8
vritti
January 2020
and Aadhar tools proved very effective to
achieve this. The DBT enabled the govern
ment to directly transfer subsides and benefits
of various social welfare schemes to the
beneficiaries' bank accounts. Meanwhile, the
Aadhar identification tool, with over 1.2 billion
holders, was linked to the benefi ciaries' bank
accounts which, of course, had its own set of
benefits. Currently, DBT supports 437 schemes
of 56 ministries and has processed over
$119.68 billion since inception. DBT and other
governance reforms have brought about
estimated savings of $19.78 billion. Not just
that, it has helped India make significant
progress in SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and
Strong Institutions) by reducing corruption.
It doesn't end there, of course. Merely storing
funds in bank accounts isn't enough. Customers
would, naturally, require touch-points to cash-out
the funds, which is more vital since India is still
primarily a cash-based economy. The Micro
ATMs introduced by the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2015 offered a
viable solution. The aim is simple-expand
the banking system's last-mile reach,
particularly in rural areas. Since its inception,
Changing Lives
over 577 million financial transactions valuing
$21.29 billion have been processed by micro
ATMs. Moreover, mobile handsets have
proliferated significantly, naturally implying that
these devices have emerged as important
transaction channels as well.
These initiatives, have, of course, had a
cascading impact overall. Here's how-
Collectively, the Jan Dhan, Aadhar, the
proliferation of mobile handsets and DBT have
simplified the implementation of government-
driven schemes. These schemes, needless to
say, drive the SDGs as well. For instance, the
Ujjwala Scheme aims to provide clean cooking
fuel to women who have traditionally relied on
firewood, coal and dung cakes. An equally vital
aim is to prevent premature deaths, due to
polluted air in the household-estimated at
480,000 deaths per year! Under the scheme,
80 million households below the poverty line
have been provided a free gas connection.
This was followed by the “Give it Up” campaign,
where over 11 million affluent customers
surrender their LPG subsidy. These
initiatives removed 38 million “ghost” or
“fake” beneficiaries from the system.