Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has shown the red card to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on operationalisation the direct cash transfer of subsidy element to beneficiaries in the districts of Ariyalur, Pudukottai and Tiruchirapalli.
“The Centre is violating the spirit of federalism and democratic decentralisation enshrined in the Constitution with the move to introduce direct cash transfer to beneficiaries and bypass democratically-elected Governments,” Jayalalithaa noted in a strongly-worded letter to the Prime Minister, excerpts of which were released on Saturday.
“I understand that the Centre has decided to operationalise the second phase of the direct benefits transfer scheme from July 2013. Ariyalur, Pudukottai and Tiruchirappalli are proposed to be included in Phase I of the rollout. I wish to convey my strong objections to certain aspects of the direct benefits transfer and the manner of its operationalisation,” Jayalalithaa added.
She pointed out that Tamil Nadu has already adopted the mechanism of direct cash transfer — through bank accounts of beneficiaries - for schemes which involve conditional cash transfers like scholarships, maternity benefits or social security pensions.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram had claimed that the DBT scheme would be a game-changer in the 2014 lok Sabha election.
But the Tamil nadu CM said, “We are strongly opposed to any move to monetise and transfer in cash subsidy element under the public distribution system, and fertiliser, kerosene and lPG subsidies, where not just the quantum of subsidy, but access to and timely availability of commodities is a critical concern.”
According to the Chief Minister, the move was not administratively sound either. “Having the field machinery of the State Government carrying out the entire process of identification and verification, while releases are done directly by the Centre, will result in divorcing authority from responsibility and accountability,” said Jayalalithaa.
She pointed out that the States were never consulted on these programmes and urged the Prime Minister not to allow commencement of the scheme in Tamil Nadu.