Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has helped the government save about ₹20,000 crore during the first nine months of the current fiscal. This savings can fund twice the Centre’s share in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, popularly known as Ayushman Bharat.

Meanwhile, cumulative (since inception December 2018) DBT savings have reached nearly ₹1.10 lakh crore.

DBT, along with various governance reforms, has helped in weeding out duplicate/ fake beneficiaries and plugging of leakages and targeting genuine and deserving beneficiaries. Accordingly, savings are calculated on the basis of what could have been the total outlay in case of status quo and actual expenditure for real beneficiaries.

These beneficiaries come under seven categories of schemes — PAHAL (LPG cylinder), PDS (food), MGNREGS (employment guarantee), NSAP (social assistance), scholarship for minorities, scholarship for SC/ST/OBC, Supplementary Nutrition Program of Anganwadi Services and other schemes.

According to government data, total estimated savings during the first nine months of the current fiscal was ₹19,970.57 crore. Though this does not include gain from scholarship schemes, administered by two Ministries, it is roughly 60 per cent of the savings of the last full fiscal, which was about ₹33,000 crore.

Savings through PAHAL was over ₹14,000 crore during the period under consideration while total savings under the scheme since inception is over ₹56,000 crore. The savings have been made possible by eliminating 4.09 crore duplicate, fake/ non-existent, inactive LPG connections Also, now there are 1.94 crore non-subsidised LPG consumers, including 1.04-crore ‘Give It Up’ consumers (consumers who voluntarily decided to forego the subsidy).

As many as 437 schemes are administered by 55 ministries under DBT. At the core of the DBT is JAM — Jan Dhan (bank accounts), Aadhaar and mobile connection. At present, there are over 33-crore Jan Dhan accounts, 123-crore Aadhaar numbers and 100-crore mobile connections. A combination of these helped in reaching the real beneficiary and weeding out fake/duplicate ones.

For example, it helped in deletion of 2.82 crore duplicate and fake/ non-existent ration cards (including some due to migration, death etc.) under PDS, 3.83 lakh duplicate, fake/ non-existent, ineligible beneficiaries (including some due to migration, death etc.) under NSAP and reduction of 98.8 lakh duplicate, fake/non-existent beneficiaries for Supplementary Nutrition Program of Anganwadi Services.

DBT involves transferring benefits either in cash or in kind directly to identified beneficiaries.

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