welfare Dr K V Raman said. The payment was effected on December 23 and she has already withdrawn the amount through an ATM, said Dr Gurumurthy, Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission.
It’s debatable whether trying out the DBT scheme within a small sample size of five was sufficient to prove its effectiveness. But the fact that Maheswari got the money without passing through the bureaucratic red tape indicates the positive spin-off and the vote-catching ability of the scheme.
In all, 15 Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) would be covered under the DBT that is to be rolled out here on Tuesday. Those who have Aadhar cards linked to their bank accounts and intending to avail benefits of any of the 15 schemes can expect fund flow from Day One.
Under the Janani Suraksha Yojana, 662 women are expected to deliver babies in January. Of them, only 484 have their bank accounts linked with Aadhar cards. The process of linking is on and will be completed shortly, said Dr Raman.
In all 16,516 beneficiaries under 15 schemes are to be covered under DBT scheme in this district in the first phase.