PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry government has amended the rules for selecting beneficiaries of the `1000 monthly assistance scheme for women heads of BPL families. Under the new rules, eligible women will be selected from the Unified Data Hub (UDH) of the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
The Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), which is implementing the scheme, will no longer seek applications directly from women but will go by the Unified Data Hub (UDH) of NIC, where all 23 departments are uploading data on various welfare schemes on a monthly basis.
The department will generate a beneficiaries’ list based on the eligibility criteria of the scheme guidelines, after cross reference and de-duplication with the data of other departments in UDH, said P Muthumeena, Director of Women and Child Department.
“This will be followed by a field verification by Anganwadi workers, who in turn will upload the details through a mobile app to the portal developed for the purpose. This data will be posted on the website for social audit and thereafter, the payment shall be released through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) via Aadhaar-based payment,” she added.
The line departments will update their data in the UDH portal by 25th of every month for the purpose of identification of eligible beneficiaries proposed to be covered under the Scheme.
The scheme, which was announced in the budget, has been facing several hiccups after its implementation. So far, the applications of beneficiaries have been forwarded by MLAs and MPs office through the CM’s office. However, departmental scrutiny found several ineligible beneficiaries on the list, which caused a delay in the scheme’s implementation.
Earlier this month, Chief Minister N Rangasamy said that the financial assistance scheme is currently benefiting around 40,000 women and will be extended to an additional 20,000 beneficiaries.