Aadhaar law to ensure direct benefits reach all: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday the Aadhaar law passed by Parliament would ensure that all genuine beneficiaries are covered under the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme and would help in checking leakages.

Chairing the third meeting of the consultative committee attached to the ministry of finance on DBT, Jaitley said, "The DBT scheme is a very important scheme as it transfers the benefit to the intended targeted beneficiaries."

He said DBT ensures that benefits reach the targeted population and helps in reducing leakages.

Some members of the committee suggested that the banking correspondents scheme should be further strengthened to ensure that there is last mile coverage of beneficiaries. Suggestions were also given to ensure that genuine beneficiaries are not left out of the DBT scheme.

Responding to the suggestions and queries raised by the members, Jaitley said that Parliament has passed the Aadhaar Act and "there are provisions in the legislation to take care of the issues raised".

The Aadhaar Act gives the Aadhaar numbers a statutory backing for transfer of subsidies and benefits to people eligible for them.

DBT aspires to achieve accurate targeting of beneficiaries, de-duplication, efficiency in delivery process, ensuring greater inclusion, elimination of waste, curbing leakage thereby controlling expenditure and greater accountability and transparency.

As on 31 May, 74 schemes of 17 ministries/departments were being reported on DBT.

The new ministers of state for finance Arjun Ram Meghwal and Santosh Kumar Gangwar also attended the meeting.

Members of parliament and the consultative committee who attended the meeting included Anirudhan Sampath, Baijayanta Jai Panda, Dilip Kumar Mansukhal Gandhi, Poonam Mahajan, Ram Charitra Nishad and Subhash Chandra Baheria (Lok Sabha); Anil Desai, Kumari Selja and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (Rajya Sabha).