Government’s ambitious plan to provide smart phones to farmers in order to make them compatible to e-NAM platform has gone for a twist. After making announcement in this regard in November last year it has been decided now that that instead of handing over phones the 28 lakh farmers of Jharkhand, they would be given cash on the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
The step has been initiated following adverse report about irregularities coming in distribution of mobile phones to women self-help groups members in the State, which has rendered thousands of phones defunct within a year’s time or so.
“The Government would not provide mobile phones to farmers of the State. Instead cash is to be transferred to them directly into their bank accounts.
However banks need to strengthen the Aadhaar seeding status and mapping status so that we can have a platform ready to roll out the scheme without any glitch,” Satyendra Singh, Secretary of Planning cum Finance told The Pioneer on the sidelines of the 66th State Level Bankers’ Committee meeting on Friday.
The Secretary while expressing his apprehensions and prior experiences received in DBT for ration rolled out at Nagri block where many of the beneficiaries were unable to get their cash entitlements on time. The glitch forced the pilot project to be shelved.
“We have seen this due to lacuna in seeding and mapping. If this continues we would fail in extending the scheme and also the recently announced Central scheme for farmers, where a certain amount is to go the bank accounts of the farmers every year.
Banks need to work really hard and seriously to build a permanent platform where cash transfers to the bank accounts are smooth and timely,” added the official referring to its use in rolling out other schemes like Kisan Arshirwad and Sukanya Samridhi etc.
Satyendra Singh also said that the Government has started working on implementing the ‘PM Kisan Samman Nidhi’. “District officials have been told to work, which has started and would be expedited in a month’s time. We have another area of concern where banking has to be taken up to villages having minimum 5000 population.
Earlier there were 137 such locations which had to be banked but after three years down the line only 35 could be covered and the rest 102 are under fixed Banking Correspondent model.
This was an interim mechanism which has been adopted as permanent by the bank. This needs to be corrected,” said the Secretary in his address to the SLBC.
Data released suggested that the State has performed acceding well on PSB loan to be sanctioned to MSMEs within 59 minutes rolled out in four districts of the State.
Some of them like Godda have been achieved more than 100 per cent target given. CD ratio for the first time in last three quarters has crossed 60 per cent benchmark.
Another issue came for deliberation was related to the bearing expenditure coming on the dedicated certificate officers for recovery of loans.
Banks are unwilling to bear the entire cost coming and the SLBC has been tasked to find out a suitable model in application to other States.